DENVER — A wave of flight disruptions tied to a ground stop Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has left travelers stranded in Denver, creating massive ripple effects being felt on Saturday.
Many arrived at hotels near the airport to find no rooms available, even as prices climbed to several hundred dollars a night.
Watch this story in the video player below:
Paul Richards, a Booking.com agent, said the surge in demand overwhelmed hotels near the airport.
"What happened yesterday was, you know, was bizarre," Richards told Denver7's Tyler Melito.
He said rooms that would normally cost around $100 jumped dramatically as demand spiked.
"The prices jumped from $100 to all the way $400, $500 a room," Richards explained.
Richards shared that he spoke with more than 300 travelers on Friday who were trying to get a hotel room, but some travelers had nowhere to stay, even if they were willing to pay the higher prices.
"Most people ended up sleeping at the airport, and some people slept in the cars because they came to the hotel. They sold out the hotel, although they were expensive — $300 — they were willing to pay, but no rooms," Richards said.
Richards pointed to a shortage of lodging on Tower Road in Aurora, and called on the city to add more options.
"I think with the shortage of having — we have on Tower Road, the city of Denver needs either to pump in more money ... to build more hotels on Tower Road, or they have to open up Airbnbs and people around here have homes," Richards said.
Miranda Van Sickle, a server at Moonlight Diner, said she heard story after story from stuck travelers.
"I've heard quite a few horror stories from people that are traveling that are stuck, and it's very unfortunate for them," Van Sickle told Melito. "I had a couple who came in, and they were stuck in Florida until 11:30 last night. Now they're stuck here. They're trying to get back east, so they've been looped around."
Van Sickle said some travelers she spoke with also ran into booking problems after paying for rides to hotels.
"They slept in the airport until 2:00 a.m., and when they were able to get out to a hotel, they were hearing from people that they booked the hotel as soon as they get there. They'd be told, 'Oh, sorry, we actually don't have any vacancies,' so they'd be stuck after paying a $75 Uber fee. And then there's other hotels that are telling them that they won't book for one night. They will only do a minimum of three nights," Van Sickle detailed.
Scripps News Life
What caused the FAA ground stop? Officials point to router failure during update
For some travelers, the disruptions meant missing out on long-awaited family time.
Desi Gibson, who was traveling from Colorado to Tennessee.
"We were on the plane. We were — everyone was loaded up, bags were loaded up, and then you know, captain comes over the radio, and he's telling us like, 'Hey, we have to deboard,'" Gibson shared. "We waited about six hours additionally off the plane, and then — and they finally ... we just decided to leave."
He said the delay cost him a rare visit with family.
"We still plan on getting out eventually, but at the same time ... we miss the main thing when seeing our nieces and nephews," Gibson said. "This was our chance to see them, and then because me and my wife both work in the industry, we were delivering Christmas gifts, and we were unable to do that as well."
Gibson added that his luggage ended up making the trip without him.
"We went back to get our bags, and apparently they flew the bags out, but not us with it," Gibson said.
Gina Paulick, who was visiting Colorado and trying to return home to Milwaukee, said her flight was canceled just as boarding was set to begin.
"I got to the airport on time for an 11 a.m. flight, only to get there for boarding, and they said the flight was canceled," Paulick told Melito.
Paulick ultimately decided to switch airlines entirely, leading her to get on a flight to Chicago and having her husband drive the hour and a half from Milwaukee to pick her up.
Paulick added that the experience has her rethinking future travel.
"This is — this is ridiculous. I'm almost thinking I'm not even going to travel for a long, long time until this all gets figured out. It's not even worth it," Paulick stated.
While she is preparing for the possibility of not making it out Saturday, she isn't going to give up.
"I'm going to get out," Paulick proclaimed. "In fact, I'm going to go right now and go put myself on like three standby lists. So I have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. That's my game plan."
Chris Jimenez, who got stuck in Colorado while traveling from Louisiana to Portland, said he and his group had to push their flight back a day.
"We had to actually push our flight back to today just because our — we somehow got bumped off and then we ended up just having to stay in Denver overnight," Jimenez explained.
Jimenez said he watched hotel prices climb in a matter of hours.
"I think for one night prior to this ... to the grounding taking place, it was like $89 bucks a night, and then we were hanging out with this couple and their two kids that were flying back to Portland as well, and it went from $89 to about $450 in a couple hours," Jimenez detailed.
He said the price jump did not surprise him given the circumstances.
"I wasn't shocked, especially with people needing last-minute stays and stuff. It was kind of what I expected," Jimenez shared with Melito.
Rental car companies also reported a jump in demand as travelers scrambled for alternatives. In a statement, Enterprise said it was seeing an increase in demand across its brands.
"We can confirm we are seeing an increase in demand. We recognize flight disruptions can create unexpected challenges and stress for travelers. Our teams at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo are focused on supporting travelers whose plans have been impacted, and we're doing everything we can to assist customers based on local vehicle availability. We encourage customers to check our websites for the latest availability and location information," the company said.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.