Flight Delays And Airport Impacts: November 28, 2025

Published on Nov 28, 2025, 9:09 am CST

8 min read

Key points

US flight delays November 28 2025 are driven by gusty winds at major Northeast hubs and low clouds in key West Coast cities
A post Thanksgiving winter storm across the Midwest and Great Lakes is tightening highway reliability and adding delay risk for Chicago and other central hubs
Flight tracking data on November 28 shows more than one thousand delays and around fifty cancellations nationwide concentrated at Chicago O Hare, New York area hubs, and Miami
Seattle Tacoma is still recovering from a jet fuel pipeline leak that forced long haul cancellations and reroutes through November 28 even after partial fuel flow resumed
A nationwide general strike in Italy on November 28 is disrupting trains and some flights which raises misconnect risk for US travelers connecting through Italian hubs

Impact

Where Delays Are Most Likely: Northeast airports plus Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego face the greatest delay risk from winds, low clouds, and storm driven congestion
Best Times To Fly: Early morning and late evening departures are most likely to move on time today while midday banks around Chicago and New York carry higher disruption risk
Connections And Misconnect Risk: Tight connections through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, and Seattle are fragile today so travelers should add buffer or move to later flights
International Links And Europe: US passengers connecting through Italian hubs face added risk from the November 28 general strike and should avoid short layovers or same day rail to flight plans
What Travelers Should Do Now: Check flight status often, allow extra time to reach the airport in snowy or windy regions, and proactively rebook if your itinerary relies on long haul flights from Seattle or Italy

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Travelers flying in the United States today face another day of weather and infrastructure driven disruption as US flight delays November 28 2025 cluster around the Northeast corridor, the storm affected Midwest, and a handful of key West Coast hubs. The Federal Aviation Administration is already warning that gusty winds could slow operations in Boston and the New York to Washington corridor, while low clouds may tangle departures and arrivals from Seattle to San Diego. A post Thanksgiving winter storm spreading across the northern states is tightening highway reliability, and early airline data points to growing congestion at Chicago and other central hubs. Travelers should build in extra buffer time, protect connections, and be ready to shift routes if needed.

Put simply, US flight delays November 28 2025 are being shaped by a three way squeeze of Northeast winds, West Coast low clouds, and a strong winter storm over the Midwest and Great Lakes, with additional pressure from a recent jet fuel shortage at Seattle and widespread strikes in Italy.

Where Delays Are Most Likely Today

In its Daily Air Traffic Report for Friday November 28, the FAA highlights gusty winds as the main challenge for Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Baltimore or Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). Crosswinds and shifting surface winds at these fields typically force longer spacing between arrivals and can slow departures, which in turn feeds into holding patterns and late inbound aircraft for the rest of the day.

An operations plan advisory from the Air Traffic Control System Command Center adds more color. It flags "gusty winds in the Northeast" with possible impacts on New York TRACON, Philadelphia, and Potomac Consolidated TRACON, along with heavy departure demand from nearby corporate fields such as Teterboro and White Plains that can further strain the system. It also notes low ceilings at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) with ground delay program discussions already on the table for later in the day, plus staffing triggers at Denver International Airport (DEN) that should be manageable with scheduling tools.

On the West Coast, the FAA expects low cloud ceilings to slow traffic at Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA), San Francisco International, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and San Diego International Airport (SAN). Morning marine layers at these airports often limit arrival rates on their most efficient approach paths, and when paired with holiday volume they tend to cause rolling delays that last into midday.

Winter Storm Across The Midwest And Great Lakes

While the Northeast and coastal hubs grapple with wind and clouds, the most serious weather system today is a post Thanksgiving winter storm stretching from the central Plains through the Upper Midwest into the Great Lakes. A detailed analysis from The Watchers, based on National Weather Service warnings, describes heavy snow, mixed precipitation, and strong winds from eastern Nebraska and Iowa through southern Minnesota, northern Illinois, and into Wisconsin and Michigan on November 28 and 29.

