What to Do During a Ground Stop

What a ground stop is

A ground stop is an FAA-issued order halting departures bound for a specific airport. Reasons:

• Severe weather at the destination.
• Airport equipment outage.
• Runway closure.
• Volume exceeding capacity.

How long it usually lasts

• Brief weather cells: 30–60 minutes.
• Major thunderstorm complex: 2–4 hours.
• Equipment outage: unpredictable.

What you should do

If you haven't boarded yet

• Don't sprint to the gate; you have time.
• Get food.
• Check the FlightyFlow page for the inbound aircraft — that's the truer ETA.
• Call the airline if your ground stop will cause a missed connection.

If you've boarded

• The aircraft may push back to a holding area or sit at the gate.
• Don't expect snacks immediately; ask politely if needed.
• The crew has very little new info; they're updated when ATC updates them.

When to rebook

If the ground stop has lasted more than 2 hours or there's a connection at risk, start rebooking. The phone line is faster than the gate.

After the ground stop lifts

• Departures don't go all at once — there's a "release" sequence.
• Expect 30–60 minutes of recovery before normal operations resume.

Stay informed

A predictive tracker like FlightyFlow shows the active ground delay program (GDP) and the predicted release time, often more clearly than the airline app.