
American tourists have been left stranded across the Caribbean after the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace to U.S. airlines amid the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in their home on Saturday in an overnight U.S. military operation and brought to New York, where they appeared in court on narco-terrorism charges on Monday.
As a result of the operation, the FAA restricted airspace in the Caribbean and Venezuela until Sunday morning.
Major U.S. airlines — including Delta, American, United, Southwest and JetBlue — were forced to cancel hundreds of flights out of the Caribbean, leaving American tourists scrambling to rebook their flights and find additional accommodations.
American tourists stuck in the Caribbean have been sharing their stories on TikTok.
“I’m currently in Aruba, and I was supposed to leave today, but with everything happening, all flights are canceled officially,” Erin, a New Jersey woman, shared on TikTok on Saturday, alongside the caption, “Not a bad place to be stuck!”
According to an update posted Monday, Erin said she was awaiting her flight back to the U.S. out of Aruba, three days later than intended.
Cam Buttrick, a New York-based woman who was stranded in Curaçao due to the U.S. airspace closure, documented her father’s efforts to rebook their family on flights out of the Caribbean on Sunday. Buttrick wrote on TikTok, “the unique experience of being stranded in the Caribbean while your dad frantically tries to book flights for 8 people.”
Another TikTok user, who goes by the name @QueenEbEyez, was stuck in Grenada after Delta canceled her flight to New York on Jan. 4.
“The flight that I booked, rebooked, was canceled again yesterday,” she said in a TikTok posted on Monday. She was then booked on a flight to Toronto and was set to board a flight to New York from there.
Even celebrities have encountered issues leaving the Caribbean. Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly among the affected passengers struggling to return to the continental U.S. The One Battle After Another star had to miss the Palm Springs International Film Festival after his flight out of St. Barts was canceled, according to Variety. DiCaprio has since returned to the U.S. and was in attendance at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Melissa Gorga was also stranded in Aruba with her family after they rang in the new year.
“wtf is going on,” read Gorga’s since-deleted post on Threads. “Stranded- flight canceled with no rebooking options for weeks?” read another message from the reality star.
Flights resumed at midnight on Sunday, but passengers are still facing lingering delays due to the airspace closure. According to Delta, flights to and from the Caribbean are expected to largely normalize by Tuesday.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
UK forecast to face weaker growth and higher inflation from Iran war - 2
Tremendous Spelunking: Cool Caverns All over the Planet - 3
Tourist trade in Greece and Cyprus suffering from Iran war effects - 4
The wolf supermoon will kick off 2026 with a celestial bang. Here's when and how to see it. - 5
Energy security rifts widen in Europe
Where should we send a real 'Hail Mary' spacecraft? A new study has the answers
Little Italy Mercato brings fresh food and community to downtown San Diego
Manual for Individual accounting Rudiments for Fledglings
Shooting of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro has police searching for a suspect
Pfizer in $41.5 million settlement with Texas over ADHD drug for children
Students were skipping my astrophysics class to play video games – so I turned the class itself into a video game
Artemis moon mission breaks record for distance from Earth
Astronomers detect rare 'free floating' exoplanet 10,000 light-years from Earth
I took my shoes off and went for a barefoot hike. I couldn’t believe what happened next













