Airline crash in the USA delays Brazilian's trip to his father's funeral in Rio

Last Friday (13), businessman Bruno Souza, 26, bought a ticket from Orlando, in the United States, where he lives, to Rio de Janeiro for the funeral of his father, Julio Diniz Pinheiro, 87. The Copa Airlines flight was scheduled for 5pm local time, with a connection in Panama City and arrival in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday morning (14).

But an order from the United States civil aviation agency, the FAA, caused all flights in the country to be temporarily suspended, for around four hours, after a communications failure in control centers, affecting the takeoff of more than 16,000 flights and millions of passengers.

Even after the shutdown ended, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said passengers were still expected to face flight delays and cancellations in the coming days as airlines rearrange their schedules and reposition aircraft and crews to serve areas of greatest need.

Souza contacted the company, which accommodated him and his mother, Luciana Miranda, 55, on a flight at 8am local time on Saturday. The connection was also changed to São Paulo, as the company said it no longer had a flight to Rio de Janeiro, meaning they had to rent a car to go from the capital of São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.

The funeral, which would also have been on Saturday, was then postponed until Sunday, so that they could be present. The businessman and his mother arrived at the airport at 5am, checked in and issued their boarding pass, but, upon arriving at the boarding gate, they were informed that their flight was not the one they had been informed about, but another leaving at 10:50am, which was already listed as delayed and would actually leave at 12:40pm.

The estimated arrival time in Panama for this new flight was 4pm, with the flight leaving for São Paulo scheduled for 3pm — one hour before the time Souza and Miranda would be able to arrive at the location, without considering possible additional delays.

"We won't arrive in time for the connection to São Paulo", he summarizes. "And they said that the next flight to Rio is only tomorrow [the 15th], arriving in the early hours of Sunday to Monday, 4 am." This arrangement prevents both of them from arriving in time for the funeral.

According to Souza, who spoke to a company supervisor at Orlando airport to try to resolve the problem, the company stated that there is nothing more that can be done. He also contacted other airlines to try to relocate the flight, but had not been successful until the publication of this report.

In an official statement, Copa Airlines states that although flight scheduling is normalized in the United States, "delays and adjustments to itineraries may persist." The company also says that all information is being made available on the company's app or in passengers' email. The company did not comment on the specific case of Bruno Souza and his mother.