Haitians rush flights – to leave or return
Flights between Miami and Haiti resume for the first time in almost two weeks, crowding airports with passengers escaping the troubled country — or headed there. Getting a seat aboard American Airlines’ first Miami-bound flight out of Haiti in two weeks proved an exercise in stamina, perseverance and luck, said South Florida residents who made it out Tuesday. ”It was crazy, crazy,” said Jean Philippe, 42, of Boynton Beach, speaking outside U.S. Customs at Miami International Airport about ”the madhouse” he left behind at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince. Philippe said that before dawn, hundreds of people seeking seats began pushing and shoving their way to the American Airlines counter, desperate to make one of the flights out Tuesday, the first departing at 11:30 a.m. as the airline resumed service for the first time since Feb. 26. Full Story