Travelers across the United States are enduring another punishing spell of air travel disruption as a fresh wave of cancellations and delays ripples through major hubs. Spirit, Alaska, United, SkyWest, American, Delta and several regional partners have collectively scrubbed dozens of flights and delayed thousands more, snarling schedules at airports from New York and Miami to Orlando, Denver and Los Angeles. The latest turbulence follows a winter season already marked by severe storms, congestion and operational strains, turning what should be routine domestic journeys into daylong marathons of queues, rebookings and frayed tempers.
Fresh Wave of Disruptions Hits an Already Fragile System
On recent peak disruption days this February, U.S. airports have recorded well over 2,000 delayed flights alongside dozens of outright cancellations, according to aviation data collated by travel industry outlets. One particularly rough day saw 57 to 100 flights canceled and more than 2,300 delayed nationwide, with major carriers like Spirit, Alaska, United, Delta and SkyWest among those most affected. These figures follow another grim snapshot on February 7, when over 111 cancellations and nearly 4,000 delays were logged, disrupting passengers at key hubs including Chicago, Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Washington.
For travelers on the ground, the numbers translate into crowded concourses, long rebooking lines and mounting anxiety about missed connections and lost hotel nights. At some hubs, passengers reported being handed meal vouchers and overnight kits as airlines scrambled to reposition aircraft and crews. Others found themselves camping out in gate areas as rolling delays repeatedly pushed back departure times. Even those whose flights departed close to schedule were often met with congested airspace and extended taxi times, compounding the sense that the system is operating at the edge of its resilience.
The pressure is not limited to a single carrier or geographic region. Data from early January showed SkyWest, Alaska, United, Delta, Spirit and American all grappling with a surge in disruptions, contributing to more than 4,500 delays and around 100 cancellations in a single day. That kind of broad-based impact underscores how quickly localized weather or operational issues can cascade into nationwide problems once aircraft and crews fall out of position.
Major Hubs Bear the Brunt: New York, Miami, Orlando, Denver and Los Angeles
Several of the nation’s most important gateway airports have once again emerged as pressure points. In New York, where a dense web of domestic and international routes converges, disruptions at LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark radiate outward across the national network. Earlier this winter, a massive storm forced LaGuardia to briefly halt operations, and the region has continued to struggle with intermittent low ceilings, strong winds and residual congestion. Even on days without dramatic weather, metering programs and volume controls imposed by air traffic management can trigger arrival and departure holds, particularly at LaGuardia.
Farther south, Miami and Orlando have become enduring choke points for both weather and volume-driven disruption. Miami International Airport has repeatedly contended with fog, thunderstorms and ground delay programs this winter. Those conditions on January 19 contributed to more than 100 cancellations across the system, as ripple effects reached New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. Orlando, a magnet for leisure travelers and theme park visitors, has seen its own share of delays, notably during early February disruptions that left thousands of passengers stranded or significantly late.
In the interior, Denver International Airport has stood out for high volumes of delayed departures, particularly when winter weather and deicing requirements coincide with peak bank times. Recent reporting showed Denver logging more than 250 delays in a single day, with carriers like SkyWest, United and Alaska all affected. On the West Coast, Los Angeles and San Francisco have each weathered waves of cancellations and late departures in recent months, as heavy coastal rain systems and marine layers repeatedly complicated operations.
Airlines Under Strain: Spirit, Alaska, United, SkyWest, American and Delta
The latest disruptions highlight just how thinly stretched U.S. carriers remain in the wake of the pandemic-era restructuring of fleets and staffing. Spirit, known for its dense point-to-point network and tight aircraft utilization, has been particularly exposed when storms or fog constrain operations at Florida gateways and major hubs. Even a small number of aircraft knocked out of rotation can quickly cascade into dozens of delayed departures across its domestic network.
Alaska Airlines and its regional partner Horizon have also faced a bruising period. On January 9, data compiled by industry observers showed Alaska recording 17 cancellations and 176 delays in a single day, with Horizon contributing several more. Much of that disruption was tied to challenging winter conditions in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West, but the effect reached well beyond the carrier’s core Seattle and Portland bases, affecting passengers through codeshare and connecting itineraries.
United, Delta and American, the three largest U.S. network carriers, have not been spared. In early January, United was hit with more than 580 delays and double-digit cancellations in one snapshot, while Delta recorded nearly 270 delays and several cancellations. American, which operates massive hubs in Dallas Fort Worth, Charlotte and Miami, has endured days with hundreds of delayed flights and dozens of cancellations concentrated at one or two airports at a time. Regional operators like SkyWest, which feeds multiple big-brand networks, have amplified the impact when weather or air traffic constraints forced them to scrub rotations and delay others.
Weather, Congestion and Operational Knots: Why This Keeps Happening
The immediate triggers for the latest wave of disruption are familiar: winter storms, low visibility, deicing delays and air traffic management measures designed to keep overloaded airports safe. From late January into early February, large swaths of the country have been hammered by snow, ice and freezing rain, with one sprawling storm system alone cancelling or postponing more than 10,000 flights nationwide over several days. That event shuttered or severely curtailed operations at major Northeast and Mid-Atlantic hubs, including New York and Philadelphia, and its aftershocks were still being felt in the form of crew and aircraft dislocation days later.
Even on days without headline-grabbing storms, more subtle weather conditions can wreak havoc. Low clouds and fog at coastal or sunbelt airports, including Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, often force air traffic controllers to space aircraft more widely on approach and departure, cutting airport capacity just as morning or evening banks ramp up. In colder climates, deicing procedures at airports such as Denver, Detroit, Buffalo and Pittsburgh can add substantial time between pushback and takeoff, reducing the number of aircraft that can depart in a given hour.
