Philadelphia airport chaos: Hundreds of flights disrupted, luggage piles up at PHL

Back to Philadelphia Live. I'm Dawn Timoney. Yesterday, as you probably know, the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop at airports all across the country. No planes were taking off. It lasted nearly five hours. The FAA said it was a communications issue. Flights have resumed, but the chaos at airports all over continues. Flights are delayed. They're canceled. It's just a nightmare. It's a mess. Our Jeff Skoborski is live for us at Philadelphia International Airport. And Jeff, I know you've been talking to people trying to get to where they're going and it's beyond frustrating. Yeah, travel nightmare continues here at Philadelphia International Airport. We're at 340. 342 flights have either been canceled or delayed and that number, Dawn, continues to tick up. And to put that into perspective, 450 flights yesterday were canceled or delayed due to that ground stoppage by the FAA. Take a look behind me here. At the United desk, a mound of luggages, suitcases piling up here. Passengers are having their luggage sent here as they are having issues getting on flights. Remember, there are crews, pilots, flight attendants that are out of position, as well as planes, people having to rebook due to delays and cancellations and missing connections. One person we just met over here, this is India. And you're coming from Wisconsin? Yes, I'm coming from Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And you have somewhat of a crazy story, like many people. Why don't you share your story with us? Yes, crazy story. So my first flight was one of the first flights that got affected when they put that hold on all of the airplanes, and then it took it through all through the night, and I basically spent 24 hours at the airport plus trying to catch a flight. And we've seen you over here, you're obviously clearly waiting for your luggage. Where's your luggage? It's in transit. I'm a very hopeful person, so it's coming, but I don't have it right now. Yeah, and so how long have you been waiting for your luggage here? About five hours, yeah. And the frustration level, I imagine, is pretty high. Yeah, it's pretty high, but we will see it through. But yes, it's been a crazy—I can't believe I was a part of this. Usually I'm not a part of things like this, so this is crazy. What did you do to kind of pass the time, 24 hours at the airport? You slept at the airport? Oh, yes, I had to sleep. I had to try to sleep at the airport. Oh, you poor thing. Yes, on the chairs. So, yeah, I had to try to sleep at the airport. What did I do to pass the time? Unfortunately, look at my phone, look at the reports. But, yeah, just trying to stay positive. Have you ever been involved in anything like this? No, I have not, luckily. Yeah, but this time I was a part of it. I was in it. It was from start to finish. Are you a little like worried about getting on a plane again, having to somehow get out of here? You know, I thought about that. It kind of made me be like, I don't want to travel like this anymore. But I love traveling. So this will not stop me. But it definitely left an imprint on me. I'm getting air tags as we speak. Air tags and trying to stay patient. I imagine, you know, you've seen a lot of people frustrated the last 24 hours. Yes, people have been very frustrated, yes. But there's been a lot of encouraging people, too. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, best of luck getting your bags. I know you've been here a while. I can't believe you've been this patient. I don't know if I could be this patient waiting for bags. Did you travel today? No, I've been here the whole time. Oh, okay. Not 24 hours, but I understand. It feels like it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, best of luck getting your bags, and that is just one of so many stories, Dawn, that we have heard. She's clearly waiting for her bag. She's been here for quite some time, and again, if you look over here at the United desk, we see just areas of luggage just continuing to pile up here. Because everybody is out of position. Somebody we spoke to earlier, Dawn, was booked on five different flights, three of which have been canceled. And once again, she's spending another night in a hotel here in Philadelphia trying to get back. to Boston after she was diverted from Miami. So it has just been a logistical nightmare for passengers across the country and really around the world. This is at such a domino ripple effect. And, of course, today the FAA apologizing to customers and passengers having to deal with all of this that started with a maintenance upgrade done. Yeah, and the FAA is saying, Jeff, that they think travel should resume to normal by tomorrow night. I find that hard to believe. I can't believe the people you talked to, like that last lady was actually smiling. I would be so livid. But talk a little bit, too, about the impact on sports teams and the refs and the players because that's like also throwing a monkey wrench into everything. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for college football, for example, every team that plays today travels on Friday, right? And so the team that Penn State's playing tonight, Minnesota, they were among... Just about every team in the country that was traveling that ran into that that had to take an airplane. And so Minnesota was at their, it's at the airport yesterday in St. Paul, Minneapolis. They went back to their facility. They went back home. They ended up flying out this morning, and they got to State College today around noon for a 7 p.m. game. That just does not happen. And look, there's been college football games tonight that are on Fox 29. Those games have been moved. They've had to slide due to just Just the chaos going on, not just with the sports teams but Also, the referees. The NFL has had to rearrange some of the linesmen and judges and refs just because of just the logistical nightmare created. Because as the teams travel private, the referees, they travel commercial. So it has just created a major domino effect. And we've seen in college football, Ole Miss and Oklahoma supposed to play today. They have been moved to tomorrow. So it has just been really really a challenge across the board not just for your everyday traveler somebody going on vacation or for business or pleasure whatever it is but also these sports leagues but the nfl for the most part other than the refs has not really been affected I did. i don't believe the flyers have been affected they've been in columbus a day ahead of time so they don't really have an issue so but yeah i mean it has just been really a challenge for everybody due to this travel i did meet one customer though first First time that said she had no issues coming in from Seattle today. She was on a flight this morning, no issues, got here, was not affected. So that is certainly rare company when you talk to the masses here at Philadelphia International Airport tonight. I've seen stories, Jeff, where people were on their way to a wedding and then were definitely not going to make it, or they were on their way to a gala and the gown that they were going to wear was in their luggage and they had no idea where their luggage was. And I even heard some people just giving up thinking they weren't going to find their luggage ever. her. And then you see that pile of luggage behind you. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, the person we just interviewed, she went into the United desk trying to figure out where her luggage is. I mean, she said that she landed around two still doesn't have her luggage has come back to the airport. It's clearly still not here, trying to locate it. I mean, I mean, look, we've all at some point have experienced challenges traveling, weather-related or mechanical issues, things like that. But this is, of course, rare. Just the second time since 9/11 there has been a FAA ground stoppage. Yeah, absolutely. The last time was in 2023. Jeff, thank you very much. Appreciate it. We will see you later on tonight on Fox 29 News at 10. Thank you, Jeff.