By RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

Travelers can expect to see fewer flights to many major U.S. cities starting Friday morning, when the Federal Aviation Administration said it would reduce traffic across 40 airports to ease the load on the nation’s air traffic controllers.

The head of the FAA said the move was unprecedented but necessary to keep air travel safe as traffic controllers, who are federal employees, show increasing signs of stress and fatigue while working unpaid during the longest government shutdown on record.

Most of them worked six days a week and put in mandatory overtime even before the shutdown, but they have been doing so without paychecks as lawmakers fail to agree on a way to reopen the government.

Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, along with hubs across the U.S., are among the 40 that will see flights cut, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.

Here is what to know about the cutbacks and what to do if your trip is delayed or canceled:

Will I hear from my airline?

Passengers should start to get notified about cancellations on Thursday. Airlines say they will try to minimize the impact on their customers, some of whom will see weekend travel plans disrupted with little notice.

United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes.

United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly, even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable.

A board showing arrivals and departures of flights is displayed at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Is my airport on the list?

The affected airports cover more than two dozen states across the country. The include the nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, as well as the main airports in Anchorage, Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Boston, and Anchorage.

In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple airports will be impacted.

Check before going to the airport

It is better to be stuck at home or in a hotel than to be stranded in an airport terminal, so use the airline’s app or flight websites to make sure that your flight is still on before heading to the airport. This FAA site can be checked to see if there are widespread delays at your airport.

My flight was canceled. Now what?

If you are already at the airport, it is time to find another flight. Get in line to speak to a customer service representative, and call or go online to connect to the airline’s reservations staff. It can also help to reach out on X because airlines might respond quickly there.

The good news is that early November is not a peak travel time, so travelers stand a better chance of getting seats on other planes. But the busy holiday season is just weeks away, and passengers might have to wait days for a seat on a new flight.

A passenger walks through security at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Consider other travel options

Now might be the time to consider if it makes sense to travel by train, car or bus instead.

Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, said the shutdown is different from when a single airline is having problems and travelers can just pick another carrier. Shortages of air traffic controllers can create problems for entire airports and multiple airlines at once.

“As these problems expand and spread, the longer the shutdown drags on, it’s unlikely that there will be one airline running on time if the rest of the them are failing,” Potter said.

Can I get compensation?

U.S. airlines are not required to pay additional cash compensation or to cover lodging and meals for passengers who are stranded, even if a flight cancellation or a severe delay is the airline’s fault.

The Biden administration had proposed a rule that would have changed that and required airlines to pay passengers for delays and cancellations in more circumstances, with compensation proposed between about $200 and as high as $775. But the Trump administration scrapped that last month, and the airlines praised him for doing so.

But the U.S. Department of Transportation has a site that lets consumers see the commitments that each carrier makes for refunds and covering other expenses when flights are canceled or significantly delayed.

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Other tips

Be nice. Airline agents are likely helping other frustrated travelers, too, and yelling won’t make them more willing to help. Remember, the cancellations aren’t their fault.

Travel insurance also might help if you bought a policy when you booked or used a travel credit card that offers that product, but Potter said you shouldn’t assume you will be covered even if you have insurance. Check the fine print to see if you are covered in situations like this when a shortage of workers causes flight disruptions.

If many flights are canceled, airline agents will soon be overwhelmed by requests. If you’re traveling in a group with someone who has a higher status in the airline’s loyalty program, call using their frequent flyer number. You may get quicker service.

You also can try calling your airline’s international support number, which is usually listed online and may have shorter wait times.

By MARGERY A. BECK, Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A minimum-security state prison in the remote southwest corner of Nebraska reconfigured to serve as a federal immigration detention center began accepting detainees earlier this week, Gov. Jim Pillen said Thursday.

The Republican governor said the facility at McCook — a remote city of about 7,000 people in the middle of wide-open prairies between Denver and Omaha — had between 50 and 60 immigrant detainees as of Thursday. The facility should be at capacity — currently 200 — by Thanksgiving, Pillen said.

Work is already set to begin on the second phase of the conversion, which would expand the facility to accommodate another 100 beds for a total of 300, he said.

“I would expect that the second phase will be ready in the first part of the new year,” he said.

FILE – Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen greets state senators before giving a speech, June 2, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. (Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)

The facility had served as the McCook Work Ethic Camp, which had housed around 180 low-level offenders who participated in education, treatment and work programs to help them transition to life outside prison. Prisoners there routinely worked on roads, in parks, county and city offices and even local schools, and the program was often praised by state leaders as a success story for reducing prisoner recidivism.

Those low-level offenders have been moved out of the McCook prison. Several were paroled, placed on probation or simply released, but the majority were sent to other facilities, including more than 100 sent to community corrections in Omaha and Lincoln. Dozens of others were sent to other state prisons.

McCook is about 210 miles west of Lincoln, the state capital.

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McCook officials and residents were taken by surprise when Pillen announced in August that he was handing the prison over for use by federal authorities as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.

Some Nebraska lawmakers have complained that Pillen, a Republican, acted rashly, noting that the state’s prison system is already one of the nation’s most overcrowded and perpetually understaffed.

