Recently, I was forced to connect through Miami International Airport (MIA). For most people who fly to and from Latin America and the Caribbean, MIA is the departure point and the first port of entry into the United States. If you are traveling on American Airlines, you will most likely be in Terminal D, a newish terminal with 60 gates covering close to a mile in length and serving American flights exclusively. On both the outbound and inbound legs of my journey I had about three hours to spend in Terminal D.

I went looking for food. A veggie burger at a "sit-down" restaurant was $15. A slice of pizza was $5.  A bagel sandwich at a large national chain is $8. The fish and chips I had an "Irish pub" was overpriced and had an 18% service charge tacked on automatically. All this would cost half as much out on Main Street.

So you are done eating. Now what? You could shop at MIA. You could spend big bucks on a Burberry coat or buy a Britto sculpture. Or maybe browse some electronics, jewelry or the duty free store.

Perhaps you want to check your email. Well, at MIA this is going to cost you. No free Wi-Fi here. Not even at Starbucks, which offers free Wi-Fi at its non-MIA locations.

My point is that MIA wants you to spend a lot of money while you wait for your flight. It seems the airport authority is not interested in making travel anything more than expensive.

Just 30 miles north of MIA is Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport. The airport does not offer much in the way of dining, shopping or entertainment but it does offer free Wi-Fi airport-wide. Then again, Fort Lauderdale serves a lot of domestic flights.