What To Know
- An FAA nationwide ground stop disrupted air travel Friday after air traffic controllers’ radar and telecom systems became overloaded.
- Former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe shared her fears about the disruption and booked an airport hotel after a long wait.
- Brooks Nader and Alix Earle canceled appearances at a Louisiana bar because of the travel delays.
As the Federal Aviation Administration’s nationwide ground stop halted air travel on Friday, TV stars were among the thousands of travelers who faced delays.
The Bachelorette Season 11 star Kaitlyn Bristowe, for example, posted social media updates from an airport bar. “Guys, I’m at the airport, and there’s, like, a nationwide shutdown of flights,” she said in her Instagram Stories on Friday. “I’m just sitting here, having a Guinness. And we don’t know why. What is going on? I’m scared. I need to get home. I need to get home. I mean, I want to get home safely, so…”
In another clip, Bristowe said, “I am actually really scared. … Everybody’s wondering what the hell’s going on. I’m scared. This feels very eerie.”
Later that night, Bristowe said she’d gotten a room at the closest hotel, though her room looked out upon an indoor pool where kids were playing and screaming.
“I’m f***ing tired,” she said. “I’ve been at the airport since, like, 2. I don’t know what time it is. My only concern is obviously everybody’s safety, and I’m just like, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m so lucky to be in a position where I’m like, I can get a hotel by the airport. I’ll go back at 7 a.m.”
Model and actor Brooks Nader, star of the reality show Love Thy Nader and the upcoming Baywatch reboot, was traveling to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a Bumble pre-LSU game event at the college bar Fred’s in Tigerland on Saturday, as she said on Instagram.
But Nader’s private flight was also grounded, according to TMZ, which reported she was “safe but stuck sitting on the tarmac.”
In her Instagram Stories, Nader told followers she wouldn’t appear at the Bumble event at Fred’s after all, adding that she was “so sad” to be missing it.
Earle Meets World reality star Alix Earle also canceled a scheduled appearance at Fred’s due to Friday’s travel delay, as the bar explained on Instagram.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Friday’s ground stop occurred after air traffic controllers’ radar and telecoms systems became overloaded, according to The New York Times. Duffy added that it would take “some time to get back to capacity” now that the ground stop has been lifted.
The Times reported that FlightRadar24 showed more than 1,000 aircraft airborne and headed to U.S. airports during the ground stop, and Flighty data showed more than 30,000 arrivals and departures had been scheduled for the rest of the day.