The crash of a cargo plane that killed five people at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon led to the delay or cancellation of hundreds of flights, snarling travel plans for thousands of passengers flying on Labor Day weekend.
The mood inside the terminals was as gloomy as the rain outside.
Security lines and restaurants were largely empty as passengers digested the horrific news that a landing Amazon Air cargo plane had overran its runway. The crash prompted the temporary closure of the airport. Some flights were diverted, others canceled and still more delayed.
Many travelers were trying to rearrange their plans at ticket counters, by phone or online.
“We had a great time, until a couple of hours ago,” said Justin Murcia, 33, of Dallas. “We noticed the rain coming in, and then the simultaneous social media posts about the Amazon airplane that crashed. Just the perfect storm for a bad day.”
Mr. Murcia, who had just finished celebrating his bachelor party in South Florida, hopped an Uber ride to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, about an hour away, to catch another flight home because his original one could not be rebooked for two days.
Officials immediately halted all flights in and out of the airport shortly before 2 p.m. Three hours later, some flights had resumed and two of four runways had reopened, according to the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department.
At least 187 flights were canceled and 266 delayed at Miami’s airport on Sunday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday that passengers should expect delays of more than six hours on average.
Many travelers didn’t want to stick around. Missy Richards, 59, of Muldrow, Okla., said she was sitting in the American Airlines Admirals Club on Sunday afternoon when people began receiving notifications of disruptions. Her family immediately rebooked and left for a hotel.
“My husband’s a big traveler, so he knew how to react,” Ms. Richards said.
At Concourse G, Linda Williams Taylor, 58, and her mother Dee Pierron, 76, arrived at the airport after eight days in the Caribbean. Ms. Taylor said she could have taken a flight on to Kansas City on Sunday night, but her mother couldn’t get a flight immediately to her home in California.
“I didn’t want to leave her alone in Miami by herself,” said Ms. Taylor, who decided to stay overnight with her mother.
She took the experience in stride. Others were not so sanguine.
Devron Wadlington, 42, reached the Miami airport at 9:30 a.m. after a seven-day cruise with 11 relatives. His flight to Nashville, Tenn., was canceled and they could not afford hotel rooms in Miami to wait two days for a new flight, he said.
Mr. Wadlington decided to drive home with some of his family, a 15-hour ride to Hopkinsville, Ky. But Miami’s airport had no rental cars available, so they hopped into an Uber to Fort Lauderdale to rent a car.
“We’re just trying to get home,” Mr. Wadlington said.
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