Forecasts call for localized totals up to 25 centimeters, roughly 10 inches, along and south of the Interstate 90 corridor in southern Minnesota, with 15 to 28 centimeters across northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin and gusts between 35 and 50 miles per hour. Travel conditions on key road corridors around Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison, and Grand Rapids are expected to deteriorate through Friday afternoon and evening, which will slow airport access even where runways remain open. Lake effect snow bands off Lake Michigan into parts of Michigan and northern Indiana could further complicate driving and approach paths.

Chicago O Hare International Airport (ORD) is especially exposed. It sits near the core of the storm's snow corridor and serves as a major hub for both domestic and international traffic, so even modest arrival or departure rate reductions can cascade into missed connections as far away as the West Coast and Europe. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) should also be watched closely for afternoon and evening holds if snowfall rates spike.

What Today's Delay Numbers Show

By late morning on November 28, a snapshot of FlightAware data compiled by Travel And Tour World suggested around 1,039 flight delays and 51 cancellations nationwide, with Chicago O Hare, Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy, Miami International Airport (MIA), and Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) among the hardest hit. Those counts are modest compared with the highest days of the Thanksgiving travel period, but they still represent thousands of passengers arriving late or rushing through tight connections.

The distribution of those delays matters as much as the raw totals. Concentrating disruptions at big connecting hubs like Chicago, New York, Atlanta, and Miami increases misconnect risk for itineraries that rely on cross country links, Caribbean and Latin America flights, or onward European services. Travelers connecting through those cities today should treat 45 minute domestic layovers as high risk and aim for at least 90 minutes if possible.

Seattle's Jet Fuel Aftershock

Seattle Tacoma is dealing with its own special complication. A leak in BP's Olympic Pipeline earlier in November led to a shutdown of the system and a declared state of emergency in Washington and Oregon, starving SEA of its usual jet fuel flow and forcing airlines to truck in fuel, add extra fuel stops, or temporarily trim schedules.

Although BP has now located the leak and restarted fuel deliveries to the airport, full reserves take days to rebuild, and carriers have been prioritizing shorter and medium haul flights over fuel hungry long haul services. A focused aviation advisory notes that Delta and other airlines have canceled or rerouted most long haul departures through November 28, with some aircraft making technical stops in Spokane or Anchorage and generous change fee waivers in place for affected passengers. Anyone booked on nonstop transpacific or deep transcontinental flights from Seattle today should check for rebook offers and be ready for last minute timetable tweaks.

International Ripple: Italy's General Strike

Beyond US borders, the main overseas shock today is a 24 hour general strike in Italy targeting the government's budget and foreign policy. Grassroots unions and transport workers have coordinated action from 2100 on November 27 to 2100 on November 28, hitting long distance trains, regional rail, metro systems, buses, and some ferry routes. Aviation is less heavily affected than rail, but notices from Italian airports and carriers confirm that some flights are canceled and others consolidated into protected time windows.

For US travelers, the biggest risk lies in tight same day connections that rely on Italian rail to feed flights or vice versa. Passengers connecting through Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples, or Venice today should avoid short layovers, expect patchy airport rail links, and consider routing through alternative hubs in France, the Netherlands, or Germany where possible. Adept Traveler's separate Italy general strike briefing covers the detailed protected flight lists and rail windows that apply on November 28.

What Travelers Should Do Today

Taken together, today's pattern suggests that Northeast and Pacific coastal flyers should expect weather related slowing, while storm belts in the central states and localized issues at Seattle and Italian hubs add extra layers of uncertainty. The most resilient strategies are familiar but important to repeat.

Book or move to early morning departures wherever feasible, especially from Boston Logan, New York area airports, and Chicago O Hare, since the first wave tends to leave on time and gives you more room to absorb later disruption. Allow extra time to reach the airport if you are driving through snow affected states such as Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, or northern Illinois, and assume parking shuttles and security lines will be slower when visibility drops. Avoid minimum connection times at Northeast hubs and Seattle, and if you are connecting through Italy today, treat any under ninety minute connection as fragile.

Travelers whose plans depend on a nonstop long haul flight out of Seattle, or on same day rail to or from an Italian airport, should look closely at airline and rail waiver policies, which may allow date changes or rerouting without penalties. For more structural guidance on managing weather and infrastructure disruptions, Adept Traveler's evergreen guides to winter storm travel and strike navigation offer deeper checklists and decision trees that still apply beyond this specific date.