Hundreds of thousands of travelers across America found themselves stuck in airports or heading home on Friday as flights were grounded across the country after the Federal Aviation Administration announced a rare nationwide ground stop.
At Chicago’s O’Hare, one of the busiest U.S. airports, Frank Foto, 34, worried that his family would not make it to Miami in time to board a cruise ship. The trip had been planned months ago to celebrate his mother-in-law’s 60th birthday.
“On the bright side, I suppose it’s better than being stuck at sea — especially with him,” Mr. Foto said, gesturing toward his infant son.
More than 10,000 flights in or out of American airspace were delayed, and at least 1,700 had been canceled as of early Friday evening, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site.
Drew Armstrong, 45, of New York, was 34,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from London to Kennedy Airport when he read about the ground stop on social media.
Minutes later, the flight crew informed passengers of the situation and said pilots were attempting to land all airborne international flights. People awoke from naps and began pacing the cabin, Mr. Armstrong said in a text message from the air, where he was seated in the 44th row of the plane.
In Atlanta, Ashley Van Mills, 45, arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport hoping to catch an evening flight to Chicago.
“We’ve been flying for I don’t know how many years, and this doesn’t happen,” she said. “It’s just the unknown that gives you an uneasy feeling.”
The outage comes about two weeks before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest times of the year for air travel. On average, U.S. airlines are expected to fly about 2.7 million passengers each day over the holiday period, according to industry trade group Airlines for America.
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