Flight Delays And Airport Impacts: November 21, 2025

Published on Nov 21, 2025, 8:36 am CST

9 min read

Key points

Flight delays November 21 2025 are most likely at Philadelphia, the Washington region, Atlanta, Denver, Austin, San Antonio, and Las Vegas as low clouds reduce arrival rates
FAA Daily Air Traffic Report flags low ceilings at PHL, BWI, DCA, IAD, ATL, DEN, AUS, SAT, and LAS, while FlightAware counts more than 3,400 delays and over 400 cancellations across the United States
Recent FAA shutdown flight caps at 40 major airports have been lifted, but schedules and staffing remain fragile as airlines rebuild normal operations
A cross country storm pattern ahead of Thanksgiving is lining up rain and gusty winds that can compound low cloud impacts at East Coast and Great Lakes hubs through the coming week
Travelers should widen connections to at least three hours at the named hubs, favor earlier departures, and monitor airline apps plus fly.faa.gov for rolling changes
Those with flexible routing can sometimes avoid the worst queues by connecting through unconstrained hubs instead of the busiest coastal and mid continent nodes

Impact

Where Delays Are Most Likely: Expect the highest misconnect risk on November 21 2025 at Philadelphia, the Washington region airports, Atlanta, Denver, Austin, San Antonio, Las Vegas, and at second tier hubs like Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, and St Louis that are already reporting heavy delay counts
Best Times To Fly: Early morning and late evening banks that clear low cloud layers fastest are still safer, while late morning and mid afternoon banks into PHL, the DC airports, ATL, DEN, AUS, SAT, and LAS carry elevated risk of holding and reroutes
Connections And Misconnect Risk: Connections shorter than three hours through the highlighted hubs on November 21 have a meaningful chance of breaking when arrival programs tighten, so travelers should push for longer buffers or rebook through less constrained nodes
Onward Travel And Changes: Expect knock on impacts to rail, rental cars, and regional flights around the most affected hubs as passengers rebook and reposition, so locking in backup ground transport and flexible hotel options now reduces last minute stress
What Travelers Should Do Now: Check the FAA Daily Air Traffic Report and your airline app before leaving home, move to earlier flights where inventory exists, and proactively re route away from the most constrained hubs if your trip is discretionary

Flight delays November 21 2025 are most likely this morning at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and around Washington, DC, where low clouds are already prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to flag arrival impacts at multiple hubs. The same FAA Daily Air Traffic Report highlights low ceilings and reduced visibility around Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Denver International Airport (DEN), Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), San Antonio International Airport (SAT), and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), a mix that can push taxi times, queues, and misconnect risk higher as the day builds. Travelers routed through these hubs on Friday should pad connections, favor earlier departures where possible, and be ready to adjust routes as the broader Thanksgiving weather pattern comes into focus.

In plain language, the FAA Daily Air Traffic Report for Friday, November 21, 2025 calls out low cloud driven arrival constraints at PHL, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), ATL, DEN, AUS, SAT, and LAS, which sets the baseline for where U.S. flight delays are most likely on this date.

Where Delays Are Most Likely On November 21

The FAA's morning outlook is the first signal that arrival rates into these hubs may run below schedule as ceilings and visibility bounce up and down during instrument conditions. Low clouds at PHL and around the Washington terminal area typically trigger more conservative spacing on arrival streams, which quickly ripples into later departures out of smaller origins that feed these hubs.

Separate tallies based on FlightAware data already count roughly 3,500 delays and more than 400 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States, with Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, and Las Vegas among the hardest hit cities, and additional pressure at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albuquerque, and St Louis. That spread matches the pattern of a stretched system, where even modest weather at one node can tip a bank of flights into rolling disruption when aircraft and crews are out of position from earlier days.

For travelers, the practical takeaway is simple. If your itinerary touches PHL, any of the three Washington area airports, ATL, DEN, AUS, SAT, or LAS on November 21, assume that boarding and taxi times will run long, that deicing or runway reconfiguration is possible where temperatures and moisture align, and that onward legs depend heavily on how the first flight of your day performs.

Why Low Clouds Matter So Much

Low clouds alone do not sound dramatic, but they matter because they push traffic into instrument flight rules, tighten approach minima, and force controllers to hedge separation for safety. The FAA itself notes that the Daily Air Traffic Report is designed to outline "arrival and departure delays, ground stoppages, and airport closures" and is only as stable as the underlying weather and operational assumptions.

When ceilings sit close to decision height, arrival rates often drop compared with clear air operations, especially at complex fields such as ATL and DEN where multiple arrival streams converge. Runway configuration constraints, wake turbulence spacing, and the need to keep go around options open all conspire to reduce how many aircraft can land per hour. That does not always show up immediately on departure boards, but it quietly stretches out gate holds and taxi queues upstream.

