Over 2,000 U.S. Flights Have Been Canceled Heading Into the Weekend — With More to Come

Alison Fox
·2 min read
1
Aerial view of DFW Airport.
Aerial view of DFW Airport.

Donovan Reese/Getty Images

More than 2,000 flights have been canceled into, out of, or within the United States over the past two days as airlines continue to struggle to recover Friday, a day after several carriers issued mass cancellations.

As of Friday morning, more than 500 flights had already been canceled in the U.S., according to flight tracker FlightAware. Most of the affected flights were on American Airlines, which canceled more than 150 flights on Friday, or about 5% of its schedule, and delayed more than 270.

The issues come a day after airlines in the U.S. canceled more than 1,600 flights and delayed more than 6,000. American Airlines again led the pack on Thursday with 485 cancellations and 886 delayed flights. That was followed by United Airlines, which canceled 164 flights on Thursday and delayed another 673, and Southwest, which canceled 141 flights and delayed 801.

For its part, Delta Air Lines only canceled 93 flights on Thursday, but was forced to delay a total of 720.

Thunderstorms in Dallas played into Thursday's disruptions, according to USA Today, since the Texas city is a major hub, especially for American Airlines.

But Thursday's travel mess comes less than a week after thousands of flights were canceled across the country over the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend. In fact, U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,500 flights over the four-day holiday weekend.

The latest round of cancellations just demonstrates the problems U.S. carriers have been facing in recent weeks, which experts have been blaming on a combination of air traffic control problems and staffing shortages. Several airlines have even proactively trimmed their summer schedules in an effort to avoid widespread cancellations, including JetBlue and Delta Air Lines.

Going into the weekend, airlines in the U.S. have already canceled more than 50 flights on Saturday, the bulk of which were canceled by Delta, according to FlightAware.

Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram.