NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Travelers at Nashville's airport faced flight delays this weekend as the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic reductions have started to create ripple effects across the country.
While BNA is not among the airports experiencing that escalating 10% reduction in air traffic, passengers are still feeling the impact as many flights to and from Nashville route through affected airports.
"Frustrated, very frustrated. I mean we know what's going on around the world, but we thought it was going to happen next week," said Kelli Ward, a traveler visiting Nashville from New York.
The departure board at BNA told the story of disruptions Sunday, with multiple delays listed.
Ken and Kelli Ward were forced to cancel their flights and switch airlines at the last minute to avoid getting stranded in Orlando after a delayed flight in Nashville would have caused them to miss their connection.
"We're just trying to get home," Kelli Ward said.
Nashville musician Jon-Paul experienced an even more challenging ordeal Saturday when attempting to fly to New Jersey for a wedding.
After his original 8:30 a.m. flight was delayed, he finally boarded around 10:30 a.m., but that was only the beginning of his troubles.
"We got on the plane, and then started heading out towards the runway, and then turned back and they wanted us to deboard because there was a delay," Jon-Paul said.
After deboarding and waiting, passengers were allowed back on the flight, only to experience the same scenario about an hour later.
"Deboarded the plane again, so at this point it's like one o'clock, and the flight was originally supposed to take off at 8:30," he said.
When airline staff informed passengers they could be waiting nearly 12 hours with no guarantee of departure, Jon-Paul made the difficult decision to abandon his trip.
"They said a lot of flights are getting canceled, it's probably going to get canceled, if it doesn't, it's going be around 8:00 p.m.," Jon-Paul said.
Concerned about potentially missing his return flight even if he made it to the wedding, Jon-Paul went home instead.
While United Airlines and his hotel provided full refunds due to the flight disruption, he still lost money on expensive Uber rides and missed an important milestone.
The experience left him expressing frustration shared by many travelers this weekend.
"This is supposed to be like a first-world country, and it's like, it's all falling apart because, it's just insane," Jon-Paul said.
We reached out to BNA for an interview about this story, the airport provided the following statement.
Nashville International Airport® (BNA®) is not among the airports affected by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to reduce air traffic by 10% across high-volume markets. However, we do fly to many of the impacted airports. We highly recommend all passengers check directly with their airline prior to arriving at the airport for the most up-to-date flight information and any potential travel impacts.
BNA will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with our federal partners to ensure the safe and efficient operation of all flights.
Airport officials recommend arriving at the airport two hours early for domestic flights and three hours ahead of time for international travel.
This story was reported on-air by Robb Coles and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Coles verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
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