I fly a lot between the Northeast & NYC to Florida, specifically either MCO (prices are usually better) or DAB (preferred airport, and I live right there). If I fly into MCO, I have a ton of options from taking nonstops to connecting through many, many cities, like ATL/DTW/MSP/RDU/CVG on Delta, EWR/IAH/IAD/ORD/CLE on United, or PHL/DCA/CLT/ORD/DFW/MIA on American. I can pick and choose my connections/nonstops and rarely have any issues if I need to connect through somewhere else or switch to a nonstop.

Flying into/out of DAB is totally different. Other than the nonstop JetBlue flight to JFK (and JFK has it's own issues even if you aren't connecting), your only choice is ATL on Delta or CLT on American. I cannot choose a different connecting city when I fly them, I HAVE to connect through ATL or CLT. I like both airports for different reasons and haven't had too much issues with either one, but when things go south at both of those, there is no other option. DAB is not alone with this, there are many other airports in the South or in Florida that only have service to CLT or ATL.

Sure there are many other options if you wanted to fly somewhere else, but if your destination is in the South and you aren't flying into major airports like MCO, MIA etc, you can't really avoid ATL or CLT.