To that end, former state Sen. DiAnna Schimek and 13 other McCook residents have sued Pillen and the director of the state prison system, saying only the Legislature has the constitutional authority to control or manage state prisons or repurpose the use of public buildings.

The lawsuit, filed in state court on the residents’ behalf by nonprofit legal advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed, had sought a temporary injunction to stop the conversion of the McCook prison while the case plays out, but a judge rejected that motion last month. Likewise, the judge also rejected Pillen’s motion to dismiss the case.

Nearly 60,000 people were being held in immigration detention by mid-September — a 51% increase since January, according to the nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

About 70% of those detained have no criminal record, TRAC says. Many others have convictions for offenses as minor as a traffic violation.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Justice Department employee who threw a sandwich at a federal agent during President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in Washington was found not guilty of assault on Thursday in the latest legal rebuke of the federal intervention.

A viral video of the sandwich tossing made Sean Charles Dunn a symbol of resistance to Trump’s deployment of federal agents to combat crime in the nation’s capital.

His misdemeanor acquittal is another setback for prosecutors, who have faced a backlash for their aggressive charging tactics during the law enforcement surge. The Justice Department had initially sought a felony assault indictment against Dunn, but in a highly unusual move, the grand jury declined to sign off on the felony charge. The office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro then charged Dunn with a misdemeanor.

There was no dispute over whether Dunn threw the sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on the night of Aug. 10. But his lawyers argued it was a “harmless gesture” during an act of protest protected by the First Amendment.

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Prosecutors said Dunn knew he did not have a right to throw the sandwich at the agent. Dunn shouted “fascists” and “racists” and chanted “shame” toward the group of agents who were in front of a club hosting a “Latin Night.”

“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.

Dunn hugged his lawyers after the foreperson read the verdict. Later, he said, “I’m relieved and I’m looking forward to moving on with my life.”

Court officers escorted the 12 jurors out of the building with a gaggle of reporters following. Several jurors, including the foreperson, declined to be interviewed.

Dunn ran away after hitting the agent with the sandwich but was apprehended. He was released from custody but rearrested when armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said.

Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department’s criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as “an example of the Deep State.”

Dunn lawyers urged the judge to dismiss the case for what they alleged was a vindictive and selective prosecution. They argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House show Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech.

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.

By MATT SEDENSKY and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Travelers braced for canceled flights, scrambled plans and holidays stranded in airports as a U.S. government shutdown threatened to snarl trips across the country.

News that the Federal Aviation Administration will reduce air traffic at 40 airports beginning Friday set off a flurry of worry among those planning trips.

“Oh no,” said 31-year-old Talia Dunyak, who is due to fly next week from Vienna to Philadelphia, among the airports targeted by the FAA for flight cutbacks. “I’m really hoping my flights don’t get canceled.”

Dunyak is due to meet her newborn niece, have some business meetings and celebrate Thanksgiving with family during a carefully planned trip. Now she’s wondering what will happen.

“It’s such a busy time to travel and there’s not so many direct flights,” said Dunyak, who works in public relations. “I might end up in some nightmare.”

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Those worries were pervasive with Thanksgiving and the busiest travel days of the year looming ahead and a crush of passengers fearful of reliving a scene out of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

Though the exact parameters of the FAA’s plan were not released, it promised to upend trips in broad swaths of the country. Affected airports are dotted across more than two dozen states and include some of the busiest hubs, including Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.

It was enough to cause Laura Adams to ditch plans of flying altogether.

Adams lives in Vero Beach, Florida, and typically flies with her husband for Thanksgiving with his family in Fair Hope, Alabama. They’ll now make a 10-hour drive instead.

“We really felt quite uneasy and just didn’t want to risk having a flight cancellation or a delay or getting stuck,” said Adams. “It just seems really risky.”

Though she’s not a fan of long car trips, she’s resigned herself to it, even if the shutdown ends and flights are restored.

“Just kind of weighing the pros and cons, it just seems like a better option,” she said.

Jennifer Dombrowski, a 45-year-old American living in Bordeaux, France, likewise adapted her plans. She’s due to travel next week to her hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, for the first time in two years, and has opted to skirt U.S. airports altogether. She’ll fly to Toronto, then drive to visit her parents, including a father with terminal cancer.

“I don’t really want to deal,” she said.

Major carriers like United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly, even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable. And United Airlines said it would focus on cutting smaller regional routes.

Joseph Trainor, 55, who shuttles between New York and his home in Boynton Beach, Florida, every week, canceled his flights for next week — and is looking to book multiple backup routes farther down the road, in case future trips land on the chopping block.

“I’m afraid the flights I’m on are going to cancel,” he said. “It’s going to cause a cascading effect throughout the system.”

Even with the safeguards of additional reservations, Trainor knows cancellations can ripple through the system and affect him anyway. Still, he’s thinking about the Transportation Security Administration agents who have been going without pay in a shutdown that entered its 38th day on Thursday.

“They’re the heroes keeping the system going, and I don’t know if the government realizes how much air traffic and our economy is based on that,” Trainor said.