WASHINGTON — Airlines scrambled to add dozens of extra flights for tens of thousands of stranded travelers throughout the Eastern Caribbean on Sunday after the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight restrictions in the area with some finding no seats available for days.
The FAA had closed airspace in the region to US commercial flights after the US strikes in Venezuela.
On Saturday, US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country, a move that rippled through the region’s airspace and left tens of thousands of vacationers stranded across dozens of sun-soaked islands.
FlightAware showed about 20 cancellations in San Juan on Sunday, compared with 400 a day earlier. However disruptions for some travelers could last for days because seats were scarce and previously scheduled flights were packed for the end of the New Year holiday weekend and school vacations.
Airlines received complaints from some users on X that they couldn’t find available seats back to the US until the end of the week. Some said they didn’t have places to stay or couldn’t afford additional nights at Caribbean hotels.
The FAA has since lifted flying restrictions for commercial carriers, and airlines have begun adding additional flights after the cancellation left customers scrambling during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
US airlines began rebuilding their Caribbean operations Sunday after a US military incursion in Venezuela triggered airspace closures across the region, stranding thousands of passengers trying to return home from winter vacations.
American Airlines said it added nearly 7,000 additional seats to its normal schedule as it resumed operations, in part through more than 43 extra flights and using larger aircraft.
Delta Air Lines will put on extra Caribbean flights, making 2,600 seats available Monday to accommodate displaced customers, it said in a statement
Delta has asked passengers without same-day tickets to avoid airports due to the “physical space limitations of many Caribbean-region airports.”
As airlines scrambled to respond, passengers faced confusion and mounting expenses. Lou Levine, a software company manager from Washington was supposed to return home with his family from Puerto Rico on Saturday. Instead, he found his flight canceled, and after hours of phone calls and social media messages, JetBlue rebooked them for a flight a week later.
“I love it here. But we have dog-sitting and cat-sitting and car rental. It’s fine. It’s just really painful on the wallet,” Levine told the Associated Press, highlighting the unexpected costs and complications many travelers faced.
Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio was among the beleaguered passengers left without easy options to get back to the continental United States. He had to miss the Palm Springs International Film Festival due to travel disruptions, a festival volunteer told CNN.— Agencies
