NEW DELHI: The nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US, which brought flight operations to an abrupt halt, has wrecked the travel plans of lakhs of travellers. Among those affected were hundreds of Indians flying to and from the US. The cascading impact of the shutdown is expected to disrupt flights throughout the weekend.
TNIE spoke to some of the affected travellers from India.
Kunal Jain, an entrepreneur travelling from Delhi, is currently stranded in Philadelphia, where he has been stuck for nearly 24 hours. He is staying at a hotel near the airport and keeps checking when flights will resume from Philadelphia airport.
Jain told TNIE, “I reached Philadelphia 20 hours after I started my journey from Delhi. This was the last leg of my trip to reach my destination, Tampa. My scheduled flight got cancelled and I could not find anything else as all flights were getting cancelled.”
After spending five hours at the airport and realising that he would not be able to get another flight, Jain decided to check into a hotel.
“I was checking online to book a hotel. In a few minutes, hotels that had listed rooms at 200 dollars saw their rates surge to 500 dollars and even touch 1,000 dollars in a few cases. I hired an Uber for the journey, which charged me 200 dollars,” he said.
Jain was furious over the exploitation. “This is outrageous. Someone should take responsibility for the extra costs consumers bear,” he said. The parathas and pickles packed by his mother helped him get through the nightmare, he added.
N Kanchana, a vice-president at a private firm in the US, is scheduled to board a flight from Cochin International Airport to Tucson, Arizona, on Monday (November 16). She is now anxious about her travel plans.
“Everything is so unstable right now. Though flight operations are on now, the backlog has to be cleared. I am wondering whether I have to postpone my trip now. I might take the risk and fly too,” she said.
Maahi Kaur's mother, a senior citizen, was stranded for over four hours at San Francisco airport after her flight to Delhi was delayed. Kaur tried to reach out to Air India through a post on X.
She posted, “My senior citizen mother has been stuck at SFO airport for 4+ hours on delayed AI 184. Phone support was no help. Given her age and the long wait, can you please upgrade her ticket or offer lounge access?”
