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Four Fun Fort Lauderdale Flights: Southwest inaugurates more international routes

Posted by Seth Miller on 4 June 2017 in News, PaxEx | 3,106 Views

Setting up the party for an inaugural flight takes a decent amount of work on the part of an airline and the host airport. Running four such events at the same time is borderline crazy, especially from adjacent gates. Or, if you’re Southwest Airlines and set to grow international operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport you might just call that Sunday morning. The carrier launched service to Cancun, Belize City, Grand Cayman and Montego Bay today from its South Florida hub and all within a couple hours. I wasn’t ticketed on any of these flights or even on a Southwest departure but I was at the airport so I dropped by to join in the celebrations.

Terminal B was packed with passengers, as is typical for the morning bank of departures even without special events set up inside. As I made my way towards the far end of the concourse the noise and crowds grew, as did the special events staged for the inaugurals.

Painting a Southwest portrait during boarding for one of the flights
Painting a Southwest portrait during boarding for one of the flights

One gate (pretty sure it was Belize City) hosted a painter putting together a portrait of a Southwest plane arriving at the tropical destination.

Selfies with Miss Cayman Islands were a popular pre-flight activity
Selfies with Miss Cayman Islands were a popular pre-flight activity

Grand Cayman had its representative from the Miss Universe pageant on hand for photos as well as a pirate and Carnival dancers dressed to impress.

Jamaican dignitaries in town for the inaugural Southwest flight from Fort Lauderdale
Jamaican dignitaries in town for the inaugural Southwest flight from Fort Lauderdale

Jamaica had several dignitaries milling about and a small buffet of local snacks available for passengers.

So many people in FLL Concourse B for the inaugural festivities
So many people in FLL Concourse B for the inaugural festivities

And in the midst of it all were the few hundred passengers trying to board the inaugurals and other flights in the concourse. It was controlled chaos but, for the most part, it was controlled which is the important part.

Also worth noting that Fort Lauderdale was not the only Southwest city hosting new flights today. Cincinnati started operations with flights moving over from Dayton.

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Posted in News, PaxEx | Tagged Belize, Cancun, Cayman Islands, FLL, Fort Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, inaugural, Jamaica, Montego Bay, PaxEx, routes, Southwest, Southwest Airlines

About the Author

Seth Miller

I’m Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there’s no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories.

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