Gillian Horn and her fiancé were on a Delta flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport, bound for a long-planned family trip to Morocco, when the pilot announced the national ground stop over the speakers this afternoon.
“It was obviously met by a huge chorus of groans. Everyone was kind of like, ‘No way!’” she told NBC News.
The couple already had a nightmare two days of travel as their original flight yesterday was canceled due to weather.
Today, they arrived at the airport around 2 p.m. for their 4 p.m. flight to Atlanta, where they would continue on to Marrakesh, when the ground stop was announced and they had to deplane.
The couple scrambled to rebook flights and decided to book one out of the U.S. in hopes of avoiding the ground stop to make it to Morocco. In total, they’ve been rebooked six times since yesterday.
She described Terminal 4 as packed, the Delta help desk line “astronomically long,” and many passengers leaving altogether.
Horn said around 6 p.m. she observed that flights to Europe were still planning to depart.
“We were sitting at a random gate, and it was at Catania, Italy. Out of the blue around 6 p.m. they go whoever to Catania, this flight is going to board in an hour,” she said. “There were claps, actual cheering and claps from the section.”
That inspired her and her fiancé to wait it out. Their flight to Paris was originally set to depart at 7 p.m. but got delayed twice to 9 p.m. She’s hopeful to board soon.
“It could be worse,” she said. “If we were stuck on the tarmac. Could be worse if we weren’t together. … At the end of the day, it’s fine. We want to get there safely. But we want to get there.”
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