Flight Delays and Cancellations in RSW Due to FAA Issues

FORT MYERS, Florida. We spent the whole day at the Southwest Florida International Airport and people kept telling us how they are facing some kind of problem. The delays and cancellations of today’s FAA releases affected the entire country and continued throughout the day. Delays range from 40 minutes to over 4 hours, with some flights canceled entirely.

This has caused some confusion for travelers in RSW because many of the people I spoke to have connecting flights. They are not sure if they will make it or make their second flight to return home from the next airport.

“I was a little worried because I am in school and I want to get to Denver so we can get to my kid’s school without missing anything and right now my flight from Fort Myers to Atlanta is on time but my flight from Atlanta in Denver is delayed. I have no idea what will happen and I’m afraid I’ll have to stay overnight in Atlanta,” says Cheryl Papasodero.

While other travelers hope to get back to work on time… “I would say probably the biggest challenge is making sure we get to work because there is a big cascade of consequences if we don’t get back to work tomorrow,” Shirley Kent says.

And not only are travelers worried about getting back to work on time, they’re also worried about how connecting flights will perform.

“Our second flight and transfer was cancelled, so we just finished negotiating with American Airlines and they were able to change our flight so now we’re landing in a different city so we can get on another flight to try and get back home — so It seems to be working, but once we arrive in Charlotte, we’ll just have to check if other flights are delayed as well.” And many others facing the same problems as Carla Henke trying to get back to Minnesota: “Well, let’s see, this morning we were at our hotel, listening to the news and could hear in the background: “Oh, the Federal Aviation Administration – computers down” and it’s like “Oh my god… this is going to be a great day. Luckily, we didn’t have any plans for the day or anything, so we just figured it was travel day and you’ll just get on with it. Right? That’s all you can do!”

Carla and her husband told me that they were several hours late; then, even while we were chatting, they received another notice to postpone their flight by another hour, making it a 4 hour delay, adding, “I’d rather be delayed going back in the snow and cold in Minnesota than have my flight delayed to paradise.” and be on Marco Island.”

On Wednesday morning at 9 am, a travel announcement appeared on the RSW website stating that flights were resuming across the country and that passengers should check with their airline for the most up-to-date information on flights to RSW.

If you’re planning on traveling tonight or tomorrow, be sure to check with your airlines to make sure you’re not delayed as we know flights at all airports have been impacted today.