Bedlam at U.S.-bound airlines at CDG in Paris early this a.m., as Americans pay as much as $20,000 for last-minute flights. 
2/ I know because I’m one of them. Was awakened at 2:15 am Paris time by a concerned relative in America saying “Trump just banned all travel from Europe!” Turning on TV, I saw that indeed appeared to be so.
3/ Had planned on returning to NYC Saturday, but fearing what now appeared to be a deadline of midnight Friday to get out, jumped online and tried to change flights. Unable to. Called Delta and was told there was 4-hr wait time to speak to someone.
4/ Looked at buying completely new tickets for today or Friday and saw prices rising and tickets disappearing before my eyes. Fearing the worst if we did nothing, I pulled the trigger on new tickets that cost more than my monthly mortgage payment.
5/ But wait! The TV says Trump erred and Americans are actually NOT covered by the ban. I scramble to cancel the tickets I just bought and cannot. Delta and Amex Travel web sites won’t let me. Calls are made. Delta now has 6-hr wait, Amex plays music for two hours and disconnects
6/ Now we have tickets for two flights to NYC: our original one on Saturday and a new one for today. Went online and tried to at least cancel the Saturday flight (see above tweet for details on how that went).
7/ Went to CDG airport and tried to get refund at the Delta counter, but 100 people are in line. Said screw it and just got on the plane, which is where I am right now with a bunch of other exhausted Americans being served complimentary Peach Bellinis.
Just to clarify, I didn’t spend $20,000 on tickets (what I DID spend was bad enough). A Delta ticket agent at CDG told me that’s how much one American passenger spent online in the hours after President Trump’s announcement.
My Twitter sob story is now an actual story... nytimes.com/2020/03/12/tra…
Final note: An experienced flight attendant on our get-away plane from Europe said he hasn't seen anything like this since 9-11, in terms of chaos, panic and sky-rocketing fares. He fears it will only get worse.
