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Highest tracker counts found for each day. Sources are in the evidence table at the foot of the page.
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Airport status from the FAA. Releases from airlines, agencies and regulators; news from outlets named under each story.
Officials traced the outage to a router at one remote site
The sequence from the first communication faults to the weekend recovery, in US Eastern time, as officials and airlines described it.
Times as reported by officials, airlines and news outlets. Each row carries its own reference.
Friday's cancellation count doubled after flights resumed
The ground stop lifted at 8:15pm ET and the number kept rising as crews and aircraft ended up in the wrong cities.
Cancellations kept climbing for a day after the stop lifted
Each row is one tracker count of US flights at the time shown. Sunday rows are cancellations logged in advance.
Counts from FlightAware and other trackers, read through the outlets that published them. References sit beside each row.
O'Hare lost the most flights on Friday
Flights cancelled on Friday 13 November, latest count found for each airport.
Counts were taken at different times and by different trackers, so compare with care.
Saturday's cancellations spread across the big hubs
Flights cancelled on Saturday 14 November, latest count found for each airport, taken between midday and 9:15pm ET.
FlightAware counts via local reporting. References sit beside each airport.
JetBlue cut the largest share of its schedule
Share of each airline's schedule cancelled, with the number of flights.
Airlines waived change fees and stayed silent on hotels
What each airline published about this outage, taken from its own alert and newsroom pages where those could be read.
62 airlines, their waivers and what they said about hotels and meals
Filter by region or by whether a waiver was posted. Sort any column.
Airline travel alerts and newsrooms, with news coverage where an airline page could not be read.
Airlines owe the fare back and little else
Write your refund and claim letters with the rules for your flight and policy filled in. A government system failure sits outside airline control under US rules, so the airline's duty stops at a refund or a new seat.
The airline covers
- A cash refund if your flight is cancelled, or delayed 3 hours domestic or 6 hours international, and you choose not to fly
- Rebooking on its next available seat
- Change-fee waivers, with short windows (American to 17 Nov, Delta to 22 Nov, United to 20 Nov)
You cover
- Hotel nights while you wait for a seat
- Meals, rideshare and hire cars
- Prepaid hotels, tours and car bookings you miss at the other end
- A pricier fare if you rebook on another airline
A policy can cover
- Travel delay costs once the waiting period passes, up to a daily cap
- Trip interruption and missed prepaid bookings, if the wording includes this cause
- Extra transport to catch up with your trip
- Only if you bought before the outage was public
Where the flight leaves from decides which rules apply
18 passenger-rights regimes, read at the law or the regulator's own page.
Laws and regulator pages, checked 15 November 2026.
One stranded night can run past a policy's daily delay cap
Documented costs from this outage beside what cover costs and what it pays. Each currency is drawn on its own scale and never converted. Choose a home country above to see US dollar amounts in your currency.
News reports, insurer and card documents, and price surveys. Each row carries its reference.
Whether a policy pays comes down to its wording
How named insurers and card benefits treat air traffic control and FAA failures, including the ones that said no.
Policy wordings and benefit terms read on each provider's own page. "Pays", "Depends" and "Does not pay" are readings of the documents.
Three cases where a policy would have paid nothing
- Bought after Friday. Once the outage was public it became a known event. A policy bought afterwards excludes this outage and its knock-on delays.
- Delayed, then departed. The stop ran 4 hours 21 minutes. Most delay benefits start after 3 to 12 hours, so a late departure alone often falls short. Claims come from cancellations, diversions and overnight stays.
- Relying on a card or a basic plan. Some card benefits and named-peril policies have refused air traffic control delays, and medical-only policies carry no delay cover at all. The coverage table above lists them.
What a policy pays depends on the country it was bought in
The ten countries that send the most visitors to the United States, plus Australia. Pick one to see what its policies pay, which rules apply and what the costs come to in its currency.
Choose a country above. Costs in US dollars are then also shown in that currency, at the central bank rate for 13 November 2026.
Mexico and Canada send more visitors than the next eight combined
Visitor arrivals in the United States in 2025, millions.
Most hotel, car hire and booking companies said nothing
Two days after the outage, only a handful of travel suppliers had made any public statement or offer.
Company statements and news coverage. "No statement found" means none was found by 15 November 2026.
Large non-weather flight disruptions run at about five a year, with no clear rise
Since January 2022, at least 26 non-weather failures have halted a whole airline, stopped several airports at once or cancelled more than 1,000 flights in a day. FAA or government systems caused three in 2023 and three in 2026, and airline systems caused most of the rest. The November 2026 stop was the second nationwide ground stop since 2001 and ran 4 hours 21 minutes, against about 90 minutes in January 2023. Earlier years are minimums, since smaller events are harder to find.
Five or so a year since 2022
Large non-weather disruptions per year, split by cause.
CrowdStrike and Southwest's holiday meltdown cancelled the most flights
Flights cancelled per event. Counts cover different windows, from one day to ten.
News coverage and agency reports, listed in the events table.
Every event since 2022 that meets the rule
Sort by date, cancellations, passengers or cost.
News coverage and agency reports. Each row carries its reference.
People searched for "ground stop" far more than for cancellations or insurance
Google search interest in the US at each term's busiest hour, on one scale where "flight cancelled" at its peak equals 100. Figures in the thousands were scaled through a second term and are approximate.
Interest in the outage halved within five hours
Peak search interest by term, with the hour it peaked. "Flight cancelled" at its peak equals 100.
Hawaii, Alaska and Nevada led the practical searches
Index of 100 for the top area, over the seven days to 14 November. Small areas can lead on a handful of searches.
Google Trends, United States.
Every figure on this page carries a numbered source
Hover or focus a reference number to see the source. The full list, with links, is on the methodology page.
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"Checked at source" means the original page was read. "Reported elsewhere" means the figure was reported via another outlet and should be checked against the original before reuse. "Not confirmed" means sources conflict.