Network Outage Grounds Detroit Hub Flights December 5

Published on Dec 5, 2025, 8:50 am CST

8 min read

Key points

Delta ground stop Detroit flights after a network outage at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport on December 5 2025
The ground stop applies to Delta and its regional partners in the McNamara Terminal but not to other airlines at Detroit
FAA advisories list the Delta ground stop into midmorning with a medium chance of extension increasing the risk of missed connections
Detroit is a major Delta hub so morning disruption can cascade into delays on smaller city feeders and long haul routes later in the day
Travelers should monitor the Fly Delta app consider rerouting through other hubs and add extra buffer for any same day connections

Impact

Where Impacts Are Most Likely: Expect the longest lines and delays at the McNamara Terminal check in and security areas and on early morning Delta departures and arrivals that rely on Detroit as a hub
Best Times To Fly: Later afternoon and evening flights may see fewer knock on delays once the outage is resolved but travelers should still assume some residual disruption
Connections And Misconnect Risk: Passengers connecting through Detroit on tight itineraries especially to small Midwest cities or transatlantic departures face elevated misconnect risk and may need rebooking
Onward Travel And Changes: Anyone with nonrefundable hotels tours or rail tickets on the same day should treat those plans as flexible and contact providers early to adjust times
What Travelers Should Do Now: Use the Fly Delta app or airline website to check status before leaving home proactively move to longer connections or alternate hubs and be ready to request meal vouchers or hotel support if delays stretch
Health And Safety Factors: Crowded gate areas and long lines can create accessibility and fatigue issues so travelers who need extra assistance should request wheelchair support and plan for medication food and water needs in queues

Delta ground stop Detroit flights are snarling travel at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) on December 5 2025 after a network outage shut down check in and boarding at the McNamara Terminal. The disruption affects Delta and its regional partners that rely on Detroit as a major hub, stranding passengers on early morning departures and arriving connections while the Federal Aviation Administration lists a ground stop into midmorning with a medium chance of extension. Travelers connecting through Detroit today should expect rolling delays, missed onward flights, and crowded gate areas, and should start rebooking or rerouting as soon as their trips become time sensitive.

In plain terms, the Delta ground stop for Detroit flights means air traffic control is temporarily blocking Delta departures to and from Detroit while the airline works through a technical connectivity problem, so anyone who planned to use the hub for morning connections now faces higher odds of long delays or cancellations.

What Is Happening At Detroit Metro

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is Delta's second largest hub, carrying more than half of all passengers through the airport and connecting travelers to destinations across the United States and to Europe and Asia. On the morning of December 5, Detroit Metro and local media reported that Delta experienced a network outage affecting operations at the McNamara Terminal, which houses Delta and partners Aeromexico, Air France, and WestJet.

In its public statement, the airport said Delta had "initiated a ground stop for its flights while the airline works to resolve the issue" and stressed that the problem is specific to Delta, not to other airlines at Detroit. Local outlets began receiving reports of stalled check in, halted boarding, and lines in the terminal around 5 a.m. Eastern, and an FAA advisory set the ground stop until roughly 8:30 to 9 a.m., with officials assigning a medium, roughly 30 to 60 percent, chance that it could be extended.

Delta, for its part, has described the issue as a "technical connectivity" problem in Detroit, apologized for the disruption, and urged passengers to monitor their flights using the Fly Delta app or delta dot com. Airport authorities have deployed staff in McNamara to hand out concession vouchers, which is a sign that they expect delays long enough to require food support for some waiting passengers.

How A Ground Stop Works For Delta Flights

A ground stop is an air traffic control measure that tells airlines not to release additional departures to a specific airport or region, usually because of safety issues, severe weather, or a major operational problem. In this case, the trigger is Delta's own network outage in Detroit, rather than a system wide FAA failure.

Practically, that means flights already in the air to Detroit will usually be allowed to continue, possibly with holding patterns or short delays, while flights that have not yet left their origin airports are held at the gate or delayed at the departure runway until the ground stop ends or is modified. At Detroit Metro, the impact is concentrated in the McNamara Terminal, which handles all Delta operations and most of the airport's domestic and long haul connectivity.

