The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday halted all departing flights nationwide, citing "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," an extremely rare move that delayed and canceled countless flights for hours before the stop was lifted shortly before 8:30 p.m.

The FAA announced the unprecedented ground stop just before 4 p.m., prompting a wave of cancellations at some of the nation's busiest travel hubs, including New York's LaGuardia and JFK airports. Some 26,000 flights were delayed and another 5,000 canceled before Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced at an 8:15 p.m. press briefing that the ground stop had been lifted.S2

Travelers were left stranded across airports. Hannah, a member of the US Navy, said she had been traveling for 30 hours and was on her last leg home to Florida from deployment when her LaGuardia flight was canceled. Hairstylist Sarai Martinez, 42, who was due to fly home to Boston at 6 p.m., said she was on the verge of leaving her bag behind, while at LaGuardia an announcement told passengers to expect a two- to three-hour wait to collect luggage checked on canceled flights, a delay a worker attributed to the massive number of bags to sort.S2

Frustration persisted even after the ground stop was lifted. Alfred Khan, 55, sitting on the floor of Kennedy airport with his bags, said he felt abandoned by the airline and criticized American Airlines for not offering even a bottle of water or food vouchers, adding that the problem was less the delay than the lack of compassion and poor communication. Carlos Abarca, 54, who was due to fly to Washington, DC, at 5 p.m., said he spent hours searching for a rental car, bus or train ticket, only to find those options sold out.S2