LAX, other airports fill with stranded passengers: 'I might spend the rest of my life here'

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred It was a day marked by confusion and frayed nerves as passengers dealt with more than 1,000 delayed flights due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s nationwide groundstop.Passengers were stranded at airports as they waited to see how long the delayswould last and when their canceled flights would be rebooked.Zack Richeimer, 29, found himself stuck at Los Angeles International Airport’s Terminal 6 on Friday, “running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” hoping to find a way to San Francisco.When he arrived at the airport, his flight to San Francisco International Airport was officially delayed, and the screens at the terminal showed no cancellations, so he figured he just needed to wait.Then his phone lit up, with several friends telling him: “You’re stuck.” California The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop Friday for all flights in the United States, according to an advisory from the agency.An Alaska Airlines agent helped him rebook for Saturday, but Richeimer wanted to keep his plans in the Bay Area and scrambled to find a way to make it there.Other travelers around him seemed either to be frantically working on their phones or sitting in disbelief.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” he said.His flight home to New York City on Sunday will depart from SFO, so he tried the rental car companies — hoping to drive instead — but no one was picking up the phone.“I’m also part of a mass exodus from this airport at the moment,” Richeimer said.“I came to L.A.

not realizing that I might spend the rest of my life here.”His plan was to show up at a rental car facility near LAX and hope for the best.The backup plan: his friends’ couch.Irvine resident Maria Moye sat at the Delta terminal at LAX answering work emails while she waited for a rideshare to come t...