Frustration and limbo at US airports after FAA ground stop halts flights nationwide

A nationwide ground stop ordered by the US Federal Aviation Administration on Friday plunged airports into chaos and left travelers across the country stuck in terminals and on tarmacs, uncertain when or whether their journeys would resume.

At New York's John F Kennedy airport, some passengers saw their plans collapse even after boarding. Steve Honberger, who was traveling home to Portland, Oregon, with his wife and daughter, said his plane had been about to take off when the shutdown was announced. "They didn't seem to know what's happening, and they wanted to hold off as long as possible," he said. After sitting at the gate for an hour and 40 minutes, the family asked to deplane and rebook.

Others decided to show up anyway, clinging to the possibility of departure. Rashid Kahn, bound for Miami, said he had "heard about the ground stop on the news, but the airline said we might take off 10 or 11pm". "I am hopeful," he added. "But maybe it's something to do with the date. I'm not super serious, but it's Friday the 13th."

Tom Rolenaitis, who was returning a Shiba Inu show dog named Tsuki to Finland, described the situation as frustrating. "It's cutting into a three-day trip and I have to get him back to his owner. We have no idea what's happening," he said.

A flight attendant headed for Barcelona, who declined to give his name, said he had been told his American Airlines flight would be slightly delayed and that incoming international flights were still being allowed to land. A fellow crew member struck a brighter note: "Things happen. Hopefully it will all be resolved."

As the day went on, passengers on international flights began boarding, drawing applause at the gates. "It's moving, so that's good," an airline representative said. "But only international is going."

The FAA issued the ground stop on Friday afternoon, citing a communications problem at regional air traffic control centers, according to an agency notice. Four hours later it sent out an advisory lifting the stop. Only two national ground stops have been issued before: on 11 September 2001, after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and in January 2023, after a communications failure.

The disruption has been vast. There have been 10,343 flight delays within, into or out of the US so far, according to the website FlightAware, along with 1,479 cancellations. More than 1,000 aircraft were bound for the US when the stop was announced, according to Flightradar24. The outage also ensnared the sports world, stranding NBA, NHL and college teams ahead of a big weekend of games and raising doubts about whether referees, who usually fly to assignments the day before games, would arrive on time.

The lifting of the stop brought fresh confusion. Larson Welsh, heading to Las Vegas from Paris, said: "My flight was cancelled, then I go to a kiosk, put my information in and it says I'm leaving at 3am. Then I talk to the desk and they know nothing." A man who gave his name only as Andy said his flight to California had been cancelled with no information and no rebooking, a day after bad weather had scrubbed an earlier flight, causing him to miss a family event. "It's frustrating. And I'm pissed," he said.

Others tried to keep perspective. Laura, a New Yorker headed for San Francisco whose JetBlue flight was grounded, called it "such a first-world problem" as she sat on the terminal floor hoping to depart. Honberger, meanwhile, said his family counted themselves lucky: "There are people sitting on tarmac, so we count ourselves lucky and we were able to book ourselves a hotel for the night."