Travelers stranded at Cleveland Hopkins Airport amid FAA nationwide ground stop order

Travelers across the country are all dealing with the same thing: they are stuck at airports, waiting to see what happens next after the FAA issued a ground stop order earlier Friday afternoon.

News 5's Remi Murrey was at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport today, where she spoke with passengers debating alternative travel plans amid the ground stop.

How one man found out his travel plans were stalled:

"I didn't think it was real. I thought it was one of thosewhateverI asked a customer next to me, 'Did you hear anything about ground stop?' They said, 'Yes, we know.' Next thing I know, all the TVs in the little lounge area had CNN on and different news organizations saying nationwide ground stop," said traveler Sherard Thornton.

He works for Amazon in Virginia and is scheduled to work in the morning.

"My reaction was...wait a minute, how do I get home? I do want to get home tonight because I do have to go to work tomorrow. Basically, a lot of confusion, like a nationwide ground stop, which I've never been involved with," Thornton said. "I fly every now and then, and my reaction was confusion. I really didn't believe it until I started seeing the live broadcast, and I'm like, OK, it's real, but now what? Where do I get information from? And nobody had information. And that's what troubled me the mostwe still don't have information."

Thornton said he may end up getting a rental car to drive to Maryland, where he lives, if things don't clear up soon.

"Hopefully the situation will be resolved shortly, and people can start boarding their flights. But if it's a safety factor...of course, us passengers, we don't want that," Thornton said. "So if it's something that's a safety concern with communication with flights in the air, by all means, get it fixed first, and then I'll be happy to board, but until then I'm just gonna stay calm and wait it out and see what happens."

The stop was placed "DUE TO EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES AND FOR REASONS OF SAFETY."

The stop requires all air traffic scheduled to depart U.S. airports to remain grounded. Any flights already airborne would be allowed to proceed to their destinations.

WATCH:

The FAA said the stop would remain in place until further notice.

U.S. cabinet officials said Friday the incident was a communications problem, not an indicator of an attack or emergency.

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