Orlando and Tampa are now likely ground stops as the afternoon risk shifts from Denver toward Florida, while Boston holds at 1 hour 46 minutes

The 3 PM Wednesday update: the noon issue's lead forward-watch (Denver at 3 PM) has not yet fired a terminal program, and the FAA's post-1:15 PM webinar advisory instead pushed the Denver discussion toward 6 PM and layered a staffing cause on top of the weather, while Orlando and Tampa were upgraded from POSSIBLE to PROBABLE ground stops as thunderstorms sit in the center of Jacksonville's airspace, a new staffing constraint spread to three facilities including Las Vegas (which may get its own ground stop tonight), Boston Logan's delay program is holding at 1 hour 46 minutes through 11:59 PM ET, San Francisco's fog program runs to 6:59 PM, and American Airlines still leads nationwide cancellations a day after its IT outage with no root cause named.

What's live right now

Boston Logan is still the active anchor of the day. The FAA's Boston airport status page, updated at 3:17 PM ET, shows the ground delay program for low ceilings running unchanged at an average of 1 hour 46 minutes for arriving and Boston-bound traffic, with airborne arrivals only 15 minutes or less. The program is set through 11:59 PM ET. The runway switch the morning advisory warned about (04 to 15R on a southeast wind shift) has not materialized as a worsening, so the program is holding steady rather than deepening.

San Francisco's fog ground delay program continues through 6:59 PM ET, the same low-visibility program the noon issue flagged as verified. A second San Francisco program is likely after 10 PM.

The only new active program since noon is a Vancouver (CYVR) ground delay program running through 4:59 PM ET, a minor cross-border en route item.

The FAA advisory, signed at 2:01 PM ET after the 1:15 PM planning webinar (ADVZY 111), lists no active terminal ground stops anywhere. Some third-party cancellation trackers were still displaying yesterday's New York "ground delay program" tags at JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia this afternoon, but the FAA's own advisory shows those airports on time. FAA NASSTATUS is authoritative; the stale tracker tags are Tuesday's storm, already cleared.

The afternoon shift: from Denver toward Florida

The noon issue led with Denver as the next risk at 3 PM. That 3 PM window (1900Z) is now open, but the FAA's post-webinar advisory did not issue a Denver terminal ground stop or delay program. Instead the advisory says a discussion will be held regarding Denver "for 22Z and later," meaning the Denver terminal program timing is being reconsidered and may shift toward 6 PM ET as weather develops to Denver's west and east.

What did go active at Denver is an en route restriction, not a full terminal stop: a Denver-to-northwest play is running until 4:30 PM ET, issued for a Salt Lake City Center (ZLC) Area B staffing trigger. So Denver's disruption today already has a second cause layered on, staffing, in addition to the showers and wind in the terminal forecast. A separate Las Vegas (L30) staffing trigger is set for 8 PM to 3 AM ET, and the advisory notes a ground stop may be needed at 11 PM ET for a staffing-driven arrival rate reduction there.

The bigger movement is to the southeast. Jacksonville Center (ZJX) is "currently impacted along both their east and west coasts with thunderstorms sitting in the center of their airspace," the advisory says, and ZJX is managing tactically. On that basis the FAA upgraded ground stops for both Orlando (MCO) and Tampa (TPA) from POSSIBLE to PROBABLE, the higher confidence tier, running through 8 PM ET. Orlando/Tampa reroute, swap, and arrival route initiatives are also now PROBABLE after 3 PM. Neither airport had gone into an active ground stop as of the 2:01 PM advisory, but the tier upgrade is the clearest escalation since noon.

Still on the watch list at the lower POSSIBLE tier: Reagan (DCA) ground stop or delay program possible through 8 PM, and Atlanta CDRS, swap, and arrival route initiatives possible. The Delta Atlanta thunderstorm waiver the noon issue flagged (posted 12:08 PM ET) remains the airline-side signal that Atlanta is in the plan, though no Atlanta terminal program is active.

Why it's lasting: the staffing constraint spread

The mechanism story deepened this afternoon. Where the noon advisory carried only a single New York Center (ZNY) staffing line expiring at 1 PM, the post-webinar advisory added three new staffing triggers across different regions:

Salt Lake City Center Area B, until 5 PM ET, the trigger behind the active Denver-to-northwest en route restriction.

F11 TRACON (Fort Worth), 7 PM to midnight ET.

Las Vegas (L30) Operations, 8 PM to 3 AM ET, with the possible 11 PM ground stop noted above.

New en route swap statements also appeared: Boston Center (ZBW) domestic and international swap through 11 PM, New York Center swap statement through 11 PM, and Denver Center (ZDV) swap through midnight. These are the reroute and flow-management tools that signal the convective and staffing constraints are pushing into the evening, not just a single afternoon cell.

American Airlines: still leading cancellations, no root cause

American Airlines is still canceling the most flights worldwide a day after its nationwide IT ground stop, with 88 of the 407 US cancellations at the morning count, ahead of United at 87 and Republic at 61, per thetravel.com citing FlightAware. Airways Magazine, publishing at 11:43 AM ET, reports American had still not published a newsroom explanation and had not identified the affected system, the cause, the exact duration, or attributable delay and cancellation totals. The FAA lifted the nationwide stop by 8:10 PM ET Tuesday; the residual Charlotte and Miami ground stops that followed were classified as carrier requests.

The TechTimes framing from this morning, that this is the third such failure in under two years (Christmas Eve 2024, June 2025, and now July 2026), still stands. No Department of Transportation investigation has been announced. American's IT-outage travel waiver (travel July 28, changes by July 28) is expired for new bookings.

Rebooking basics

Waivers still covering today, July 29:

Delta's New York advisory (Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Westchester) and Mid-Atlantic advisory (Boston, BWI, DCA, Dulles, Philadelphia, Allentown) both list July 29 in their travel dates, rebook by August 1. Delta's Atlanta Summer Thunderstorms advisory, posted at 12:08 PM ET, covers Atlanta.

JetBlue's New York metro advisory (Islip, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Westchester) runs through July 29, rebook by August 1. Today is the last day of the covered travel window.

American's storm and IT-outage waivers are expired for new bookings; check American's travel alerts page directly for any extension. United's travel notices page should be checked directly for current coverage.

If your flight is canceled or significantly delayed, the Department of Transportation's consumer dashboard lays out the cash-refund and rebooking rights you are owed, which are strongest when the airline cancels for a cause within its control like an IT outage.

For live status, the FAA NASSTATUS page and the FAA operations plan advisory are the authoritative sources. Some aggregator sites were still showing yesterday's New York ground stops this afternoon, so cross-check against the FAA feed before assuming a delay is current.