These Airports Are Most Likely to See Flight Delays

Travelers heading into the busy spring and summer season are being warned that some major airports are far more prone to flight delays than others, according to new data and recent reports.

Chicago O’Hare and Newark Top the Delay Hotspots

Recent analysis of flight performance in 2025 points to Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport as two of the most delay-prone hubs in the United States. A review shared by travel outlet AFAR, drawing on aviation analytics company Cirium, found that O’Hare recorded the highest share of delayed flights among U.S. airports, with roughly 28 percent of all operations departing late. Newark, meanwhile, posted the highest overall disruption rate when delays and cancellations are combined, with more than one quarter of flights affected.

Both airports sit in some of the nation’s most congested airspace, serving as critical connecting hubs for multiple carriers. Publicly available information shows that heavy traffic and tight scheduling leave little room for recovery when storms, staffing constraints or airspace restrictions arise. This structural vulnerability means that even short-lived weather systems or equipment outages can ripple through daily schedules and quickly translate into long lines at departure boards.

Reports also indicate that peak summer months are particularly challenging for these airports. Cirium’s data and other industry coverage have highlighted July as a period when more than 30 percent of U.S. passengers experience some form of disruption, with large hubs in the Midwest and Northeast facing frequent thunderstorms. For travelers connecting through Chicago or Newark, that combination of high volume and volatile weather significantly raises the odds of arriving late.

Despite periodic efforts to add capacity and adjust schedules, the underlying dynamics at O’Hare and Newark remain largely unchanged. For now, air travel analysts suggest that these two hubs are likely to stay near the top of any list of airports where delays are the rule rather than the exception.

San Francisco, New York and Atlanta Struggle With Weather and Runways

On the West Coast, San Francisco International Airport continues to feature prominently in delay rankings. Business-focused travel coverage has noted that SFO has led national tables for delayed flights in multiple recent years, reflecting both weather challenges and runway configuration. The airport’s closely spaced parallel runways require conservative spacing between aircraft in low clouds and strong winds, conditions that are common along the Bay Area coastline.

In the New York region, LaGuardia Airport has drawn attention for its consistent congestion and disruption. Recent Associated Press reporting described LaGuardia as continuing to log some of the country’s highest numbers of delays and cancellations, even outside major holiday weekends. A combination of heavy regional traffic, limited runway capacity and ongoing construction has kept pressure on on-time performance, with even routine afternoon thunderstorms often resulting in cascading schedule changes.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, one of the world’s busiest hubs, is another major node where delays can quickly multiply. Local and national coverage of 2025 travel patterns has highlighted days when hundreds of flights at Atlanta were delayed because of equipment issues or fast-moving storms. Given the airport’s role as a primary connecting point for millions of passengers, any disruption in Atlanta can produce widespread knock-on effects throughout domestic and international networks.

These airports demonstrate how infrastructure constraints intersect with weather to shape delay risk. San Francisco struggles with coastal fog and runway geometry, New York deals with dense overlapping flight paths, and Atlanta faces towering summer storm systems. For travelers, that mix translates into a higher probability of holding patterns, ground stops and last-minute gate changes.

Holiday and Summer Peaks Expose System Weaknesses

Seasonal surges consistently make delays more likely at large U.S. airports. A recent summer disruption report from passenger rights group AirHelp, along with data summarized by outlets such as WMUR and Travel Agent Central, shows that nearly one in four U.S. passengers in the most recent full year faced a delay or cancellation. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport was singled out as one of the busiest hubs where roughly 31 percent of departing passengers encountered a disruption.

Analyses of the 60 largest U.S. airports between 2022 and 2024 indicate that summer departure records tend to deteriorate as demand peaks, storms intensify and air traffic control workloads climb. July, in particular, emerges as the month with the highest proportion of delayed or canceled flights across the network. Airports in storm-prone regions, including Dallas Fort Worth and Denver, are especially vulnerable during afternoon and evening hours when thunderstorm activity is strongest.

Winter holidays bring a different set of challenges. A study summarized by Yahoo’s creator network and conducted by transfer service Transfeero used Bureau of Transportation Statistics data from the 2023 and 2024 holiday seasons to project which airports may struggle most in late 2025. Newark, Chicago and several Upper Midwest hubs were identified as having elevated risks of delays and cancellations tied to snow, ice and low visibility, layered on top of already busy schedules.

The pattern is clear: when demand surges around school breaks and festive periods, the margin for error disappears at the country’s biggest hubs. Travelers passing through airports already known for high disruption rates can expect that risk to climb further in July, late November and December.

Secondary Airports Show Surprising Delay Rates

While major hubs attract most of the headlines, recent data sets reveal that several medium-sized airports also post high shares of delayed flights. A 2025 data study by Upgraded Points, drawing on Bureau of Transportation Statistics records from mid-2024 to mid-2025, identified airports such as Palm Beach International and Boise as having some of the longest average delays when disruptions do occur.

These airports generally handle far fewer daily flights than the likes of Atlanta or Chicago, but the analysis suggests that when weather, security screening issues or late-arriving aircraft strike, passengers may wait longer on average for a resolution. In some cases, limited alternative flight options and fewer spare aircraft or crew members can extend recovery times after an initial disruption.

Research published on arXiv in 2025 and 2026 examining the U.S. aviation network also indicates that security-related delays have become a more visible contributor to disruption probabilities at certain high-volume and mid-sized nodes. The studies describe a gradual shift over the past decade in how security screening bottlenecks and downstream queues propagate through the system, particularly when traffic is already near capacity.

For travelers who typically rely on smaller regional hubs, these findings are a reminder that low passenger volume does not always equate to smooth operations. Checking recent performance trends at local airports can be as important as monitoring conditions at major connection points.

What Travelers Can Do to Reduce Their Delay Risk

Although no airport is immune from operational problems, published coverage and historical data provide some guidance for reducing the chances of being stranded. Travel analysts generally recommend choosing itineraries that avoid the most delay-prone hubs when practical, especially for tight connections. For example, a routing that bypasses Chicago O’Hare or Newark during peak summer afternoons may carry lower risk than alternatives that pass through those airports at congested times.

Flight timing also matters. Morning departures tend to be less affected by cumulative delays from earlier flights, while evening services are more exposed to knock-on disruptions. For travelers flying from or through airports with a record of weather-related delays, such as San Francisco, Atlanta or Dallas Fort Worth, booking earlier in the day can significantly improve the odds of leaving close to schedule.

Industry sources also suggest building extra time into itineraries where delay risk is known to be high. This is particularly important for international connections, cruises and major events. Allowing several hours between flights or arriving in the departure city a day early can help buffer against the types of disruptions that now affect roughly one quarter of U.S. air travelers annually.

Ultimately, the latest rankings of delay-prone airports underscore how fragile punctuality remains in a system stretched by demand, weather volatility and staffing constraints. For travelers, understanding which hubs are most likely to see flight delays is becoming an essential part of trip planning rather than an afterthought.