Airlines have been ordered to cancel thousands of flights due to the government shutdown. Here's what they're telling passengers.

Tech Insider : Business, Economy, Travel
Passengers line up to check in at the LaGuardia Airport in New York, the United States, on Oct. 31, 2025.
Passengers lining up at New York's LaGuardia Airport last Friday.

Zhang Fengguo/Xinhua via Getty Images

Airports Are on the Verge of a Flight Cancellation Apocalypse

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Air traffic controllers looking at computer displays

Flight delay data is already flashing red as the government shutdown drags on. Will your holiday air travel be affected?

Tech Insider : Travel, Business, Politics
Houston, Texas, airport security line
Passengers waited in snaking security lines in Houston, Texas, on November 4.

MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images

A United Airlines bomb threat caused a ground stop at Reagan Airport

Tech Insider : Travel, Business
A United plane at DCA.
A United flight received a bomb threat.

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

A Southwest plane had to abort its landing after a near miss with a helicopter crossing its path

Tech Insider : Business, Style
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 airplane departs from San Diego International Airport en route to Sacramento on August 15, 2025 in San Diego, California
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737.

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Istanbul Airport has sleep pods, therapy dogs, and the world's biggest terminal. Its CEO explains how it went from zero to the world's best in 5 years.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
A view of international departures terminal at Istanbul Airport during the rush ahead of Eid al-Adha in Istanbul, Turkiye on June 14, 2024
Istanbul Airport opened in 2019.

Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Airlines deal with thousands of disruptive, troublesome, and often downright dangerous passengers every year. Here's how they classify them.

Tech Insider : Business, Style, Travel
Police officers during a routine patrol in Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport.
Police officers in London Heathrow Airport.

Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images

United Express captain did not follow co-pilot's calls before it overshot the runway, report found

Tech Insider : Travel, Business, Technology
The CommuteAir plane on the EMAS stopped.
A CommuteAir plane overshot the runway after two abort landing calls.

Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport

Air traffic controllers have become reluctant bargaining chips in the government shutdown. They just want to get paid.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
air traffic control tower
Air traffic controllers are about to miss their first paycheck of the government shutdown.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

An airline forced to cancel 70 flights when it washed plane seats wrong says it has a fix — replacing 1,700 seat covers

Tech Insider : Business, Economy, Travel
A Finnair Airbus A321 lands at London Heathrow Airport, England on Monday 14th September 2020.
Finnair expects all its Airbus A321s to be back in the skies by the end of the month.

Robert Smith/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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