I cancelled my flight after hearing El Paso airspace would close for 10 days. It reopened hours later, but I’d spent the night feeling helpless.

• Air passengers were unexpectedly told late on Tuesday that the airspace over El Paso would close for 10 days.
• Kiva Lucero cancelled his connecting work flight from El Paso to Dallas, and booked a 12-hour bus.
• The airspace reopened after seven hours, and Kiva wasn’t able to get his $100 bus ticket refunded.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kiva Lucero, 21, who is from El Paso and studies in New York City. He is the cofounder of a Paris-based creative collective. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was scrolling on Instagram on Tuesday when I saw the El Paso airspace was closing for 10 days. Immediately, I was stressed and anxious.

I had a flight booked from El Paso to Dallas for Thursday, and then Dallas to Paris, and had to get to Paris by the weekend for work.

When I found out that what was supposed to be a 10-day closure lasted seven hours, I didn’t feel much relief — I had cancelled my flight to Dallas and spent nearly $100 on a bus.

I booked a bus ticket at three o’clock in the morning

When I first found out about the airspace closure at around midnight on Tuesday, I called my airline immediately and explained the situation. I kind of freaked out.

I asked them if it was possible for me to cancel the El Paso to Dallas leg of my flight, and I would just figure out a way to get to Dallas.

They canceled my flight after a lot of hard negotiation. At three o’clock in the morning, I booked a ticket for a 12-hour bus ride from El Paso to Dallas, leaving at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and getting to Dallas 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

I didn’t even know if I was going to make it to the bus. I was thinking El Paso could get completely locked down. I was up all night.

I just didn’t expect anything good to come of the situation. I thought it could be a serious evacuation. I called my mom to make sure everything was good, because I didn’t want her staying in town if there was a major issue.

I felt stressed and helpless

When I saw on the New York Times in the morning that the closure was lifted, I still couldn’t sleep.

I called the airline again to reinstate my original booking, because I didn’t want to take a 12 hour bus. Luckily, they did.

But it was hours of just stress and anxiety and feeling so helpless.

I had already canceled plans with friends and work meetings because I thought I would be on the bus the next day.

Thankfully, I should make it to Paris now, but it cost me $100 and a full night of sleep.

A Trump administration official told Business Insider of the disruption: “Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace” and the Defense Department “took action to disable the drones,” and there was no threat to commercial travel.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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