Travelers passing through Chicago O Hare International Airport are facing a fresh wave of disruptions, as operational issues and weather related slowdowns ripple across one of the busiest hubs in the United States. On Friday, February 13, 2026, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and regional carrier SkyWest were among the hardest hit operators, with eight flights grounded at O Hare and more than 100 delays recorded across the schedule. The knock on effect is being felt on some of the airport’s most in demand domestic and international routes, including services to Los Cabos in Mexico, Toronto in Canada, Frankfurt in Germany, and major leisure and business destinations such as Nashville and Charleston.
Fresh Turbulence at One of America’s Busiest Hubs
The latest travel disarray at O Hare comes at a time when the broader U.S. aviation network is already under strain from a series of rolling disruptions. Data compiled in early February showed thousands of delayed flights across the country in a single day, with Chicago repeatedly listed among the hardest hit airports for both cancellations and late departures. While O Hare’s overall cancellation count for February 12 stood in the single digits, the concentration of delays and groundings among key carriers on February 13 has had an outsized impact on connectivity for travelers using the Chicago hub as a transfer point.
United Airlines, which operates its largest hub at O Hare and accounts for tens of thousands of annual arrivals and departures at the airport, has been central to today’s disruption. The airline already faces a higher than average share of delayed operations at O Hare compared with some domestic competitors, and the latest wave of schedule changes is adding pressure on an already busy midwinter travel period. SkyWest, which operates numerous United Express branded regional flights, is also contending with knock on issues, complicating the picture for passengers on shorter haul routes that feed into United’s long haul and international network.
Spirit Airlines, a major ultra low cost carrier in the U.S. market, has similarly been dealing with an elevated level of delays and cancellations nationwide over the past week. Its presence at O Hare, while smaller than United’s, adds another layer of complexity to the day’s operations as gate space, runway time, and ground handling resources are stretched thin. For travelers, the practical outcome is longer waits at departure gates, tighter connection windows, and a higher risk of missed onward flights.
Key Routes Snagged: Los Cabos, Toronto, Frankfurt, Nashville, Charleston
Among the most visible consequences of the disruption at O Hare is the ripple effect on several high profile routes that anchor Chicago’s role as an international and domestic gateway. Flights linking O Hare to sun destinations such as Los Cabos on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula are particularly vulnerable during midwinter, when demand from leisure travelers peaks and alternative options can be limited or sold out. Passengers heading for resort vacations are facing a familiar dilemma: risk long delays at the airport or accept rebookings that may cut short carefully planned holidays.
Northbound and eastbound connections are also under pressure. Toronto, one of O Hare’s top international destinations by passenger volume, is an essential link in the transborder network between the United States and Canada. Delays or groundings on this route can cascade into missed domestic connections on both sides of the border, complicating travel for business travelers and those making tight international transfers. Frankfurt, one of Europe’s primary long haul gateways, plays a similar role for transatlantic traffic, connecting Chicago based and connecting passengers with onward flights throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
On the domestic front, routes to mid sized but strategically important cities such as Nashville and Charleston are no less affected. These flights are often operated by United and SkyWest using narrowbody or regional aircraft that feed into the broader hub structure. When even a handful of these services are grounded or heavily delayed, knock on disruptions spread quickly. Travelers heading to conferences, events, or weekend getaways in these cities are reporting extended waits, last minute gate changes, and tight rebookings through alternative hubs.
From Isolated Incidents to System Wide Strain
The current day’s issues in Chicago are not occurring in isolation. In the week leading up to February 13, airlines across the United States have contended with a combination of winter weather systems, high travel demand, and infrastructure constraints. Recently compiled national data highlighted more than one hundred cancellations and nearly four thousand delays in a single day, with O Hare among several large airports such as Orlando, Los Angeles, Newark, Seattle, and Washington Dulles recording hundreds of affected flights.
For United, Spirit, and SkyWest, the burden has been particularly heavy. United has dealt with hundreds of delays nationally in recent days, with Chicago at the center of many of these disruptions due to its status as a primary hub. Spirit has experienced a similarly high volume of schedule changes, while SkyWest, a major regional operator that feeds multiple mainline carriers, has logged hundreds of delayed flights across its network. The result is a system that, while continuing to operate, is running with very little margin for error.
Weather remains a critical wild card in Chicago during February. Winter storms moving across the Midwest can trigger rapid deterioration in runway conditions, force deicing operations that significantly slow departures, and prompt ground delay programs by air traffic control that restrict the flow of arriving and departing flights. Even when a given day does not bring the heaviest snow or ice, residual impacts from earlier storms can complicate aircraft positioning and crew scheduling, leaving airlines with few options when new disruptions arise.
O Hare’s Growing Traffic and a Tight Operational Margin
Chicago O Hare’s vulnerability to cascading delays is rooted in its sheer scale and the intensity of its schedule. The airport has seen passenger numbers climb steadily over the past two years, with total traffic surpassing 80 million passengers in 2024 and showing robust growth into 2025. Domestic traffic accounts for the majority of these travelers, but international routes remain a critical part of O Hare’s profile, with London, Toronto, Cancun, Mexico City, and Frankfurt ranking among its busiest overseas destinations.
