FAA grounded every US flight for 4 hours yesterday — flying Thanksgiving week, rebook now or wait it out?
The FAA put a nationwide ground stop on every US departure Friday afternoon after radar and communications outages hit air traffic control centers. It lasted about four hours, was lifted around 8:15pm ET, and FlightAware counted more than 8,000 delayed and about 7,000 canceled flights Friday, with cancellations still rippling into Saturday. Thanksgiving is November 26 and that week is always the busiest travel of the year. I have a flight booked next week. Do I rebook now while seats still exist, or wait for the schedule to settle and risk my flight being the one that gets cut? What did people do after the last nationwide ground stop in January 2023?
2 answers
- Wait for the waiver, do not pay to rebook
Wait, but check your airline's travel waiver first before you pay anything to move it. After a mess like this the airlines almost always post a waiver letting you change for free, and it usually covers a few days out. If your flight is after Tuesday the schedule normally resets itself. Rebooking now just locks you into worse seats for a fee you did not need to pay. If you are flying Monday, then yes, move it today.
- Rebook now if yours is the first flight out
The waiver advice is right for most flights, but not if yours is the first one out in the morning. After a ground stop the early departures get cut first because the whole day is already compressed - 7,000 flights were canceled Friday and cancellations were still rippling into Saturday morning. If your flight is before 10am next week, rebook to a midday departure now while seats exist. If it is afternoon or later, wait for the waiver and save the money.