If you're flying during the government shutdown, you're 10 times more likely to be delayed by staff shortages than normal

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
An airplane takes off near the control tower at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on October 8, 2025.
Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC, saw average delays of 31 minutes due to understaffing.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

An LA airport was left without air traffic controllers for 6 hours as the government shutdown causes travel chaos

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
A dark and unstaffed air traffic control tower is seen at the Hollywood Burbank Airport on October 6, 2025 in Burbank, California.
The unstaffed air traffic control tower at Hollywood Burbank Airport on Monday.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Air traffic control chaos affecting 700,000 passengers was made worse when an engineer couldn't log in remotely

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CRAWLEY, ENGLAND - AUGUST 28: People wait near check-in desks at Gatwick Airport on August 28, 2023 in Crawley, United Kingdom.
Passengers at London Gatwick Airport on the day of the incident in August 2023.

Carl Court/Getty Images

I booked a Frontier flight to save money, but it backfired. I spent hundreds to switch airlines during my layover.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
departures board showing flights at denver air port
I had a disastrous layover at Denver International Airport.

Eibhlis Gale-Coleman

A Ryanair Boeing 737's tires burst on landing, leaving a 500-yard gouge in the runway at one of Italy's busiest airports

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Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX 8 as seen during taxiing, take off and flying phase in Eindhoven Airport EIN.
A Ryanair Boeing 737 Max 8.

Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Japan's 2nd-busiest airport was put on lockdown after a pair of scissors went missing from a store, where they were later found again

Tech Insider : Travel
Passengers and visitors are seen at New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Hokkaido, northern Japan November 24, 2016.
New Chitose Airport.

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Fox's Laura Ingraham says she got stuck on a plane for 8 hours, forcing her to call into her own show to say why she couldn't make it

Tech Insider
Laura Ingraham
Laura Ingraham

Alex Wong/Getty Images

See inside American Airlines' massive flight operations center, where it dispatches 6,000 flights every day

Tech Insider : Travel
A woman sitting in the bridge of the AA IOC.
American Airlines manages its planes and crewmembers from its storm-withstanding operations center in Dallas/Fort Worth, which supports some 500,000 customers per day.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider

Torrential rain wreaked havoc at Dubai's airport, with video showing a plane battling across a flooded runway

Tech Insider : Travel
Passengers wait for their flights at the Dubai International Airport in Dubai on April 17, 2024.
Passengers wait for their flights at the Dubai International Airport on April 17.

AFP/Getty

A man opened a plane's emergency exit and walked onto its wing after his flight was delayed on the tarmac for 4 hours. His fellow passengers are now defending him: 'He saved our lives'

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
aeromexico
Aeromexico.

Ginnette Riquelme / Reuters

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