1.71 percent of US flights were canceled in June 2026, the latest month in federal data, and 2.23 percent across the first half of the year. Every number on this page comes from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Data retrieved August 2026.
In June 2026, airlines canceled 1.71 percent of US scheduled flights - 11,457 of 671,781 - per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Across January through June 2026 the rate was 2.23 percent (85,998 of 3,856,905 flights), up from 1.56 percent in the same months of 2025. Where you fly matters more than the national average: first-half cancellation rates at the 30 major airports ranged from 5.61 percent of arrivals at New York LaGuardia down to 0.86 percent at Salt Lake City. The full airport and airline tables are below, then what the airline owes you when your flight is the one canceled.
Cancellations in 2026 have been front-loaded: January was the worst month of the half by far, and late spring was the calmest. June, the start of thunderstorm season, ticked back up.
| Month (2026) | Scheduled flights | Canceled | Share canceled |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 602,953 | 29,078 | 4.82% |
| February | 568,789 | 13,348 | 2.35% |
| March | 675,500 | 19,885 | 2.94% |
| April | 660,674 | 5,877 | 0.89% |
| May | 677,208 | 6,353 | 0.94% |
| June | 671,781 | 11,457 | 1.71% |
| First half 2026 | 3,856,905 | 85,998 | 2.23% |
Same period a year earlier: January - June 2025 saw 59,609 cancellations out of 3,809,371 scheduled flights, a rate of 1.56 percent, from the same BTS database.
These are arrival figures: a canceled flight counts at the airport it was scheduled to arrive at. The spread is wide. LaGuardia canceled arrivals at six times the rate of Salt Lake City, Denver, or Phoenix over the first half of 2026, and Reagan National was not far behind.
| Airport | Jan - Jun 2026 | June 2026 | Canceled | Scheduled arrivals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LaGuardia, New York (LGA) | 5.61% | 4.46% | 4,633 | 82,558 |
| Reagan National, Washington (DCA) | 4.26% | 4.85% | 3,143 | 73,726 |
| Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) | 3.90% | 4.62% | 5,985 | 153,298 |
| Kennedy, New York (JFK) | 3.78% | 2.50% | 2,301 | 60,928 |
| Newark Liberty (EWR) | 3.32% | 1.72% | 2,225 | 67,040 |
| Chicago O'Hare (ORD) | 3.23% | 3.40% | 6,280 | 194,421 |
| Boston Logan (BOS) | 3.19% | 1.74% | 2,268 | 71,196 |
| Philadelphia (PHL) | 3.14% | 2.67% | 1,965 | 62,537 |
| Charlotte Douglas (CLT) | 3.03% | 1.77% | 3,504 | 115,775 |
| Fort Lauderdale (FLL) | 2.99% | 1.17% | 1,434 | 47,894 |
| Detroit Metro (DTW) | 2.22% | 1.47% | 1,541 | 69,349 |
| Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) | 2.22% | 1.41% | 3,855 | 173,499 |
| Orlando (MCO) | 2.12% | 1.00% | 1,755 | 82,765 |
| Baltimore/Washington (BWI) | 2.09% | 0.85% | 953 | 45,541 |
| Nashville (BNA) | 2.07% | 1.17% | 1,153 | 55,581 |
| Miami (MIA) | 2.01% | 0.83% | 1,164 | 57,839 |
| Washington Dulles (IAD) | 1.84% | 1.11% | 820 | 44,588 |
| Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) | 1.80% | 0.99% | 1,139 | 63,148 |
| Tampa (TPA) | 1.80% | 0.82% | 712 | 39,661 |
| Chicago Midway (MDW) | 1.66% | 1.38% | 598 | 36,082 |
| Houston Bush (IAH) | 1.52% | 0.76% | 1,284 | 84,573 |
| Austin-Bergstrom (AUS) | 1.49% | 0.90% | 672 | 45,149 |
| San Francisco (SFO) | 1.19% | 0.84% | 887 | 74,309 |
| Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) | 1.14% | 0.60% | 998 | 87,677 |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | 1.11% | 0.63% | 1,046 | 94,599 |
| San Diego (SAN) | 1.10% | 0.97% | 586 | 53,174 |
| Las Vegas Harry Reid (LAS) | 0.97% | 0.80% | 826 | 85,456 |
| Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) | 0.94% | 0.57% | 968 | 102,808 |
| Denver (DEN) | 0.93% | 0.46% | 1,450 | 155,995 |
| Salt Lake City (SLC) | 0.86% | 0.43% | 515 | 59,720 |
Canceled and scheduled-arrival counts cover January - June 2026. "Major airports" is the set of 30 airports BTS groups that way in this database.
