Remember when travel was simpler? Go back to vintage days of MIA and FLL
By Miami Herald Archives
Crowds at Miami International Airport in the 1960s.
Eamon Kennedy
Miami Herald File
The Miami airport is a city today. A mall, too. And a train hub.
Broward’s airport can be a maze, too, with stores, restaurants and multiple terminals.
But it wasn’t always that way.
There was a time when you could just drive up to the terminal, pull into a parking spot and hop into a plane.
No TSA check-ins. No multi-story parking garages. No mile-long walks to the gate.
Take a look at those simpler times in old photos of MIA and FLL from the Miami Herald’s archives:
Inside the terminal
A terminal a Miami International Airport in 1965. Mike Freeman Miami Herald File
Travelers walk through the Fort Lauderdale International Airport terminal in 2001. Miami Herald File
The Miami airport in 1959. Bill Sanders Miami Herald File
A donated iron lung arrives at the Miami airport, surrounded by city and civic officials. Miami Herald File
National Airlines gate in Miami in 1973. Bill Kuenzel Miami Herald File
Outside the terminal
Crowds at Miami International Airport in the 1960s. Eamon Kennedy Miami Herald File
A parking entrance at MIA in 1959. Bill Kuenzel Miami Herald File
Crowds at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 1965. Miami Herald File
A second-level parking deck at Miami International Airport with “front door” space for 600 vehicles. Miami Herald File
An early entrance in the 1960s to the Fort Lauderdale airport. Mel Kenyon Miami Herald File
At the ticket counter
Travelers at the National Airlines ticket counter at the Miami airport in 1967. Eamon Kennedy Miami Herald File
In the 1960s, a traveler insurance machine at the Miami airport. Tom McCarthy Miami Herald File
An airline ticket counter at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 1989. Patrick Ferrell Miami Herald File
Passengers try to get a flight at MIA in 1966. Jim Birmingham Miami Herald File
The Pan Am counter at Miami International Airport in 1965. John Walther Miami Herald File
Shopping at the airport
A men’s shop at the Miami airport. Bob East Miami Herald File
The inside of a fruit shipping store at MIA in 1981. Bob East Miami Herald File
Electronics for sale at the Miami airport in 1981. Bob East Miami Herald File
A liquor store at the Miami airport in 1972. Albert Coya Miami Herald File
A food counter at he Miami airport in 1981. Bob East Miami Herald File
Celebrity travelers
Raquel Welch at Miami International Airport in 1968. Albert Coya Miami Herald File
Eastern Airlines Chairman Eddie Rickenbacker gets ready to board a National Airlines flight for New Orleans at Miami International Airport in 1955. The National departure time suited Rickenbacker’s schedule better. Miami Herald File
Entertainer Carol Channing meets her entourage at MIA.
Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy at the Miami Airport in 1968. Albert Coya Miami Herald File
Jacqueline Kennedy browses at a Miami airport store in 1968. Albert Coya Miami Herald File
Sears executives arrive at the Broward airport in 1955 for the opening of the Sears Town Shopping Center in Fort Lauderdale. Gene Hyde Miami Herald File
A dozen Esquire calendar models arrive at he Miami airport in 1953. Miami Herald File
The control towers
An airport tower in Fort Lauderdale in 1978. Mel Kenyon Miami Herald File
The repainted tower at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 1954. Miami Herald File
The repainted tower at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 1954. Miami Herald File
Miami International Airport in 1966. Miami Herald File
The planes
A Pan Am jet at Miami International Airport. Miami Herald File
Ground workers converge on an Eastern Airlines jet at MIA in 1966. Miami Herald File