CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Travelers arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Friday faced another challenge after a nationwide FAA ground stop disrupted flights: finding a way to get home.
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With rental cars in short supply and rideshare prices climbing, some passengers were left scrambling for alternatives, even teaming up with complete strangers headed in the same direction.
Channel 2 Action News checked with eight rental car companies at the airport just before 6 p.m. Friday. Not one had a vehicle available at that location.
The shortage came as travelers looked for alternatives after the FAA ground stop halted flights, leaving many trying to make new plans once they arrived in Atlanta.
Inside the airport’s rental car center, travelers sat on the floor with their luggage, charged their phones and made calls in search of a way out.
For Frankie Cistaro, that meant striking up a conversation with another stranded traveler headed to Indianapolis.
Cistaro said he overheard David talking about his transportation options and offered to share a ride.
“I overheard him talking and asked about his advice with the Uber stuff because we’ve all been stranded here,” Cistaro said. “He said, ‘I’m going to Indiana’ and I’m actually going to Indianapolis, so I said, ‘You want to jump in my car?’”
The two had only just met.
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“I just learned his name is David,” Cistaro said as the two shook hands.
Other travelers were looking for ways to split the cost of getting home.
Mariam Hartzler and a group of five others were trying to get from Atlanta to Tampa. She said rideshare quotes were reaching into the thousands.
“We had one driver say that they could get us $2,700 to get back. Right now it looks like Uber and Lyft are quoting $1,300 and $1,700, so that’s what we’re looking at for six of us to go,” Hartzler said.
The group began connecting with other travelers headed to the Tampa area, hoping to share transportation and make the trip more affordable.
Hartzler said despite the uncertainty, she has seen people looking out for one another.
“It seems like there are a lot of good people trying to get home, so we’re just trying to connect with some,” she said.
Not everyone was left without an option. One traveler told Channel 2’s Brittany Kleinpeter she was able to bypass the rental car lines by finding a vehicle through the Turo app. She still had a seven-hour drive ahead.
For many others, however, getting home remained uncertain Friday night.
And at a rental car center filled with strangers, some travelers were finding that getting where they needed to go meant relying on people they had only just met.
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