BTS reports flights under the airline that operated them. Regional carriers - the companies that fly planes sold as American Eagle, Delta Connection, or United Express - appear under their own names, not the brand on your ticket, so they are listed here the same way.
| Airline | Jan - Jun 2026 | June 2026 | Canceled | Scheduled flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit (through May, see note) | 7.47% | no data | 3,525 | 47,202 |
| PSA Airlines (regional) | 5.58% | 6.89% | 6,712 | 120,364 |
| Republic Airways (regional) | 4.39% | 3.57% | 8,037 | 183,096 |
| Endeavor Air (regional) | 3.50% | 3.10% | 4,409 | 125,945 |
| GoJet Airlines (regional) | 3.49% | 3.23% | 1,529 | 43,763 |
| American Airlines | 2.94% | 2.64% | 14,499 | 493,947 |
| JetBlue | 2.86% | 1.52% | 3,389 | 118,580 |
| Envoy Air (regional) | 2.67% | 3.40% | 4,238 | 158,747 |
| Piedmont Airlines (regional) | 2.62% | 1.96% | 2,010 | 76,666 |
| Delta Air Lines | 2.09% | 1.12% | 10,647 | 509,605 |
| SkyWest Airlines (regional) | 2.01% | 1.40% | 8,524 | 424,393 |
| Frontier | 1.99% | 2.00% | 2,127 | 106,624 |
| CommuteAir (regional) | 1.89% | 1.72% | 781 | 41,304 |
| Horizon Air (regional) | 1.69% | 1.33% | 778 | 46,094 |
| Mesa Airlines (regional) | 1.50% | 0.46% | 520 | 34,651 |
| Alaska Airlines | 1.13% | 0.66% | 1,862 | 164,539 |
| United Airlines | 1.13% | 0.62% | 4,646 | 410,786 |
| Southwest | 1.05% | 0.62% | 7,187 | 686,476 |
| Allegiant | 0.90% | 0.54% | 578 | 64,123 |
Spirit reported no June 2026 data to BTS; its figures here cover January through May 2026. Spirit's reported flights fell from 10,469 in April 2026 to 354 in May 2026. Hawaiian Airlines does not appear as a separate reporting carrier in 2026 BTS data (it does appear in 2025 data). Mainline rows (American, Delta, United, Alaska) cover flights those airlines operated themselves, not flights operated for them by the regional carriers listed separately.
The base rate is reassuring: even in January 2026, the worst month in the tables above, more than 95 of every 100 scheduled flights operated, and in a calm month like April it was better than 99 in 100. But the national average hides how uneven the risk is. The same first half of 2026 that produced a 0.86 percent cancellation rate for arrivals at Salt Lake City produced 5.61 percent at LaGuardia - roughly one arrival in eighteen. If your trip runs through the New York or Washington airports, O'Hare, or Dallas/Fort Worth, the tables above are an argument for booking earlier flights, longer connections, and carry-on-only when you can manage it.
Season matters as much as geography. The first half of 2026 split into a rough winter (4.82 percent of flights canceled in January) and a calm late spring (under 1 percent in April and May), with June rising again as summer storms arrived. A canceled flight in a bad-weather week also competes with everyone else's canceled flight for the remaining seats, which is why rebooking speed matters more when the rate is high - our Fix My Trip tool and the cancellation playbook exist for exactly that moment.
And when it happens to you, the numbers stop mattering and the rules start. If the airline cancels and you choose not to travel, US Department of Transportation rules entitle you to a cash refund, not a voucher - the full rundown is in Know Your Rights. If you are mid-trip when the cancellation lands, start with Stuck at the Airport for the order of operations: rebooking paths, hotel and meal commitments, and what to ask the agent for by name.
All figures come from the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, via its Airline On-Time Statistics and Delay Causes database. We queried the database and downloaded its raw monthly files on August 13, 2026. June 2026 was the latest month available; the year-to-date figures cover January through June 2026, with January - June 2025 as the comparison period. BTS also publishes this data through the DOT's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report.
Under the DOT reporting rule (14 CFR Part 234), a canceled flight is one that was not operated but was still listed in the airline's computer reservation system within seven calendar days of its scheduled departure. Flights dropped from the schedule earlier than that are "discontinued" and do not count. Rates on this page are canceled flights divided by scheduled flights, with canceled flights included in the denominator, rounded to two decimals - matching how BTS itself displays them.
The data covers US domestic nonstop scheduled passenger flights operated by reporting carriers: airlines with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue, plus voluntary reporters - 19 carriers in the first-half 2026 data. Airport figures count scheduled arrivals at that airport. Flights are attributed to the operating carrier, so a flight sold as American Eagle, Delta Connection, or United Express appears under the regional airline that flew it, not the brand that marketed it. We cross-checked every rate we computed from the raw files against the percentages BTS displays in the database itself; they match.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics and Delay Causes (all rates and counts; database queried and raw files downloaded August 13, 2026) · 14 CFR Part 234, Airline Service Quality Performance Reports (cancellation definition, reporting threshold) · BTS, Understanding the Reporting of Causes of Flight Delays and Cancellations · US DOT, Air Travel Consumer Reports.
Official government statistics, summarized by TripHero; we are not affiliated with the US DOT or BTS. Data retrieved August 13, 2026; BTS revises data occasionally, and later months will shift the year-to-date figures. Found an error? Tell us and we will fix it.