Ground stop leaves travelers in the dark

So we've been talking about this all night, the National Airline ground stop that has been now lifted, but travelers still facing those challenges. Yeah, delayed and canceled flights from earlier are causing a ripple effect up at San Francisco International Airport. Amber Lee, they're live now with the latest. Amber? Hi, we're inside Terminal 2, and you can see behind me, this is the line of people trying to get flights out with United. And I have a passenger right next to me who's had a long, frustrating day, Kane. Tell me what happened. You were just that close to getting, taking off. Yes, we were on a flight that was scheduled to leave at 1 p.m., going to Mexico City. This is for a group of friends that we're going on as a reunion. And we got on the plane, and then there was an announcement that it was grounded. And then we just got put on hold, and we're just waiting in the terminal since now. And then now, probably like 30 minutes ago, we were told that the flight was canceled. So now I'm trying to see if we can find another flight out to Mexico. Did they explain what was going on? Not really. I mean, just I got the United app and they just keep on saying this has been delayed. It's a schedule next hour, next hour, next hour. And then that was it. And then there really wasn't too much explanation. I mean, the only thing is we kind of Googled like the news and to get more information. That's about it. What was your reaction when you found out what it was? It was a nationwide grounding. I mean, the good thing is that I'm traveling with a bunch of friends. I mean, we're just hanging out. But I have one friend that already made it to Mexico City, which we kind of feel bad for because he's stuck there. And that's another reason to give us more motivation to try to get there because one guy's there, but the rest of us are still stuck in San Francisco right now. At this point, what's your best scenario? Our best scenario is we can leave tonight or maybe tomorrow morning, but I feel like that's not going to happen. He's like, we've been checking online and I don't think there's any flights at all leaving, you know, anytime soon. So I'm just getting in line to see, just try my luck. Yeah, and see if you somehow can get a flight tomorrow, right? How long is this trip supposed to be? Uh... Just like three nights. It was just Friday to Monday. Yeah, I mean, it was like eight guys and we're having a reunion and then we're just all got time off and we're just planning like a trip to go, you know, just have, yeah, just weekend trip, yeah. Not only that, probably the hotel and accommodations already paid for, right? Everything's paid for. And yeah, we planned this like a year ago. So it's kind of frustrating, but, you know, but I mean, we try our best, yeah. At first it was weather, right? I mean, there was some weather delay. Yes, at first we thought it might be the weather because this morning it was raining. But then, actually, that was the initial thing they also said. Well, I think the pilot said it was grounded for nationwide use. But then later on, I think the app was saying it was due to weather conditions. But we didn't believe that because we kind of checked the news. And then, um... And then the weather got nicer and nicer but we keep on getting more and more like delayed like every hour every single hour they keep on saying oh we're on the next like this could be the next hour next hour. But we just never got on. Yeah. You've been here for hours. How have you passed the time other than checking on for flight Well the cool thing is because we're going with a whole bunch of people like so I have like we just like playing cards like a group of people. But I feel like I saw a lot of people start leaving. But like for us, we just hang out because it's just like a bunch of friends, you know, together. And after you take care of this, what's the plan? Just go back home and wait? Most likely. I mean, the ideal situation is we can still get a flight tonight. But most likely we're probably just going to go head home or just go to someone's house and hang out for tonight and see what our plans are next. But the thing is, we do feel bad because one of our friends made it to Mexico. So he's staying in this, like, huge, we rented a VRBO, and he's staying in this huge house by himself right now. Yeah. It's like a nine-bedroom house, and, you know, like, he's there by himself, and all the rest of us is just staying here, you know. You guys are taking it pretty well. What about you? What are your thoughts? I mean, you guys are in good spirits despite, I mean, vacation's going to be cut short or maybe not at all. Yeah, I mean, it's disappointing, but, you know, it is what it is. It's nationwide, so a lot of people are affected, right? And, you know, I think we can get our flight back and eat some of the costs, hopefully get our VRBO kind of refunded, but I doubt it. But we got to at least kind of hang out and spend time, and that's an important thing, you know. So we'll see what happens. What was your first reaction when you're on the plane and they tell you, you've got to get off? We thought it was like... Kind of like for three hours or four hours, right? But then I think the longer it got, it just like got more and more. I don't know. It's hard. We just, it just kind of string you along, right? So you just always have hope. Hope something's going to happen. Yeah. Well, the hope, SFO, the managers did tell us that they allowed some flights to take off that are Hawaii bound and, you know, Asia bound. So there is some hope. Right, right. So, I mean, I think that's, that's the thing is that it's, it's kind of a bummer, but. But, um... Yeah, I mean, you know, what can you do, right? So, yeah. Good luck. I hope you get your flight's rebooked. Thank you very much. Thank you. I hope you didn't cause you to lose your place in line because this line is pretty long. Look, you can see people are just trying to get to where they hope to get to, maybe hopefully tonight. But I see you, a Dallas fan. Are you trying to get to Dallas? We were, yeah. Yeah. Tell me what your day's been like. It's been horrible. We've been stuck here since about like 2.30. Our flight was supposed to leave at like 4.45, but yeah, it's been horrible. Did you know there was a nationwide grounding that caused no flights to take out, but at three they started letting some flights out? Yeah, so we found out about it right as we got to the SF area and we're just trying our luck, so yeah. So, I mean, what was the plan? I mean, get there tonight and then the game on Sunday, right? Yeah, yeah. We had a full little itinerary planned, but now it's put back. I'll be right back. Is it costing you, I mean, some money? For sure, yeah. What have you paid for? Flights. So, I mean, have you tried to rebook and it hasn't worked? Yeah, so we tried to rebook on the app. There's, like, no available flights. We're just going to, you know, see what customer service has to offer, but... We might have to buy new tickets. We're not sure yet. Still trying to figure it out. Thank you for speaking with us. Good luck on that. You could see that everybody, like I've been saying, really in good spirits despite a long, hard day. You know, just seeing your flights keep getting delayed and finally canceled and now trying to get a flight out, hopefully tonight. So we'll have to wait and see. Now back to you. Long day indeed, Amberley in San Francisco. Thanks so much.