WNBA postpones Liberty-Wings game after New York's charter plane experiences mechanical issues

The Liberty were stuck on the tarmac for over 10 hours on Wednesday

Jul 16, 2026

2:06 pm ET

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1 min read

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The WNBA has significantly upgraded its travel accommodations over the past few years, with teams making the transition from commercial flights to full-time charter flights in 2024. However, it turns out travel headaches can find you in any tax bracket. Thursday’s game between the New York Liberty and the Dallas Wings was postponed less than 10 hours before tipoff because of travel delays caused by mechanical issues with the Liberty’s charter flight. The game has been rescheduled for Monday, July 20, at 8 p.m. ET. At 10:25 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, Liberty rookie Pauline Astier posted about the difficulties on her Instagram story, noting that the team had been on the tarmac for 10 hours.

While the official reason for the postponement was the plane’s mechanical issues, severe thunderstorms in the New York area caused flight delays on Wednesday, and things in Dallas weren’t any better, with over 900 storm-related delays and a one-hour FAA-mandated ground stoppage causing chaos at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

It is extremely rare for a WNBA game to be postponed or canceled for any reason — the last time was in 2023, when a game between the Minnesota Lynx and Liberty was postponed due to air quality issues in Brooklyn caused by the wildfires in Canada.

But travel issues were a regular problem for the league and its players before charter flights were instituted. In 2018, the Las Vegas Aces forfeited a game against the Washington Mystics after spending over 25 hours in transit and arriving at the hotel just four hours before game time.

Due to the postponement, the Wings will now have a rare back-to-back at College Park Center, hosting the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET before the Liberty makeup game the following night. The team is currently 16-8 on the season, sitting at fourth place in the standings and riding a five-game winning streak, though this schedule change means the Wings will go a week between games.

The Liberty, meanwhile, are 13-11, in eighth place in the standings and riding their second three-game losing streak of the season. New York will travel to Indianapolis to face the Indiana Fever on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.