By Gordon Ebanks, CNN
(CNN) — The US military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Máduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, also left stranded tourists wondering how to get home — or to their next destination — after the FAA temporarily closed airspace over the Caribbean.
Julie Hurwitz was one of many left with a travel-induced headache after airlines cancelled hundreds of flights from Caribbean destinations, like San Juan and Aruba, according to FlightAware.
The news for Hurwitz came via a 3 a.m. Delta notification on her phone, which declared her return flight to Atlanta was canceled “with no information, really,” she said. She had just spent a week with extended family in St. John on the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“I found out about the whole situation from other people,” said Hurwitz.
Though the FAA has since lifted flying restrictions for commercial carriers, airlines have begun adding additional flights after the cancellation left customers scrambling during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
Delta has asked passengers without same-day tickets to avoid airports due to the “physical space limitations of many Caribbean-region airports.”
Unsure of what else to do, Hurwitz’s party of 12 searched for a place to stay, as the adults in the family called out of work. Even camping became a possibility.
She’s hoping their new flight, now scheduled for Tuesday, leaves as planned.
“My niece’s fifth birthday is on Tuesday, so we’re hoping that it doesn’t delay her party.”
After their vacation in Anguilla, Kelly and John Maher, from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, were about to board a ferry Saturday that would have taken them to their airport in Saint Martin, when they found neither their flight, nor would any other American commercial aircraft, be leaving that day.
With a cancellation notice that left them with more questions, they were left to rely on “whispering amongst the people who are waiting for the ferry,” for a potential explanation. They heard “chatter on, hey, ‘this is something going on based on the military action that the US government took.’”
“Everything’s shut down,” said John Maher.
Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio was also counted among the beleaguered passengers left without easy options to get back to the United States. He had to miss the Palm Springs International Film Festival after the airspace closure grounded his flight out of St. Barts, reported Variety.
After Saturday’s chaos, flights are more seamlessly leaving from Caribbean airports again. Fifty-seven percent of flights departing Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan — 200 in total — were canceled Saturday, compared to just 4% — or 23 total — on Sunday, according to FlightAware.
“[I]t’s all hands on deck,” read American Airlines’ announcement that the company is adding almost 5,000 more seats across routes in the Caribbean, and one of the largest aircraft in its fleet, the Boeing 777-300, to help ease Saturday’s travel disruptions.
United and Southwest said they are also working on adding more flights as desperate vacationers struggle to find a way home.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
The post Travelers stranded in Caribbean as US military operation sends airlines scrambling to add flights appeared first on News Channel 3-12