Local
Bay Area Airports Still Reeling Sunday: 219 Delays, 74 Cancellations After Nationwide Ground Stop
A day after the FAA lifted a nationwide ground stop, SFO, San Jose and Oakland airports reported 219 delays and 74 cancellations as of 9 a.m. Sunday, stranding travelers and gutting a Milpitas family's wedding plans.
Bay Area air travel remained snarled Sunday morning, a day after a nationwide ground stop was lifted, with the region's three major airports collectively reporting 219 delays and 74 cancellations as of 9 a.m., according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.
San Francisco International Airport accounted for the bulk of the disruption, with 138 delays and 54 cancellations. Mineta San Jose International recorded 46 delays and 12 cancellations, while Oakland International logged 35 delays and eight cancellations. The Federal Aviation Administration has said it expects fully normal operations to resume, but the recovery arrived too late for many travelers whose plans were upended when flights were halted Friday.
Among them was the Bhamidipati family of Milpitas, whose destination wedding weekend in Austin, Texas, was thrown into disarray. The family had planned a traditional Indian ceremony in the South Bay before flying more than a hundred guests to Texas on Friday. Instead, they found themselves stranded at San Jose alongside thousands of other passengers.
"We were all supposed to fly out Friday, but yeah that didn't happen," said Sandy Bhamidipati.
Sandy, his wife, their son and her parents scrambled to book seats across different airlines and airports. By Saturday afternoon they had secured exactly one ticket â for the groom, who was expected to barely make it to his own wedding on Sunday. The celebration is now projected to draw only 20 to 30 of the more than 100 guests originally expected, with friends and relatives from Arizona and elsewhere unable to secure flights.
"I'm happy that the groom, at least, was able to fly, but the wedding party, they don't even know how many people will show up," Bhamidipati said.
The financial toll may be steep. Bhamidipati said he is uncertain whether he will recover money spent on hotel and Airbnb bookings or on flights reserved through a third-party vendor, and that American Airlines could not honor those third-party reservations because it had no available seats. Between rebooked flights, catering and lodging, the family estimates it could lose tens of thousands of dollars, and some vendors have already said it is too late for refunds.
Flightradar24, another tracking service, reported 41 cancellations and 180 delays at Mineta San Jose alone. Conditions were worse at some airports elsewhere in the country, according to the tracking data.
The figures are as of 9 a.m. Sunday and were expected to shift as the day wore on. Travelers are advised to check with their airlines before heading to the airport.