The chaos at Fort Lauderdale’s airport is affecting air travel at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. A Spirit Airlines flight set to land at 5:10 p.m. Friday was canceled and there’s word of tighter security too.
An airport spokesperson said the facility is always on high alert and that they would check with the Department of Homeland Security for additional guidance, but a security guard told News 5 routine K9 sweeps of the terminal were now happening more frequently following the incident in Fort Lauderdale.
News 5 spoke with passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 1027 from Fort Lauderdale, which landed around 2:30 p.m. Passengers were thankful the flight left South Florida before the chaos erupted.
Spoke w/ passengers on a United flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Cleveland. Found out mid-flight watching TV @WEWS https://t.co/IeTuOYhsuw pic.twitter.com/vRsz6EXn36
— Derick Waller News 5 (@derickwallerTV) January 6, 2017
“I think we were very lucky,” Ken Hunt said. "I think it’s very important that you tell your loved ones that you love them when you have the opportunity and you live life to the fullest.”
Passengers were alerted on board via text messages and from watching the news on the in-flight TV.
Meanwhile a Jet Blue flight from Cleveland to Ft. Lauderdale scheduled for Saturday morning has been canceled. Check flight statuses here.
