Memorial Day Weekend Flight Cancellations, Delays Linger Into Tuesday — What to Know

Despite thousands of flights being canceled across the country — which have lingered into Tuesday — more than 11 million travelers passed through U.S. airports over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,500 flights over the four-day holiday weekend, Reuters reported. On Monday alone, there were 422 flights canceled into or within the U.S., according to tracker FlightAware. And by Tuesday morning, at least 50 flights had been canceled with more than 400 delayed.

Airlines blamed storms in Florida, New York, and the mid-Atlantic for the flight delays and cancellations, according to Reuters, while in the past they've pointed to issues like air traffic control problems and staffing shortages.

Several U.S. airlines have proactively trimmed summer schedules in an effort to avoid widespread cancellations, including JetBlue and Delta Air Lines.

Delta, for example, canceled about 700 flights over the four-day holiday period, but told Reuters it tried to cancel flights "at least 24 hours in advance of departure time wherever possible," adding 94% of passengers on Sunday were booked on alternative flights within an average of 10 hours of their original departure time.

For Wednesday, Delta had already canceled 21 flights, according to FlightAware, the most of any U.S. carrier.

In total, about 11.2 million travelers passed through Transportation Security Administration screening points from Thursday through Monday, according to the agency's data, which is significantly more than in 2021 when the TSA screened over 7.1 million people during the same time period, but less than in 2019 when 12.3 million passengers passed through U.S. airports from the Thursday through Monday of Memorial Day.

Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram.