Connecting at Fort Lauderdale: four terminals, and mostly not joined inside security

Last checked 30 September 2026

A connection is when your trip has two flights and you change planes in between. Fort Lauderdale has four terminals. Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are not joined inside security, so changing between them means leaving security and going through it again. Terminal 1 has Southwest, United, Alaska and Frontier; Terminal 2 has Delta; Terminal 3 has American, JetBlue and Sun Country.

Two words used below. Security (also called TSA screening) is the checkpoint where your bags go through a scanner and you walk through a body scanner. Once you're through it, you're in the secure area, the part of the airport with the gates. If you leave the secure area you have to go through security again to get back in.

At a glance

• Four terminals. Terminal 1 (Concourses A, B, C), Terminal 2 (Concourse D), Terminal 3 (Concourses E, F) and Terminal 4 (Concourse G).
• Your airline decides your terminal. For example: Southwest, United, Alaska, Frontier and Allegiant are in Terminal 1; Delta is in Terminal 2; American, JetBlue and Sun Country are in Terminal 3. Full list below.
• Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are not joined inside security yet. The airport is building walkways between Terminals 1 and 2 and between Terminals 2 and 3, and it says they'll be finished in late 2027. Until then, changing between those terminals means leaving security and going through it again.
• Terminals 3 and 4: reported by a travel website and trade press to be joined inside security. The airport's pages don't say so, so check with your airline if you're relying on it.
• Landing from another country: US Customs (passport control) is in Terminals 1 and 4. A typical wait over the last year was about 14 minutes; one passenger in ten waited 47 minutes or more.
• Cruise days: the airport warns that on busy cruise days, airlines may only take your bags up to two hours before your flight.

Which terminal is my airline in?

This is where you check in and pick up bags. It comes from the airport's own airline list, checked 30 September 2026.

• Terminal 1: Alaska, Allegiant, Bahamasair, Breeze, Caribbean, Contour, Copa, Frontier, IBC, Southwest, United, Western Air.
• Terminal 2: Delta, WestJet.
• Terminal 3: American, Avelo, Azul, Flair, JetBlue, Porter, Sun Country.
• Terminal 4: Air Canada, Air Transat, Avianca, Flair, JetBlue (for its Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Jamaica flights), Sunrise Airways.

Airlines do move. Air Canada was in Terminal 2 until 15 September 2026 and is now in Terminal 4. Flair and JetBlue appear in both Terminal 3 and Terminal 4, so check your boarding pass for which one applies to your flight. A flight run for one of these airlines by a smaller partner airline can also be somewhere else. Your boarding pass or your airline's app is always the final word.

Changing between terminals

Between terminals:

• Terminal 1 ↔ Terminal 2, and Terminal 2 ↔ Terminal 3. Not joined inside security. The airport is building an enclosed walkway between each pair; its own website talks about "the post-security connector walkway that will link Terminals 2 and 3". News reports of the airport's announcement give a finish date of late 2027. Until they open, going between these terminals means leaving the secure area, getting to the other terminal, and going through security again.
• Terminal 1 ↔ Terminal 3 or 4, and Terminal 2 ↔ Terminal 4. The same. We've worked this out from the two facts above: Terminals 1 and 2 aren't joined to Terminal 3, and Terminal 4 is only reported to join Terminal 3, so there is no route between these pairs that stays inside security today.
• Terminal 3 ↔ Terminal 4. A travel website (Upgraded Points) and trade press report a walkway that joins them inside security, except for people arriving on an international flight. The airport's pages don't say so, so treat it as likely.

How do you get to the other terminal? You walk along the curb, use the walking paths through the parking garages, or ride the garage tram. The airport's free shuttles go only to the rental car centre. You are outside security on the way, so expect to go through security again at the other end. The airport doesn't publish a time for the trip.

Landing from another country

Passport control is the desk where an officer from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checks your passport. At Fort Lauderdale it is in Terminals 1 and 4, according to the airport. Waits over the year to 23 September 2026:

CBP says its times don't include collecting your bags or finding your way around the airport.

If you flew in from a preclearance airport: CBP checks passengers at 16 airports abroad before they board (the list includes Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Dublin and Abu Dhabi). If you flew from one of them, you skip passport control and the second security check when you land, so those steps don't apply to you. Ask your airline whether your bags go through to your next flight.

The steps, in order:

1. Everyone arriving from another country, including US citizens: go through passport control in Terminal 1 or Terminal 4.
2. Everyone: collect your checked bags and take them through Customs. CBP says you must collect them and bring them through.
3. Passengers connecting to another flight: check your bags in again with your airline for your next flight. We couldn't find where the drop-off counters are, so follow the signs for connecting flights or ask staff.
4. Passengers whose next flight is in a different terminal: you are outside security on the way. The airport's wording: walk along the curb, use the walking paths through the parking garages, or ride the garage tram. Its free shuttles go only to the rental car centre.
5. Passengers connecting to another flight: go through security again at the terminal of your next flight.

Going through security again after an international arrival is the normal routine at US airports. A trial scheme lets some passengers skip it. TSA's announcement of it names two flights, both from London, to Atlanta and Dallas. Fort Lauderdale is not one of them. On a few routes, eligible connecting passengers don't collect and recheck their bags, but still go through security again. Check with your airline.

If your flights are on separate tickets

If you booked two flights separately, you collect your bags, check in again with the second airline at its terminal, and go through security again. If the terminals are different, add the trip between them. On busy cruise days, the airport says airlines may only check your bags up to two hours before your flight. Add the time to collect your bags, check in again and go through security.

Tips

• Look up both of your airlines on the list above before you travel, and again when you land. Terminals can change.
• If your two airlines are in different terminals, assume you'll leave security and go through it again. Allow time for the walk or the garage tram, and for the line.
• Coming from another country, check where your airline is on the list: it tells you whether you're likely to be at Terminal 1 or Terminal 4 for passport control.

GateCast grades your connection from A to F on how likely you are to make it. The grade is an estimate. GateCast knows which airlines you're flying but has no gate information, so at an airport with several terminals like this one, check your boarding pass and add time for any second security check.

Checked 30 September 2026. Terminals, gates and airlines change, so confirm with the airport and your airline before you travel.