The mood around the Orlando International Airport was a bit grimmer Monday as passengers faced the full shock of the government shutdown-led air traffic control restrictions.
After a weekend in which 80% of flights encountered a delay or cancellation, stacks of bags could be seen at some airlines’ baggage claims, each waiting for an owner that didn’t make their flight.
Passengers who first reported “no issues” later clarified they only met 30- to 45-minute delays. Some said they were supposed to fly in or out days before.
“They started changing us from one door to another door to another door, and at 6pm they canceled our flight,” said Melissa Leier, who was supposed to arrive in Central Florida on Saturday.
Leier said she and her husband moved all their hotel reservations and theme park tickets without issue, while their daughter made the most of the delay by sleeping at a friend’s house.
Karen Dannel was one of the passengers picking through the bag pile after her suitcase arrived on a different plane than her.
She had to return to the airport Monday morning because she was unwilling to wait until 2:30 a.m. for her bag to land from Tennessee.
“Kept texting my husband, OK, now it’s this (time), and then two seconds later, I’d get another email. Apologize for the delay. You’ve been rescheduled,” she said, explaining she eventually found a seat on an earlier flight.
As of late afternoon, nearly 400 flights had been delayed and 66 had been canceled. Most of the flights that didn’t experience issues were international trips.
The numbers were beginning to stack up for Tuesday’s flights, when the airport faced an additional 2% air traffic control restriction imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Dolores and Raymond Talley were hoping to have better luck before that deadline. Their flight was taxiing out of Orlando Sunday night when it had to return to the gate.
They said they deboarded, and then the flight was canceled at 10 p.m. The closest available hotel room was 13 miles away.
Talley, a former service member, said there was little for them to do but relax in the USO office.
“Hopefully we can sit there and take a nap,” she said. “There’s nothing at home that we need to do right now. I’m staying calm because of that.”
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