Because Delta uses Detroit as a hub, its daily schedule is organized in banks of flights that arrive in waves, connect, and then depart. When a ground stop hits during the first major morning bank, the immediate effect is that inbound flights arrive late, outbound flights cannot depart on time, and passengers miss short connections, especially onto smaller regional jets serving cities across the Midwest and Great Lakes.

Which Flights And Connections Are Most At Risk

Detroit's busiest domestic routes include Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas Fort Worth, New York LaGuardia, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago O Hare, Fort Lauderdale, and Phoenix, many of them with Delta as a primary carrier. Those trunk routes, plus spokes into smaller cities such as Grand Rapids, Lansing, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and many upper Midwest communities, form the backbone of Delta's morning connectivity.

With the ground stop in place into midmorning, the first and possibly second Detroit departure banks are likely to run late. Travelers on early outbound flights from Detroit to those large markets face elevated risk of delayed departures and may arrive too late for same day connections onward to the West Coast, Latin America, or Europe. Passengers booked on inbound regional flights that were meant to feed midmorning transcontinental or transatlantic departures are at particular risk of misconnecting, since crews and aircraft will also be out of position once the system begins moving again.

On the international side, Delta and partners operate key transatlantic routes from Detroit to Amsterdam, Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Dublin, and Seoul Incheon, among others. If the outage lingers or recovery is slow, midday and afternoon departures on those routes may see delays as aircraft arriving from earlier flights turn late, even if the formal ground stop has ended.

Travelers connecting through Detroit from Canada or smaller U S cities on tight layovers of less than 90 minutes should assume that their itineraries are fragile today and plan for backup options.

Could This Spread Beyond Detroit

At the time of writing, the outage and ground stop apply only to Delta operations at Detroit, not to other airlines or to Delta hubs such as Atlanta, Minneapolis St Paul, or Salt Lake City. However, because Detroit is a major hub, mispositioned aircraft and crews can ripple across the network.

A delayed Detroit to Atlanta or Detroit to Minneapolis flight can create later delays for those aircraft as they continue to cities like Houston, San Diego, Nashville, or Montreal, especially on days when schedules are already tight after the recent federal shutdown related capacity cuts and winter weather. Travelers who are not touching Detroit today may still see "late arriving aircraft" or "crew connection" listed as delay reasons on their Delta flights later in the day.

There is also an open question about whether the outage is related to a major Cloudflare incident that briefly disrupted parts of the wider internet earlier on December 5. So far, officials have not confirmed any direct link, and travelers should treat that connection as speculative until Delta or the airport authority provides a fuller technical explanation.

What Delta Passengers Should Do Today

For travelers who have not left home yet and are booked on Delta through Detroit today, the first step is to check the Fly Delta app or Delta's website rather than relying on static confirmation emails. If your itinerary shows a tight connection through Detroit of less than 90 minutes, use self service tools to move to a later connecting flight or reroute through another hub such as Atlanta or Minneapolis if seats are available.

Passengers already at the airport should expect lines and limited information at the McNamara Terminal. Use the app, airport information screens, and text alerts to track your specific flight rather than relying only on general announcements. If your flight is delayed long enough to miss a critical connection, get in a physical rebooking line and, at the same time, work the problem through the app or Delta's phone support, since phone and chat agents can often see more options than gate staff.

When delays extend past three hours or push into an overnight stay that is clearly caused by Delta's technical issues rather than weather, ask politely but firmly about meal vouchers and hotel support at the hub, especially if you are far from home and have no realistic alternative transportation.

Protecting Your Onward Plans

If you have nonrefundable hotels, rental cars, trains, or tours scheduled for the same calendar day as your Detroit connection, assume those plans may need to move. Contact providers as soon as you see a significant delay and ask about flexible rebooking, partial credits, or same day time changes, which are often easier to arrange before a no show.

For travelers with full day margin on either end, the best strategy is often to wait for the outage to resolve and accept a later arrival rather than jumping to costly same day alternatives. For those on business trips or urgent family travel where timing is critical, it can be worth pricing same day flights on other airlines that do not route through Detroit, even if that means leaving from or arriving into a different airport than originally planned.

Once Delta and Detroit Metro declare the network outage resolved and lift the ground stop, it will still take several hours for flights and aircraft to fall back into a normal pattern. Expect residual delays through at least the afternoon departure banks, even if your specific flight no longer shows a ground stop notation.