Layered on top of that is chronic congestion. Many U.S. hubs entered this winter season with flight schedules that leave little slack in peak periods, particularly after carriers ramped up capacity in response to strong leisure demand. When those tight schedules meet weather-related capacity reductions, the only options are delays or cancellations. Airlines can and do pre-emptively thin schedules on days when poor conditions are forecast, but sudden changes in conditions, or knock-on effects from earlier disruptions, often create bottlenecks that no amount of planning can fully absorb.
A System Still Recovering from Structural Shocks
Behind the daily statistics lies a system still recovering from the structural shocks of the past several years. During the pandemic, U.S. airlines retired aircraft, restructured fleets and accepted waves of early retirements or voluntary departures among pilots, flight attendants and ground staff. Although carriers have been aggressively rehiring, training pipelines for pilots and air traffic controllers are long, and staffing at some facilities remains constrained even as demand has surged past pre-pandemic levels on many routes.
Regulators have occasionally stepped in when those strains became acute. In late 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily ordered airlines to trim up to 10 percent of flights at a set of so-called high impact airports, in response to staffing challenges in the air traffic control system. Those restrictions have since been lifted, but the episode underlined how little margin for error remains when demand, weather and constrained capacity intersect.
In practice, this means that recovery from each disruption is slower than many travelers might expect. When a winter storm or dense fog wipes out a day of operations at a major hub, it can take several days for aircraft and crews to return to normal rotations. During that interval, airlines must choose between protecting long-haul and high-yield routes or preserving frequency on shorter domestic sectors, often leaving some passengers to endure rebookings onto flights that are already booked close to capacity.
Human Impact: Missed Events, Frayed Nerves and Rising Costs
For travelers, the lived experience of this winter’s disruptions is measured less in statistics than in missed events and mounting expenses. Families en route to long-planned vacations in Orlando have found themselves stuck overnight in connecting hubs, paying last-minute hotel rates when airline-issued vouchers ran out or could not be secured. Business travelers have missed key meetings or client visits after morning departures slipped into afternoon and then evening, with little clarity about whether it was better to wait out the delay or abandon the trip entirely.
The psychological toll is equally real. Prolonged uncertainty at the gate, minimal communication during cascading delays and difficulty reaching customer service during peak disruption periods can leave passengers feeling abandoned. For those traveling with young children, elderly relatives or tight budgets, the stress can be overwhelming. Social media has been filled with images of long queues at service desks, gate areas packed with travelers vying for power outlets and parents improvising makeshift play spaces to occupy restless kids as departure times repeatedly slide.
There is also a broader financial impact beyond individual out-of-pocket expenses. Frequent disruption erodes confidence in the reliability of air travel, prompting some travelers to shorten trips, avoid tight connections or even switch to rail or car travel on shorter routes. That shift can, in turn, squeeze airlines that have built their strategies around high aircraft utilization and dense hub-and-spoke networks.
What Travelers Can Do Right Now
In the face of systemic turbulence, individual travelers have limited but meaningful tools to reduce the risk of severe disruption. The most immediate step is to monitor flight status obsessively in the 24 hours leading up to departure, using both airline apps and airport information boards. Many carriers are now proactive about issuing travel waivers ahead of forecast storms, allowing passengers to change flights without penalties; seizing those waivers early often yields better rebooking options than waiting until cancellations begin to hit.
It is also wise to build more buffer into travel plans during the winter months and other peak disruption periods. That might mean opting for earlier departures in the day, when aircraft and crews are still in position, or avoiding tight connections at historically weather-sensitive hubs. For critical journeys such as weddings, international cruises or important business events, planning to arrive a day early can significantly reduce the odds of a complete trip failure.
At the airport, being flexible and informed is valuable. Passengers who understand alternative routings or nearby airport options are often better positioned to work with airline agents on creative solutions, such as rerouting through a less congested hub or even switching to a nearby city and completing the last leg by ground. While not all airlines will voluntarily offer hotel or meal compensation for weather-related disruptions, asking politely and documenting expenses can sometimes yield partial reimbursement or goodwill credits, especially when operational missteps compound weather issues.
Looking Ahead: A Rough Season with Lessons for the Future
With weeks of winter still ahead as of mid February 2026, there is little sign that the turbulence buffeting U.S. air travel will vanish overnight. Forecast patterns point to continued bouts of snow, ice and coastal storms, all of which are likely to test the resilience of carriers and airports already operating near capacity. Travelers should expect more days when disruption figures climb into the thousands of delays and dozens of cancellations, especially at chokepoint hubs like New York, Miami, Orlando, Denver, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Yet the current turmoil may also spur changes that ultimately strengthen the system. Airlines and regulators are reviewing schedule intensity at the busiest hubs, reassessing staffing levels for both airport operations and air traffic control, and exploring technology upgrades that could help manage traffic more efficiently in marginal weather. For travelers, the lesson of this season may be a renewed appreciation of slack: more buffer time, more flexible itineraries and a recognition that, for now, air travel in the United States remains vulnerable to sudden swings in weather and demand.
In the meantime, the images from concourses across the country tell a sobering story. Passengers sprawled across rows of seats, departure boards lit with orange and red delay codes, and weary crews guiding yet another late-night arrival into the gate have become a familiar tableau this winter. Until the underlying constraints ease, U.S. travelers would be wise to pack patience alongside passports and boarding passes, and to approach every itinerary with a contingency plan in mind.