The FAA’s Nov. 13 Ground Stop Wasn’t the Airlines’ Fault, So They Owe You Less Than You Think

An air traffic control failure sits on the government’s side of the ledger, and that one label decides whether a stranded traveler gets a hotel room or only their money back.

If the FAA’s nationwide ground stop on Nov. 13, 2026 wrecked your trip, US airlines are not required to give you a meal voucher, a free hotel or cash compensation. Those promises cover only disruptions within the airline’s control, and federal rules file air traffic control under the National Aviation System instead.

One right survives intact. If your airline cancelled your flight or changed it significantly and you chose not to fly, federal rules say you get a full refund in your original form of payment, whatever caused the disruption.

Air Traffic Control Is Coded as the Government’s Problem

The largest US airlines report the cause of each cancellation and delay to the Department of Transportation under 14 CFR 234.4. “Air Carrier” cancellations are those “within the control of the air carrier,” with “lack of flight crew” and “maintenance” as the examples.

The National Aviation System code is a separate box. The regulation says it covers “weather-non-extreme, airport operations, heavy traffic volume, air traffic control, etc.” A telecommunications failure that grounded every departure in the country fits there, not in the airline’s column.

That distinction carries money. In a rule published on Sept. 3, 2026, the DOT noted that all reporting carriers that sell tickets “commit to providing amenities at no cost to consumers for lengthy controllable delays and controllable cancellations.” Meals, hotels and the occasional travel credit all hang on the word controllable.

The airline contracts say the same thing in their own words. Delta’s domestic contract of carriage, Rule 19, defines force majeure to include any “government regulation, demand, directive or requirement” and “any other condition beyond Delta’s control,” and says Delta “shall have no liability” for a cancellation, diversion or delay caused by force majeure.

Cash compensation for delays is off the table too. The DOT floated it in a December 2024 advance notice titled “Airline Passenger Rights,” then withdrew that proposal in November 2025. That leaves no federal requirement to pay cash for a delay.

7 Business Days, 3 Hours and 2 Hours: The Rules That Still Apply

The refund rule does not care who broke the system. When the DOT finalized automatic refunds in April 2024, it wrote that its policy on refunds for cancellations “applies irrespective of the reason for a cancellation, and this continues to be the case under this final rule.”

The rule covers flights to, from or within the United States. A refund is due automatically when the airline cancels or significantly changes a flight and you reject the alternatives or are not offered any, and it includes taxes and ancillary fees.

The deadlines are set in the rule: “within 7 business days for credit card payments and within 20 calendar days for other forms of payment.” The money goes back “in the original form of payment” unless you agree to another cash equivalent.

A delay counts as significant on a domestic trip when you would arrive three hours or more after the original scheduled arrival time. For international itineraries the bar is six hours. A change of departure or arrival airport, an extra connection or a downgrade to a lower class of service also qualifies.

The tarmac delay rule also applies no matter the cause. A full Boeing 737-800 held on a taxiway must get food and water no later than two hours into the delay, and passengers on a domestic flight must be given the chance to get off before three hours, unless safety, security or air traffic control rules it out.

A Travel Waiver Is Not a Refund

What the airlines did offer on Nov. 13 was flexibility. United waived change fees and fare differences for travelers hit by the stop, provided the new United flight left by Nov. 20 in the same cabin between the same cities, KPRC 2 reported.

Delta let customers booked on Nov. 13 and 14 change at no extra cost if they traveled by Nov. 21, according to a roundup of the airline waivers by TheTravel. American, Southwest, Alaska, Hawaiian and Frontier posted waivers with their own date windows, and Frontier’s still charged any fare difference.

Read the fine print on what happens if you simply cancel. TheTravel reported that Delta’s waiver turns a cancelled trip into an eCredit, and Alaska’s into Wallet funds or a credit certificate. That is a voucher, not your money.

The order of events decides which one you get. The federal refund right belongs to the passenger whose flight the airline cancelled or significantly changed. Cancel your own booking under a waiver before the airline acts, and you have chosen the credit, which is why consumer advocates quoted by FOX 5 told stranded fliers to wait for the airline to cancel first.

One more wrinkle matters after a mass disruption. Under the 2024 rule, a flight given a new number counts as cancelled, but the DOT is not enforcing that for renumbered flights that operate without a significant change, a pause that runs to July 7, 2027.

What to Do If the Ground Stop Wrecked Your Trip

If your flight was cancelled and you did not travel, check that the refund arrived within the deadline: seven business days on a credit card, 20 calendar days otherwise. If the airline offered only a credit, the rule says you can reject it and take the refund.

If you paid for a hotel or meals that night, the airline is not obliged to reimburse you, but asking costs nothing. Keep the receipts and screenshots of your flight status, and check whether your credit card carries trip delay coverage.

The rules around this are still moving. Our earlier look at the DOT rule that narrows when airlines owe you a hotel explains the ten events it removes from the airline’s column, and one of them is an unexpected failure of a government system needed to fly safely.

That rule now starts on Feb. 1, 2027, and it already faces a FlyersRights challenge in the D.C. Circuit. For an air traffic control outage it changes little, because the existing code already puts that failure outside the airline’s control.

Airlines would also rather delay a flight than cancel it, and on a night like Nov. 13 that choice can decide whether a refund is owed at all. The ground stop took away the hotel voucher, but it did not take away the refund.