A rough ten days for US flights: cable cuts, storms and what travellers can learn

The past ten days have shown how quickly ordinary problems can ripple through the aviation system. A construction crew's accident, a coastal storm and routine runway work all combined to push national delay and cancellation numbers well above normal, especially in the Northeast. None of it involved anything exotic. It is a reminder that infrastructure, weather and construction schedules matter just as much as the airlines themselves.

A cut cable grounded planes across the Northeast

On 21 September, a construction crew working on a rail project between New Brunswick and Newark accidentally severed a cable. It knocked out both the primary and backup circuits serving the Philadelphia air traffic control facility that manages traffic for the region. Ground stops followed at Newark, Teterboro, Philadelphia, LaGuardia and JFK.

By that evening, Newark alone had 168 cancelled flights and 97 delays, while Philadelphia recorded 63 cancellations and 189 delays. Nationwide, the picture worsened through the day, from an early total of 3,710 delays and 376 cancellations to 6,452 delays and 1,018 cancellations by evening. Repairs were finished the same day and officials confirmed operations had resumed, though delays lingered into the evening.

The timing added pressure, since world leaders and ministers were arriving in New York for the United Nations General Assembly that same week. It is a good example of how a single physical fault, far from any airport, can cascade into thousands of delays across several major hubs at once.

A rare September nor'easter hit Boston hardest

Later in the week, a nor'easter, unusual for September, brought high winds and heavy rain to the Northeast from Friday through the weekend. Five major airlines issued travel waivers in response.

Boston Logan bore the brunt. On the Saturday, 261 flights were cancelled and 249 delayed. By Sunday afternoon, tracking showed 306 cancellations and 294 delays at Logan, with many of the cancellations coming from Cape Air and Delta. Delta said the weather had also constrained fuel deliveries into Boston, and extended its Boston waiver through 29 September.

New York's LaGuardia and JFK were affected too. The FAA cited high winds as the reason for ground delays at both airports on the Friday afternoon, with nearly 600 flights delayed at LaGuardia by mid afternoon, and a possible ground delay flagged for Newark.

• If you were flying through a waiver period, airlines generally allowed free rebooking rather than the usual change fees
• Fuel supply constraints, as seen in Boston, can extend delays even after the weather itself clears
• Runway and terminal construction, separate from the storm, is expected to keep Boston Logan more delay prone through mid November

Underlying pressure had been building for weeks

These two events did not happen in isolation. On 19 September, before the cable cut or the storm, national tracking already showed 2,723 delays and 473 cancellations, with cancellations unusually concentrated at Chicago O'Hare rather than spread across the country. On 25 September, a separate day of disruption saw 4,375 delays and 107 cancellations nationwide, with Southwest the worst affected carrier at 1,128 delays, and Boston Logan the worst airport due to ongoing runway construction there as well as at San Francisco and Miami. Two days later, on 27 September, tracking still showed 4,338 delays and 481 cancellations across the country.

Separately, in the Gulf region, passengers in the UAE were advised to check their flight status before travelling, after Flydubai and Air Arabia reported cancellations on several routes linked to regional security tensions and sanctions affecting Iran related routes.

What this means if you are travelling soon

None of these causes, a severed cable, a storm, runway works or regional tensions, are things a passenger can control. What you can control is how closely you watch your own flight and how quickly you react when something changes.

• Check your flight status the morning of travel and again a few hours before departure, especially if your route touches a busy Northeast hub
• If your airline issues a weather waiver, it usually applies to specific dates and cities, so check whether your flight qualifies before you rebook
• Use Will my flight be delayed? to see the sort of factors that can affect your specific flight
• If you are heading to the airport to collect someone, our guide on picking someone up at the airport covers how to time your arrival around delays
• If your flight is cancelled or badly delayed, Flight delayed? What to do next sets out sensible next steps, and Airline support links can help you reach the right team

Compensation and rebooking rules depend on the airline, the route and the cause of the delay. For anything beyond general guidance, the airline's own policy and the relevant national aviation authority are the reliable sources, not general assumptions based on other people's experiences.

An operations plan cited winds as the reason for ground delays at LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, with a potential ground delay at Newark.

Forbes