Beware There Could Be Nationwide Flight Troubles Today

[EACarlson]

I saw that but just checked the delta status and flights in and out of our small regional airport are running and on time. The last one departed at 7am
not sure how it all works that they can take off but the larger airports can’t
these must be the planes that were here overnight
im sure the next set will be delayed. All planes go out to a hub and then back.

Regionals may have had an easier time in that there were fewer NOTAM that needed to be verified as they are generally shorter flights. There is also a back up phone system that may have prioritized regionals over larger airports because they could do it. Reports are the phone system got completely overwhelmed which caused the ground stop. It's been reported that the first two airports to be cleared were ATL and ORD.