Across the United States, from Chicago to San Francisco, Boston to Burbank, travelers reported being stuck on the tarmac due to a rare nationwide ground stop that was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday. More than four hours later, the ground stop was liftedallowing flights throughout the country to begin taking off again.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had confirmed on X on Friday afternoon that the FAA had “issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
Secretary Duffy stated that the FAA was investigating the issue.
News agency Axios and other outlets reported that the FAA had issued the ground stop due to what the agency described as “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety.”
The FAA advisory stated that during the ground stop “inbound international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis.”
ABC News and other media organizations noted that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that the government was investigating and that “there was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us.”
He told reporters that “it’s just a telecommunications outage as of now,” adding that “this isn’t another 9/11. I cannot repeat that enough.”
The impact of the outage on flights
More than 8,500 flights across the United States have been delayed as of press time, according to flight tracking site FlightAwarewhich reported that 6,756 flights to, from, and within the United States had been canceled.
Aviation analytics company Cirium reported that some 827 flights had been diverted on Friday, out of which 670, or 81 percent, returned to their origin airport, while 157 were diverted elsewhere.
Previous ground stops
The last time the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop was in 2023when a computer outage brought the country’s aviation system to a standstill. The order went into effect early on the morning of January 11, 2023, and was lifted several hours later that same day.
The 2023 ground stop was due to an outage in what is known as the Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAMs), a pilot communication system.
Prior to that, the last nationwide ground stop occurred following the September 11th attacks in 2001.
What affected travelers can do
For air travelers who are stuck in the fray, there are several things they can and should do.
In a post on Instagram, travel expert and host of the travel show Places to Love, Samantha Brownrecommends that travelers whose flights are stuck in logistical limbo be proactive and book a hotel near the airport ASAP, as rooms are likely to sell out as delays and cancellations pile up. Don’t forget to save receipts for accommodations and meals to accompany any reimbursement claims you might make with your travel insurance provider or credit card company, she says.
She also advises booking a back-up flight using points or miles, ideally later in the day on Saturday or even on Sunday to allow time for all the network delays to unfurl.
And remember that you have a right to a flight rebooking or a refund. “If an airline cancels a passenger’s flight or makes a significant change in the flight, regardless of the reason, airlines are required to provide a prompt refund to a ticketed passenger, including those with nonrefundable tickets, should the passenger choose not to accept the alternative offered, such as rebooking on another flight,” the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) clearly states on its Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard.
For canceled flights, the refund or travel credit should automatically be applied to your account or issuing credit card. Make sure to follow up to check that those payments are, in fact, made.
Source: www.afar.com
