{"id":107466,"date":"2026-01-06T11:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/107466\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:44:10","slug":"central-florida-travelers-stranded-across-caribbean-after-airspace-closed-for-maduro-capture-wftv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/107466\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Florida travelers stranded across Caribbean after airspace closed for Maduro capture \u2013 WFTV"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Many travelers are still trying to get back home to the U.S. after airspace in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, was temporarily restricted because of the U.S. military operation in Venezuela Saturday.<\/p>\n

Some travelers arriving in Orlando Monday described the scene at Puerto Rican airports as \u201cchaos and mayhem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travelers stranded in the Caribbean Many travelers trying to return home to Central Florida have faced challenges departing Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n

One Orlando woman, who didn\u2019t want to be named, said it took two days and three attempts to get on standby flights to get back home from San Juan.<\/p>\n

She said on Friday, she was camping out on a beach in Aguadilla when she saw several military drones and aircraft flying right over her. She shared video with Channel 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we saw the planes flying, drones flying everywhere,\u201d said a traveler from Orlando.<\/p>\n

The next morning, she learned the news of the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, capturing Nicholas Maduro.<\/p>\n

The FAA issued a notice early Saturday that it was banning flights from entering the Eastern Caribbean airspace \u201cdue to safety-of-flight risk associated with an ongoing military activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It caused havoc in many airports, including San Juan, where videos show where travelers left their luggage stranded.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travelers stranded in the Caribbean Many travelers trying to return home to Central Florida have faced challenges departing Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n

According to FlightAware, more than 400 flights were canceled Saturday out of San Juan\u2019s airport. 264 of them were in and out of the United States.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travelers stranded in the Caribbean Many travelers trying to return home to Central Florida have faced challenges departing Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n

Channel 9 producer Casey Wright was on vacation in Puerto Rico and planned to fly back Saturday night, but his flight to Orlando was canceled early that morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe woke up that morning to the flight being canceled immediately. Really no explanation,\u201d Wright said. He later learned that all airports in the Eastern Caribbean were affected.<\/p>\n

Even after restrictions were lifted Sunday morning, it has been a scramble for airlines to add flights and rebook flyers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travelers stranded in the Caribbean Many travelers trying to return home to Central Florida have faced challenges departing Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were selling out in seconds. We were trying to book a flight on Tuesday. That one got sold out. Monday got sold out within us purchasing it; like, it was available and when we clicked \u201dbuy” \u2014 it was gone,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

Wright said JetBlue originally told him and his wife that they wouldn\u2019t be able to fly out until later this week. However, they were eventually able to rebook for Tuesday, as flight schedules in the Caribbean begin to improve and airlines begin to add more flights.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Many travelers are still trying to get back home to the U.S. after airspace in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18054,55099,41673,23731,2655,55102,55098,2652,1060,2777,4528,1016,55100,7810,25955,55096,44879,3014,634,55094,4392,115,54371,139,141,140,55103,24801,13720,977,8365,55097,55095,55101,13822,628,4390,976,1045],"class_list":["post-107466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-18054","tag-aguadilla","tag-ashton","tag-ashton_webb","tag-caribbean","tag-casey","tag-casey_wright","tag-central_florida","tag-channel_9","tag-channel_nine","tag-colombia","tag-cuba","tag-eastern_caribbean","tag-faa","tag-flightaware","tag-greenland","tag-greg_orman","tag-jetblue","tag-local","tag-martha_sagasky","tag-mexico","tag-news","tag-nicolas_maduro","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando_ash_channel","tag-orlando_international","tag-orlando_international_airport","tag-president_donald_trump","tag-puerto_rico","tag-rican","tag-san_juan","tag-san_juan_airport","tag-united_states","tag-us","tag-venezuela","tag-vice_president","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}