Travelers React to Nationwide FAA Ground Stop as Passengers Are Left Stranded at Airports Across the U.S.

NEED TO KNOW

• A nationwide FAA ground stop on Friday, Nov. 13, left travelers scrambling to change their plans and find alternative ways to reach their destinations

• A 23-year-old wedding photographer is driving 10 hours from Utah to California to make it to a wedding she is scheduled to photograph Saturday

• Passengers at airports across the country described confusion and frustration as flights were grounded, with some booking rental cars or waiting for updates

Travelers across the country were left scrambling to change their plans after a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stop halted all departing flights from U.S. airports for several hours on Friday, Nov. 13.

While some passengers searched for rental cars or tried to rebook flights, others found themselves stuck aboard planes or waiting at airports with little information about when they might be able to leave. For one wedding photographer, the disruption means making a 10-hour drive to California rather than risk missing a couple’s big day.

Sydney, a 23-year-old destination wedding photographer based in Phoenix, Ariz., is currently making the drive from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Camarillo, Calif., where she is scheduled to photograph a wedding on Saturday, Nov. 14.

She first shared her predicament in a TikTok video, explaining that her flight was scheduled to depart in just two hours when she learned about the nationwide grounding. Rather than wait to find out whether her flight would be canceled or delayed, she decided to drive.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’d never experienced anything like this or even heard of a nationwide ground stop on this scale,” Sydney tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.

The decision comes with its own uncertainty. Sydney says she still needs to cancel her rental car reservation and find out whether she is eligible for a refund. She also doesn’t know whether her original flight might eventually depart, meaning she could end up making the 10-hour drive unnecessarily while losing money on her travel arrangements.

“It’s been a lot of waiting, refreshing updates, and trying to make the best decision with the information available,” she tells PEOPLE.

Her husband is making the drive with her, and she says she has already prepared everything for the wedding. Her plan is to arrive, get some sleep and wake up ready to photograph the celebration.

Sydney has also chosen not to tell the couple about her travel complications because she doesn’t want to cause them unnecessary stress the night before their wedding.

“This is such an important day for them, and I don’t want travel complications to take away from their excitement,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’ve made up my mind that I will be there, no matter what. Making sure I’m there to capture their wedding is my number one priority.”

Other travelers also found themselves making unexpected changes to their plans as the grounding unfolded.

At Los Angeles International Airport, one traveler told Fox 11 Los Angeles that most passengers appeared to be handling the situation calmly, though he noticed one mother trying to retrieve medication for her child from checked luggage.

“I haven’t seen anybody really upset other than one mother who had medicine for her kid in the checked bag and was trying to figure out how to get that. So that that seemed like more of a tense situation,” he said.

The traveler added that he was not particularly worried about the delay, saying, “Yeah, no complaints on my side. I’m not in the plane somewhere trying to figure out how to get down, so I’m good.”

However, a couple at the airport described a more frustrating experience. They had been scheduled to fly to London for vacation but were trying to find another airline after their plans were disrupted, they told Fox 11.

“We found out once we were on the plane,” they said, explaining that they remained onboard for about an hour and a half. Although passengers were initially unable to get off because the plane did not have a gate, the couple said the crew provided regular updates.

“Everybody was upset. It’s understandable. You’re here early in the morning. You already have your days planned out. So for something like this to happen, it really does hit you,” they told the outlet.

Other travelers decided not to wait around for flights to resume. Yehya Siddiqui was waiting at Newark Liberty International Airport for a flight home to Montreal when he learned about the ground stop, CNN reported.

Siddiqui, 37, who was visiting New York for client meetings, quickly booked a rental SUV and planned to drive to Canada, stopping in Albany, N.Y., to sleep along the way. His original flight home on Thursday, Nov. 12, had already been canceled because of thunderstorms, and he had been rebooked for Friday, according to CNN.

The disruption also caught passengers at Yellowstone Regional Airport in Cody, Wyo., just as the airport’s final flight of the day was preparing to depart. The plane was nearly pulling away from the gate when passengers were told to get off, office manager Lisa Stott told Cowboy State Daily.

By Friday afternoon, passengers were waiting in a holding room. Because TSA personnel had already left for the day, anyone who exited the secure area would not have been able to return through security to board if flights resumed, Stott told the outlet.

She said passengers seemed more uneasy than frustrated, particularly because the FAA had not provided an explanation for the disruption.

“I think they’re more on edge than frustrated,” Stott said.

“It just brings you back to 9/11,” she added. “You just get a little nervous.”

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Friday’s grounding marked the second nationwide halt of all departing flights since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the first since a brief two-hour halt in January 2023.

The FAA issued the ground stop shortly before 4 p.m. ET, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” according to an FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisory. The ground stop was canceled at 8:15 p.m. ET.

The agency confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE that the nationwide grounding was prompted by “communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” The FAA said technicians were investigating the problem and would provide updates.

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