Travelers asked to be early as tram work begins again at OIA

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Replacement work is starting again on the trams at Orlando International Airport, but JetBlue has gone as far to say it wants passengers there three hours early to avoid problems.

In April, an upgrade project with the best of intentions left passengers on other airlines waiting long enough to miss flights after the manufacturer of the new trams at OIA ran into problems keeping them running.

Mitsubishi paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the airport said lessons learned on that project should help the current one run smoothly.

The warning from JetBlue is another effort to avoid holding flights for passengers stuck in the terminal.

“We got a text saying to get here three hours early,” said traveler Fabrizio Peralta. “Hopefully, they fix this quick so that nobody else has to go through this.”

One passenger said she had not gotten the alert.

“Just lucky that I left early to get here. I always leave early and give myself plenty of time,” said Janine Clementi.

Virgin America and Frontier passengers will have to plan ahead as well.

Anyone with a flight out of gates one through 29 should give themselves extra time.

Cox Media Group