On the ramp, low clouds usually come with damp pavement, intermittent showers, or fog banks, which can slow ramp work and increase the chance of ground delay programs if winds or visibility deteriorate. Even in milder conditions, many of the same crews and aircraft that have been working under recent FAA shutdown related constraints are still catching up, so there is less slack in the system if a bank falls behind.

Shutdown Flight Caps Are Ending, But The System Is Still Tight

One piece of good news is that mandated FAA cuts to domestic flights at 40 major airports, imposed during the longest government shutdown, are scheduled to end at 6 a.m. Eastern on Monday, November 17, 2025. The agency had previously ordered those reductions to manage air traffic control staffing concerns, but has now said that improving attendance and staffing allows normal capacity to resume at those hubs.

In practice, that means airlines are gradually restoring frequencies and rebuilding their preferred schedules into the holiday period, instead of operating under a flat percentage cap. However, flight crews, maintenance teams, and airport ground staff do not recover instantaneously, and there are still aircraft parked in the wrong cities, backup crews working overtime, and schedule changes that have yet to be fully digested by the system.

Put bluntly, the U.S. air travel network is operating closer to its stress limits than it would be in a normal November, and a day of low clouds at multiple hubs is enough to push it into visible disruption. Travelers should not assume that the end of formal caps automatically means a smooth experience.

Thanksgiving Weather Pattern, What Is Lurking Behind November 21

Meteorologists tracking the Thanksgiving period are already flagging a cross country storm system that will send bouts of heavy rain, gusty winds, and some snow across central and eastern states in the days ahead. Forecasts call for rain bands and low clouds to pass through major Northeast hubs like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, with stronger winds on the back side of the system likely to affect Great Lakes and interior Northeast airports as the holiday week ramps up.

None of that is fully priced into November 21 schedules yet, but airlines are already watching bookings and crew rotations against those outlooks. If your trip involves flying on Sunday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, what happens to aircraft rotations and crew duty times on November 21 and over the weekend will directly affect how much resilience your flights have when the main storm arrives.

This is another reason to avoid aggressively tight connections and last departures of the day, particularly through weather sensitive hubs and coastal airports. When systems are strained for several days in a row, small schedule slips accumulate, and flights that technically remain "on" can still depart hours late.

Concrete Steps Travelers Should Take

First, treat November 21 as an early warning day. Check the FAA Daily Air Traffic Report and live delay maps before you leave for the airport, then cross check that picture against your airline's mobile app, which will usually reflect gate changes and rolling delays faster than generic trackers.

Second, if you hold a connection under three hours through PHL, BWI, DCA, IAD, ATL, DEN, AUS, SAT, or LAS, contact your airline now to see if you can move to an earlier first leg or a different routing that keeps you away from the most constrained hubs. This is especially important if you are traveling with checked bags or need to clear immigration or customs on a tight turn.

Third, consider building your own contingency plans. That can mean booking backup rail tickets where there are good trains between hubs, arranging flexible rental car reservations for short hops if a regional sector cancels, or confirming that your hotel rate allows same day arrival shifts. Internal Adept Traveler coverage of issues like the recent fuel pipeline leak affecting Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) shows how quickly a single infrastructure constraint can compound otherwise manageable weather delays, and the same principle applies across the system. You do not want to be the traveler scrambling for one remaining rental car at midnight. See our detailed coverage in "Seattle Pipeline Leak Puts Some Sea Tac Flights At Risk."

Fourth, know your rights and tools. Airlines remain responsible for reaccommodating you when flights are canceled or significantly delayed, but in irregular operations, the fastest fixes usually go to travelers who work both the app and the human channels at the same time. Standing in a line while also messaging an agent through chat or social media, and watching alternatives populate in the app, gives you more options than waiting passively at the gate. For more structural guidance on compensation and rerouting when disruptions are tied to strikes or infrastructure, see our evergreen "Europe Airport Strikes: Compensation and Re Routing Guide," which walks through tactics that also apply in many U.S. scenarios.

Final Thoughts

Flight delays and airport impacts on November 21, 2025 reflect a familiar mix, modest but widespread low cloud layers at key hubs, a system still recalibrating after shutdown related capacity cuts, and a developing storm pattern ahead of one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. None of those elements alone is catastrophic, but together they raise the odds that a close connection will miss or that a late evening flight will cancel out from under you.

The smartest play is to assume that the risk at PHL, the Washington area airports, ATL, DEN, AUS, SAT, LAS, and already stressed hubs like Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, and Los Angeles is higher than the boards suggest. Build longer buffers, move to earlier departures where inventory exists, and keep a close eye on both FAA tools and airline alerts. Travelers who take those steps now are more likely to keep their November 21 itineraries intact and to start Thanksgiving week from a position of control rather than from the middle of a delay queue.