The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday temporarily banned U.S. airlines from flying near Venezuela, Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity,” prolonging travelers’ stay on several islands and creating uncertainty about how or when they would be able to return.
President Donald Trump announced on social media early Saturday that the U.S. had “carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela,” capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The U.S. government has accused Maduro and Flores of narco-terrorism.
The FAA notices, all scheduled through Sunday, include bans in Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago. In a news conference Saturday, Trump said the U.S. was prepared to mount a second-wave attack in Venezuela but that he doubted it would be needed.
According to the flight-tracking site FlightAware, nearly 1,000 flights traveling through U.S. airports were canceled Saturday. Around 5:30 p.m., 400 flights had been canceled at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico, representing more than half of the scheduled arrivals and departures, and there were more than 130 cancellations at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
What it looks like to be stranded at a hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico right now: pic.twitter.com/IhU1pqgGCM
— Brett Kaz (@DynastyKaz) January 3, 2026
Kaci Jane Hansen, 27, was supposed to leave San Juan for New York City on Saturday morning after celebrating the new year in Puerto Rico with friends. The rest of her group flew out Friday.
After getting delay notifications, she eventually took a cab to the airport to figure out what to do. She said thousands of people were milling around, and some were getting emotional. An employee there told her she wouldn’t be able to fly; she said the airline did not provide any compensation.
Hansen said she paid cash for a new place to stay thanks to her cabdriver, who suggested his friend’s hotel. She looked into leaving on a boat and called contacts in private aviation, an industry in which she works.
As of Saturday afternoon, she had no idea when she would be able to fly out. The last thing she heard was maybe Wednesday, but she was hoping for sooner. She expects the price on her hotel to keep going up.
“Now I’m at a bar with a bunch of people and we’re all staying in different tiny spots,” she said. People stranded from all over the country were talking about the action in Venezuela and how they’re managing the unexpected extended stay.
“We’re cooked,” she said.
Abigael Kaszar Persaud and Eric Persaud’s honeymoon in the island nation of Dominica was scheduled to wrap up Saturday. But after their American Airlines flight was canceled, a customer service representative told them their next flight option to get home to Cleveland might not be until Jan. 15.
The newlyweds have been exploring leaving on a cruise ship or a ferry. They were able to book an extra night at their hotel in a smaller room.
Still, the Persauds are fortunate that room prices haven’t spiked, and they can enjoy the island for at least a bit longer.
“We’re just trying to stay positive,” Abigael Persaud said, acknowledging that what’s happening in Venezuela is much more dire. “… There are many worse places to be stuck than a beautiful tropical island. But we do need to get home.”
2026, sit down and don’t touch anything! #US #venezuela #maduro
Major U.S. airlines started canceling flights and informing travelers early Saturday, with JetBlue reporting that it canceled more than 200 flights.
Affected customers at JetBlue, American, Delta, United and Southwest were given options to adjust their travel plans at no extra cost, or take a refund for their cancellation in accordance with Transportation Department rules.
If an airline rebooks you on a flight that no longer works for your schedule, or you no longer want to take, you are entitled to a full cash refund. You are also owed a refund if the airline significantly delays your flight — meaning a delay of more than three hours for a domestic trip or six hours for international — and you choose not to travel.
“We’ve got people stranded both ways, trying to go places and come home, because they closed a lot of the Caribbean,” said John Rose, chief risk officer for Internova Travel Group, a network of travel advisers.
Laura Sangster, founder of the travel company Caribbean Journey, said by email Saturday that she was trying to rebook clients, and some could not leave until Friday.
“I’m hoping airlines will reposition some planes as soon as they can,” she said.
Sangster said hotels “are very full this week,” complicating logistics for people who are stranded in the Caribbean. She noted that travel insurance policies typically do not cover acts of war.
When you are stranded in the Caribbean because all flights are grounded #venezuela #fyp #foryoupage #travel #2026
Because the military operation appears to have gone as planned, Rose does not recommend canceling upcoming Caribbean travel once flights return. He described January as “peak time” for travel to the region.
“There’s been no credible threats against Americans that we’ve seen. We’ve got a lot of people concerned in Curaçao because of the proximity to Venezuela … but there’s been nothing to say anything bad is going to happen, so it’s more caution.”
U.S. military operations had already complicated air traffic in the region. Last month, a JetBlue pilot flying out of Curaçao told an air traffic controller that a U.S. Air Force plane had passed directly through his flight path and was not identifying itself with a GPS transponder.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said.
Isaac Arnsdorf, Andrea Sachs and Gabe Hiatt contributed to this report.
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