SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The Federal Aviation Administration has declared a nationwide ground stop. That means all flights across the U.S. are grounded and millions of passengers are stranded. NPR's Ava Berger is at Reagan National Airport here in Washington, where she has been talking to passengers. Hey, Ava.
AVA BERGER, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: I want to hear what people are telling you, but first, catch us up. What do we know so far about what caused this stoppage?
BERGER: Well, the Trump administration has been quick, Scott, to note that this appears to be a technical failing. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin says there's no indication of a threat to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted on social media, the technicians are investigating. But this is an extraordinarily rare occurrence, Scott. The U.S. has only seen one - I've only seen one other nationwide ground stoppage in the last two decades.
DETROW: So, Ava, as soon as this became clear what was going on, you went straight to DCA, the airport just outside of Washington, D.C. Tell me what you're seeing.
BERGER: So, Scott, I'm sitting on the ground - just a picture for you. I'm sitting on the ground at the airport with a lot of other people tonight. And people are still a little in the dark about what's happening here. I even chatted with a few airline agents at the ticketing counter, and they also didn't have any information. Despite no one really knowing what's going on, it's actually pretty calm here. People told me they're used to being delayed by airlines, and they're just going to wait and see what happens. Although, as I've been here for the past hour, I've seen that flight board get more and more red with those canceled flights.
DETROW: Yeah.
BERGER: And I just heard my first ground stop announcement. They announced that there's still a ground stop. And that flight tracker FlightAware has counted more than 2,000 canceled flights so far. I was actually standing with Alexis White (ph) when she got her first notification from Delta.
ALEXIS WHITE: I've gotten nothing from Delta - whoa. OK. It just came in now. Flight has been delayed.
BERGER: And at that point, it was only delayed an hour. So she and her husband had some hope. They were going to take advantage of the extra time to enjoy some dinner together.
DETROW: All right. Well, that's a positive spin. You've been talking to a lot of other people, too. What are other people telling you?
BERGER: Like I said, many of them are just waiting it out. I talked to another couple that is not going to check their bags yet to avoid them being lost if the flight never takes off. We know that is a headache. It's also been another positive spin moment, a moment for gallantry. I saw Suze DiPietro (ph). She was sitting on the ground eating a sandwich. That was her dinner for tonight, and her flight was delayed, but she decided she didn't want to fly anymore.
SUZE DIPIETRO: I live in Ocean City, New Jersey. So my husband, my hero, is driving down from New Jersey to come get me. He's a good guy. But I will tell you, I am - this really is very frightening to me.
BERGER: Yeah. That - she mentioned it's frightening. And also, that's a three- or four-hour drive. And as we were talking, her husband called and said his ET is in about three hours...
DETROW: All right. Well, shout out...
BERGER: ETA.
DETROW: ...To that husband. What else can passengers expect, though? Or do we even know?
BERGER: It's unclear still right now, Scott. The grounding only started a few hours ago. But if we look back to 2023, when - that was the last nationwide ground stoppage, we can get some idea. Back then, it was also - it was a technical failing that lasted a couple of hours. And the bad news then was some travelers had to rebook, deal with delays or scrape their travel plans altogether.
DETROW: Yeah. That is NPR's Ava Berger talking to us from Reagan National Airport. Thank you.
BERGER: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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