Flights resume at BWI after nationwide ground stop

After Friday's nationwide ground stop, flights are taking off again at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, but some travelers are still trying to find a way home.

On Saturday morning, more than 3,200 flights were canceled nationwide. 

At BWI, some travelers returned for a second chance to fly out, while others arrived only to learn their flights had been canceled. Meanwhile, some travelers were left stranded at the airport.

A surprise visit turns into a night at BWI

Peggy Johnston was planning to surprise her grandson in Pittsburgh.

"My whole purpose of the trip was to fly home and surprise my grandson," Johnston said. "We were gonna FaceTime, and then I was gonna just be on his front porch, so that didn't work out."

But Johnston said she ended up spending the night on a bench at BWI.

"So I spent the night on a bench, with some other lovely girls, and there are no rental cars, there are no flights, I'm thinking about getting a hotel for the day," she said.

The ripple effects caused nearby hotels to fill up overnight. Rental cars were hard to find, and some travelers who turned to Amtrak faced delays there, too.

That meant Connor Sheets, another traveler, had to look for other options. 

"Thankfully, the USO, they opened up. They said that they were gonna be open until this thing was fixed, so I give them props for being troopers out there," Sheets said.

What caused the nationwide ground stop?

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said overloaded routers in the nation's aging air traffic control system were to blame.

The FAA's ground stop and the resulting disruptions led to more than 10,000 flight delays and more than 4,000 cancellations nationwide.

What BWI travelers should know

Airlines are still working to get planes and crews back into position. Delays and cancellations could continue throughout the day. Travelers should check their flight status with their airline before heading to BWI.