United and SkyWest together handle a substantial share of O Hare’s daily arrivals, with United alone operating well over thirty thousand flights into the airport annually and SkyWest handling tens of thousands more. Historical performance data through 2025 shows that while on time arrival rates at O Hare are competitive with other major U.S. hubs, a significant portion of departures still experience delays of more than fifteen minutes, with average hold ups stretching from roughly three quarters of an hour to well over an hour when disruptions peak.
These figures underscore how even a modest number of grounded flights and triple digit delays on a busy day can quickly strain O Hare’s capacity. Runways, taxiways, and gates are scheduled to operate near saturation in normal conditions, particularly during peak morning and early afternoon banks when connecting traffic is highest. When weather or operational issues intervene, there is limited slack in the system to absorb the impact without significant inconvenience to passengers.
What Today’s Disruptions Mean for Travelers
For travelers caught in today’s O Hare turmoil, the experience is unfortunately familiar. Long queues at check in desks and security checkpoints, crowded gate areas, and constant schedule updates over the public address system are defining the day for many. Passengers on United, Spirit, and SkyWest services are reporting last minute gate changes and tight turnarounds as airlines scramble to reposition aircraft and crew to restore some measure of normalcy to the schedule.
Those with onward international connections, particularly to destinations like Los Cabos, Toronto, and Frankfurt, face the greatest uncertainty. A delayed arrival into Chicago can mean a missed departure window for long haul flights that do not operate frequently, potentially forcing passengers to stay overnight or re route through alternative hubs. For example, a traveler scheduled to connect from a regional SkyWest flight into a United transatlantic departure may find that a ninety minute delay on the first leg leaves insufficient time to clear the gate and board the second.
Leisure travelers heading to Nashville, Charleston, or other domestic destinations are encountering similar issues, even if the stakes are somewhat different. While airlines are generally rebooking passengers at no additional cost when delays or cancellations are within the carrier’s control or related to safety, the availability of seats on alternative flights can be limited, particularly on Fridays and over long weekends. In some cases, travelers are opting to cancel trips entirely rather than accept late night arrivals or significantly shortened stays.
How Airlines Are Responding on the Ground
United, Spirit, and SkyWest are deploying a familiar toolkit to address the operational crunch at O Hare. Rebooking desks and customer service counters have been reinforced where possible, and passengers are being encouraged to use airline mobile apps and kiosks to manage their itineraries, select alternative flights, or request travel credits. United, in particular, is utilizing its hub and spoke network to reroute some travelers through secondary hubs when Chicago connections have become too tight to guarantee.
Operationally, airlines are prioritizing aircraft and crews for routes where delays could trigger multi day disruptions, such as long haul services to Europe and Latin America. Short haul flights with more frequent daily frequencies, including some services to nearby Midwest and Great Lakes cities, are more likely to be consolidated or rescheduled. This approach aims to keep the overall network functioning, even if it inconveniences some passengers in the short term.
At the same time, ground operations at O Hare are working to minimize turnaround times once aircraft do arrive at the gate. Deicing crews, baggage handlers, and catering services are all being tasked with speeding their processes where safety allows, in order to make up lost time. However, there are clear limits to how much ground staff can compress these timelines, especially in cold or icy conditions when safety protocols require deliberate, methodical work.
Preparing for Future Disruptions Through Chicago
The events of February 13 at O Hare provide yet another reminder that flying through a major Midwest hub in winter demands extra preparation and flexibility from travelers. With historical data showing a meaningful share of departures experiencing significant delays and national statistics underscoring how quickly disruptions can spread across the network, passengers connecting through Chicago should consider building in longer layovers on itineraries that include critical international or far flung domestic connections.
Travelers can also mitigate the impact of irregular operations by making full use of digital tools offered by airlines. Mobile apps from carriers like United and Spirit allow passengers to track their flight status in near real time, receive push notifications about gate changes or delays, and in many cases rebook onto alternative flights without waiting in line at the airport. Those flying on codeshare or regional services operated by SkyWest should be particularly attentive to notifications, as changes on these feeder flights can have cascading effects on onward segments.
Looking ahead, O Hare’s growth as both a domestic and international gateway is expected to continue, which means the underlying pressures that contribute to days like today are unlikely to disappear. Infrastructure improvements and updated scheduling practices may help smooth operations at the margins, but winter weather, high demand, and an increasingly complex airline network will remain structural challenges.
What Today’s Chaos Reveals About U.S. Air Travel
The concentrated disruption at Chicago O Hare involving United, Spirit, and SkyWest is part of a broader pattern that has defined U.S. aviation in recent years. As airlines run tighter schedules with high aircraft utilization and lean staffing models, the system becomes more vulnerable to shocks, whether they stem from weather, technical issues, or air traffic control constraints. When a major hub like Chicago experiences even a relatively small number of grounded flights and triple digit delays, the impact can quickly radiate outward, affecting airports as far flung as Los Cabos, Toronto, Frankfurt, Nashville, and Charleston.
For travelers and the industry alike, days like February 13 serve as both a stress test and a warning. They highlight the need for resilient scheduling, robust communication with passengers, and continued investment in airport and air traffic infrastructure. They also underscore the importance for travelers of building flexibility into their plans, particularly when connecting through weather sensitive hubs during peak seasons.
As operations at O Hare gradually stabilize over the coming hours, the focus will shift from immediate disruption management to assessing the lessons learned from yet another day of travel disarray. For now, thousands of passengers are simply waiting, watching departure boards, and hoping that their next flight through Chicago will leave on time.