By Dean Seal, Allison Pohle, and Jacob Passy
U.S. military action in Venezuela disrupted air-traffic in the country and flights slated to travel across the Caribbean over the weekend, stranding passengers in Puerto Rico and other parts of the region.
The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily prohibited U.S. carriers from operating flights near Venezuela and some Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico. The FAA issued its emergency notice around 1 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday about potential flight risks in the region.
Authorities will lift the airspace restrictions when appropriate, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a similar directive restricting flights operating near Venezuela.
The air-travel restrictions prompted a scramble among airlines to cancel flights slated to travel near Puerto Rico and Caribbean territories. Those cancellations spurred a run on hotels in places like Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, and efforts to find trips home.
Jessica Ramos and her mother rang in 2026 on a seven-night cruise that left Puerto Rico on Dec. 27. While on the ship, they began hearing about potential flight cancellations Saturday morning. But Ramos held out hope for the travel plans -- their Spirit Airlines flight to Philadelphia wasn't set to depart until 2 a.m. Sunday. It was canceled hours later.
The 24-year-old teacher from the Harrisburg, Pa., area is due back at school Monday to teach her second graders. Spirit rebooked Ramos and her mother on a flight scheduled for Jan. 10, departing at 2:59 a.m. The pair have searched for flights along the entire East Coast, Ramos said, to no avail so far. She paid more than $800 for a Holiday Inn for Saturday.
"There are definitely worse things, I mean, financially this is terrible, but at least we are on a really pretty island," she said. "It's just a really pretty and expensive island."
Spirit Airlines didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
JetBlue Airways said Saturday morning that it canceled about 215 flights across its system. "We will continue to monitor when the Caribbean airspace will reopen and operations can resume," said a company representative, adding that customers whose flights are canceled can rebook or request a refund.
As of 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday, 200 flights out of San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport had been canceled, according to flight-data specialist FlightAware. The flights represented 58% of the airport's total departures.
Other Puerto Rico airports in Aguadilla and Ponce also reported canceled flights.
Puerto Rico's tourism officials have been working across the air, cruise and lodging sectors to address the situation in a "responsible and orderly manner," Willianette Robles Cancel, executive director of the government's tourism authority, said in a statement. Work is continuing to find hotel accommodations and identify alternatives for travelers affected by cancellations until normal aviation operations return, the statement said.
Flights were also scrapped at Queen Beatrix International Airport in Aruba and Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, according to FlightAware.
The restrictions resulted in departure delays across some U.S. airports. New York City's emergency management agency said average delays could be around 20 minutes to 90 minutes through Saturday evening.
Cruise itineraries in the Caribbean are currently operating normally but will make adjustments, if needed, to give priority to safety and security, according to a Saturday statement from the Cruise Lines International Association trade group.
Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com, Allison Pohle at allison.pohle@wsj.com and Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 03, 2026 18:19 ET (23:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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