Copyright Star Tribune
Is the Great Flight Shutdown of 2025 upon us?Minneapolis-St. Paul International is one of 40 airports to be affected this weekend as the FAA reduces national air traffic amid the ongoing government shutdown. An estimated 41 flights out of MSP may be cut just on Friday. And the impact on airline schedules could reverberate beyond this weekend. If you have flying plans in the next few days, here’s what you need to do. You don’t need to panic before flight cancellations are announced, but you should be prepared to act. Check your email and your airline’s website for updates or travel waivers. Download your airline’s app, and check your flight status frequently. Search in advance for possible alternate itineraries. Ask yourself how flexible your plans are, and whether you will absolutely need to travel. On Thursday, Delta Air Lines posted an advisory allowing passengers booked on any flights from Friday through Sunday to rebook their travel. If the rebooked flight begins no later than Nov. 16 in the same cabin of service, Delta will waive the fare difference. United Airlines offered a similar waiver for the six airports it flies to from MSP. Once flight cancellations are announced, you can wait to find out if your flight is affected. If the airline informs you that your flight is indeed canceled, it may offer an alternate flight. If that works for you, you can take it. If you decline the alternative arrangements or no option is offered, you are entitled to a full refund — in money — regardless of the reason for the cancellation. The refund must be issued to your credit card within seven days (usually, it is sooner) or within 20 days for other payment methods. An airline may first offer a voucher for future travel instead of a refund, but you’re under no obligation to accept it. A cash refund is usually best. If you already happen to be at the airport when your flight is canceled, get in line at the ticket counter while you’re searching for your options online. Maybe you don’t want to deal with any chaos this weekend and you just want to change your plans now. You can probably do that — and not just with Delta’s travel waiver. Not enough people realize that on mainline carriers such as Delta, United and American, unless you have a “basic” fare, you can always change your ticket without a change fee. The disadvantage of changing preemptively: Absent a travel waiver from the airline, you would have to pay the fare difference if the new ticket is more expensive, or accept a credit for future travel if the new ticket is cheaper. Budget carrier Sun Country Airlines requires a change fee of $99 per segment if it’s less than 13 days before departure, so waiting for a cancellation would be your best option there. If we make it through this weekend, don’t breathe easy quite yet. The FAA could announce an extension of the cancellations, especially if the shutdown continues to drag on. And the mass cancellations this weekend could create a domino effect influencing schedules into next week. So if you have flight plans anytime in the next week or so, we suggest starting above at step one.
