Travelers spent the night on floors and chairs at John Glenn Columbus International Airport and woke Saturday to another round of cancellations and delays, as the fallout from Friday’s nationwide Federal Aviation Administration ground stop continued to ripple through central Ohio flight schedules.
The FAA halted flights nationwide for more than four and a half hours on Friday, November 13, because of a telecommunications issue affecting air traffic control centers, the agency said. The stoppage was canceled at about 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to The Columbus Dispatch, but the disruption it created did not end when the order lifted.
As of about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, at least 13 departing flights and 26 arrivals at John Glenn Columbus International were delayed or canceled, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Travelers slept in baggage claim and outside the terminals, and airline crews were among those scrambling — the Dispatch described one flight attendant searching urgently for a flight to reach the next leg of her schedule.
Among the hardest hit was pianist Ingrid Jacoby, who told a Dispatch reporter in the baggage claim area that she had been awake for more than 30 hours. Jacoby’s first flight from London was canceled at check-in, and she was booked on three different flights to Ohio that were each canceled in turn, she told The Columbus Dispatch. Her fourth flight landed in Columbus at about 1 a.m.
Jacoby tried to leave the airport for a hotel, but rooms near the airport were either booked or priced far above normal, she told The Columbus Dispatch. “In the afternoon, it was $350 [for a room]. In the evening, it was like $850,” Jacoby said, according to the Dispatch. She spent the night at the airport instead. She is in Ohio to give a concert in Granville and is scheduled to return to London on Monday, the Dispatch reported.
Other travelers coped by going home and trying again. Tony Venzin, who works for a pet food company and was traveling to Germany for work, found his Friday night flight canceled, drove home to Logan — about an hour from the airport — and drove back Saturday morning, only to have that flight canceled too, he told The Columbus Dispatch. “I don’t think frustration gets you very far in these situations,” Venzin said, according to the Dispatch. “It’s like, it is what it is. I’m just thankful I can drive home.”
How the disruption unfolded
The ground stop was a national event with a local landing. The FAA’s telecommunications problem halted departures across the country on Friday afternoon, and because aircraft and crews ended the day in the wrong cities, Saturday morning’s schedules at Columbus started from behind even though the stoppage itself had been lifted the night before. The same pattern played out at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where travelers faced 28 cancellations on Saturday as the fallout lingered.
Not every trip unraveled. Tiffany Kroeger, who had watched Friday’s news with anxiety about a long-planned trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, found her Saturday morning flight set to depart on time, she told The Columbus Dispatch. “I think I’ll believe it when I see it,” Kroeger said, according to the Dispatch, adding that she would stay nervous until takeoff.
For Columbus travelers, the immediate impact is practical: anyone flying out of John Glenn Columbus International this weekend should check their flight status before leaving for the airport, expect longer lines at rebooking counters, and be prepared for hotel prices near the airport to stay elevated while stranded passengers clear out. Travelers whose flights were canceled are generally entitled to rebooking on the next available flight on their airline or a refund if they choose not to travel.
The airport disruption lands in a busy stretch for the city, which is also weighing major budget and utility decisions this month — Columbus City Council is set to vote November 23 on proposed water and power increases, part of the debate surrounding Mayor Andrew Ginther’s $1.3 billion budget proposal.
What happens next depends on how quickly airlines can reposition aircraft and crews. The FAA stoppage itself is over, and each departure that leaves Columbus on schedule pulls the local schedule closer to normal. Airport and airline operations typically need a full day or more to fully unwind a nationwide halt of this length, so travelers should expect residual delays into Sunday and check status before heading to the airport.
Photo: Analogue Kid, CC BY-SA