'I definitely can't sit here': Travelers at PHL being forced to pivot amid nationwide ground stop

FAA has issued a nationwide ground stop halting air travel across the country due to a communications issue. We know that this is only the second time since 9-11 that there has been a nationwide ground stop. All airports across this country have been ordered to stop departures. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saying a communications issue has impacted all air route traffic control centers. He says FAA technicians right now are investigating. How this all happened. Yeah, this is an unusual and rare event that we are experiencing right now. The other nationwide ground stop since 9-11 was in January of 2023 when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. And we know the delays that will come with this for people who are on the ground in the airport or trying, of course, to get out tonight. Planes already in the air have flight plans and are allowed to continue on their path. Duffy held a press conference a few moments ago. He says there's no reason to be concerned about loved ones who may be flying right now. And that was Mark Wayne Mullen, the Department of Homeland Security, who was speaking and is assuring everyone is safe. We were wanting to assure all the American people this isn't a safety to the American people or another 9-11. I think that's what a lot of people are trying to make the comparison to, and that's not the case. Well, there is no timeline yet on when that order may be lifted. Action News reporter Elizabeth Worthington live now at Philadelphia International Airport with the latest on what's happened there, Elizabeth. Yeah, well, great, and Shari, like you guys mentioned, this is truly a very historic and rare and unprecedented event, but standing here at the baggage claim at PHL, it seems just like any ordinary Friday night. You would not know that anything out of the ordinary is going on if you just walked in here right now, but then once you start talking to people, you can get the sense that, okay, people are really dealing with some major impacts here, but flights are able to land. We've been talking to people who have. We've gotten off the plane safely here at PHL, their destination, and are either going home or we talked to people who are visiting for the weekend and they were able to make it here. They're some of the lucky ones. But taking a look at the arrivals board, flights are still landing. It looks like a lot of them are just landing either on a delay. So it looks like the timing is just very, very fluid for all those flights that are currently in the air. But like I said, these are the lucky people who are landing right now. It's going to be a major issue kind of throughout the weekend probably. A lot of the airports are going to be starting to basically play a game of Tetris. There's a lot of people who are sitting on the tarmacs right now. Eventually, they're going to have to return to their gates, and then gate space is just going to run out. So it's going to be a big issue. So while it's normal down here at baggage claim, I imagine that upstairs for people who are waiting at the gate and people who are waiting on the plane, it is a much different story, people trying to figure out when they're going to be able to take off tonight. If at all. So we did talk to one person who just landed a little bit ago and she said that she heard the pilot say there was some sort of communication issue that was causing issues throughout the country, but she didn't know how massive of a problem it was until she got off the flight. We also talked to another person who was supposed to take off around 515. She heard about the issue. She has a cat with her and she said, Nope, I am not risking it. I am just going home and giving up. People started buzzing on the plane. You know, one person hears one thing, so they're showing all of it. It felt like a movie, honestly. And then when we got out into the terminal, everybody's just sitting there on their phones. It literally felt like I called my mom. I was like, I feel like I'm in a movie right now and I don't even know what happened. When they told us they had no idea how long it might be, I was like, OK, I have my cat with me. I definitely can't sit here like I don't have food for him. I don't have water. So that's when I gave up. So Haley, the second person we talked to, she rebooked her flight for Monday. She's trying to get to Denver. The first person we talked to, Cynthia, she is here for the Rocky Run. She is trying to get out of Philly back to Detroit on Sunday. It remains to be seen how long of an issue this is going to be, not only for tonight, but then once the problem gets resolved, how long of a backlog there's going to be throughout the weekend. Is this going to be, you know, lasting issues until Saturday, until Sunday, until Monday? It remains to be seen just how I'm curious, as you arrived there on scene, Elizabeth, was there any indication that people really had a clue of what they were walking into? We're trying to see how fast is the word traveling for travelers. Yeah, that was kind of what I was most surprised by. When we pulled in, I wasn't really seeing a lot of people buzzing around talking about this major news story right now. Obviously, you heard that one girl, Cynthia, who was on her flight, and she kind of started hearing people buzzing about it on the plane, who were checking their phones, who had Wi-Fi on the plane, that maybe this is an issue. But when she got off the plane, she said people who were sitting at the gate, they were all staring at their phones. They were locked in on the news, trying to figure out what's going on. I imagine that people who are here in baggage claim, They're feeling pretty good. They're feeling pretty lucky that they got off the plane, so they're not as worried. Do you want to talk to us real quick? We're live on the air right now. So, were you supposed to take off? It's my birthday. I'm heading to Nashville. Thank you very much. I'm heading to Nashville with my wife, and we're all grounded here. I've just been drinking a Chick-fil-A. It's rough, but... That part's not rough, but so what time was your flight to take off? I think like 5-ish, but we're heading out. We're going to go out and eat in Philly or something. Just trying to make the most of it. You're just giving up. Yeah, it's rough. But it's all right, you know. A lot of good people here at the Philly airport. We're drinking. We're having fun. So it's all good. So we obviously can't get through security to see what it's like up at the gate. But what is the vibe like right now? Are people breaking out? People are upset. But, you know, like I said, trying to find the silver lining. Trying to make the most of it. So it's all right. Chicken and pizza is hopping off. It always is. Right over there. It always is. I have one more question for you. And then I'll let you go back to your birthday celebration. I appreciate it. The airline, have they communicated anything to you? Are they going to be rebooking you? Are they going to be giving you a refund? What are they saying? I mean, I don't know. You've got to hope for the best at this point. I mean, I hope I get a refund. It's my birthday. I don't want to be out, you know, five, six hundred bucks, but it is what it is. So, we'll make the most of it. You haven't heard anything from the airline yet? No, I haven't. We're flying Frontier, so we'll see. We'll see. Good luck. Happy birthday. What's your name? Anthony. Happy birthday, Anthony. Have a good night. Sorry that it had to go this way. But we also did hear from a group who was trying to go to Nashville for a bachelor party. Just a few minutes ago. And same thing. They said they're giving up on the flight, but they are renting a car and they are going to try to make it to their destination. A lot of people going to Nashville. But yeah, sorry. I was, again, initially surprised at how little people were talking about it when we first got to baggage claim. But that might be because people either hadn't really heard about it yet because they were in the air when it happened or they were just considering themselves lucky that they didn't have to deal with it and just kind of. Ready to go home and get on with their night. What a great attitude from Anthony, celebrating his birthday and stranded. But he found a place to have a nice beverage. I think that Shakey's and Keith Spears might have helped a little bit. Yeah, probably so. Elizabeth, we heard federal officials saying that there's no reason, really, for folks to be alarmed and those people that are in the air will make it to the ground safely. I know you've spoken to some people there. Is there any sense that people are panicking about what's going on at this point? No, I think that that has been communicated pretty well from from the officials that this is not, you know, any any reason why people need to feel like they're in danger. So the one person we talked to Cynthia, I asked, you know, were you nervous at all when you were in the air? And she said, No, not really. The pilot said this was a communications issue. This is a technology issue. So she didn't really, there was no alarm bells going off in her head. I guess the pilot, you know, remained calm while he was in the air, as I'm sure that they're trained to do. But yeah, we are not really seeing a lot of a lot of panicked energy. A lot of people Like that gentleman that we just talked to. We're kind of just rolling with it.