‘We were just weeping at the sight of American soil’: Houston-area family finally home after cancelled flight left them in limbo abroad

Riley Mattern and family (KPRC 2)

HOUSTON – After days in limbo in Kenya, Houston-area resident Riley Mattern was overcome with emotion when her plane touched down on the tarmac at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

“We’ve honestly all just never felt more patriotic before,” Mattern said. “We were just weeping at the sight of American soil. We’ve never felt happier to be coming home. After all that travel and all that sleep deprivation, I’m sure that played into it, but we were just so so relieved.”

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Mattern and her group of fellow travelers, which included her husband, two young children, and several relatives, were among the lucky people who caught an Ethiopian Airlines flight out of Kenya Wednesday morning, less than a day before the Kenyan government halted all international flights to and from the country. Like many others travelling abroad, the family faced a slew of cancelled flights as airlines announced sweeping flight cancellations and countries across the globe restricted travel or closed their borders amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

For several days, Riley Mattern and her family weren’t sure if they’d make it home before Kenya’s halt on international flights went into effect.

“We had this mad race to get out of the country before we were stuck there,” Mattern said.

Riley Mattern on a vacation in Kenya (Riley Mattern)

In early March, Mattern and her family flew to Kenya to visit relatives.

“We’d like to think we’re pretty safe travelers too,” Mattern said. “We stay really aware. We watched the pattern of the virus in the rest of the world and when the government was issuing travel bans for which countries and nothing was really creeping into Africa yet, we didn’t feel like there was a lot of risk in being able to get back.”

About two and a half weeks into their stay, they got an unexpected alert from Turkish Airlines: Their flight home had been cancelled.

As Mattern rushed to secure a new way home she watched in horror as the many flights she attempted to book were cancelled in real-time or sold out in minutes. Mattern said that’s when the panic set in.

“When we saw that, we immediately went online to book new flights,” Mattern said “And everything was either getting booked before we had the time to complete the booking or it was getting cancelled as we were on the page. I think the panic set in once we realized that flights all over the world were getting cancelled.”

Adding to the stress, ticket rates soared, reaching three times what Mattern’s group had initially paid.

Unable to find flights, Mattern and her group sought help from airlines representatives, Kenyan officials, and the U.S. embassy, which advised the group to prepare for the possibility of an extended stay in the country.

Riley Mattern's children, 7 and 4, sleeping on plane (KPRC 2)

Mattern said it was stressful trying to figure out who to talk to or where to go to get help in a foreign country, especially as the Kenyan Government began issuing new measures and travel restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Finally, a travel agent was able to secure the group tickets out of Kenya.

“When we got on the flight, there were so many people from other countries that were talking about all the strings they had to pull to get on this flight,” Mattern said. “The people that they had to know, the friends of friends that had to call in favors and stuff and so we were even more grateful once we heard all their stories.”

After 32 hours of travel, the family finally touched down in Texas. Once they filled out a waiver on the plane, they grabbed their luggage and headed home.

Mattern and her family are currently quarantining in their Magnolia home as a precaution.

“A lot of people, I understand, are kind of going stir crazy at home but we’re looking forward to just doing nothing for a couple of weeks. That’s going to be kind of nice.”


About the Author:

Briana Zamora-Nipper joined the KPRC 2 digital team in 2019. When she’s not hard at work in the KPRC 2 newsroom, you can find Bri drinking away her hard earned wages at JuiceLand, running around Hermann Park, listening to crime podcasts or ransacking the magazine stand at Barnes & Noble.