Up in the air

Up in the air

“Up in the air” is an expression we use when something is undecided or uncertain . Use this when someone in the conversation is asking for—or may be expecting —some certainty, but unfortunately you can’t offer certainty at the time. There are two common uses for “up in the air.”

Pending or undecided

Let’s start with a situation where something is still undecided . You’re expecting a decision —a decision is needed—but a decision has not yet been made. Many of you travel and see family and friends during the winter holidays —Christmas, New Year, Lunar New Year, Hanukkah, what have you. When do you start planning those holidays? Some people start in September. Other people leave it for later —November, even early December.

Imagine that it’s mid-November and your extended family asks what your plans are for the winter holidays. You know you’re going to do something, but you just haven’t made your plans yet. You can say, “My holiday plans are up in the air.” When you say that, you’re communicating that you will do something. You’ll make a decision. You just don’t have a decision yet.

Now pretend you work in an office and your company leases the office space in a commercial building. Your company’s lease is going to end next year. There’s a lot of gossip in the company: what’s going to happen? Are we going to move? Is the new office going to be nicer than the current office? Or is the company going to sign a new lease for the existing space ? A decision is needed; the lease is up soon.

I have lived through this drama! Everyone wants to know what’s going on. So people might ask, “What’s happening with the office? Are we going to move?” And the company’s leaders might say, “The decision is still up in the air.” Everyone knows a decision is coming, but until it’s made, it’s up in the air. It’s unresolved .

All right, so that’s the first definition: a decision is coming, but it has not yet been made. That decision is up in the air.

In doubt or in limbo

The second way to use “up in the air” is when something is in doubt . The whole future is uncertain—not one little thing, not just one decision—the whole future of something is uncertain.

A lot of nonprofit organizations rely on grants to fund their work . They ask governments or other charities for money, and they use that money to do good work. So imagine you have a nonprofit whose job is to teach kids theater after school . They got a three-year grant from a wealthy local resident . But at the end of the three years, the money ran out and they couldn’t find a new source of funding .

The organizers are scrambling to get more money to continue the program . But there’s no guarantee they will find it. So you can say, “the theater program is up in the air right now.” The whole thing is in doubt; the whole thing is uncertain. It might continue; it might not continue. The program is up in the air. You can also say, the program’s future is up in the air.

Speaking of a future that’s up in the air: Willie Nelson is a famous country music singer. He’s on tour right now. He’s 91 years old. I read an article that said he had a health problem , and his doctors told him to rest for a few days, so he couldn’t perform in his concerts.

When that news came out , the rest of his concert tour was up in the air. The future was unclear . Would it happen? Or would it be cancelled ? Nobody knew at the time. It might have continued—if he recovered —or it might not have continued—if the health issue were more serious. In the end , he missed four days and got back on stage . Yeah, at 91!

Entertainment can be a cutthroat business . Sometimes TV shows are cancelled because they don’t do very well. Other times, shows are cancelled for other reasons entirely .

Sports fans: in the U.S., there’s a sports program called “Inside the NBA.” It’s about NBA basketball . It’s on the TNT cable network and the show is really popular . But in mid-2024, TNT lost the rights to show NBA games, starting in the next season. The announcement came out in 2024. So there was a year left on TNT’s contract with the basketball league.

What will happen to the show “Inside the NBA”? Its future is in doubt. Its future is up in the air. Turner—TNT’s owner—could, conceivably , continue “Inside the NBA” on TNT. But that might not make sense if they have no other basketball programming . What about moving to another network ? That would be hard, too.

There’s one more year left at TNT, but the future of this show is up in the air. The whole future is in doubt. It might survive ; it might not. While we wait to find out, we say that the show, or the show’s future, is up in the air.

Variations of “up in the air”

There are a couple of variations of the expression that you might hear in everyday conversation . One is “a little up in the air.” That softens the uncertainty a little. When you say, “a little up in the air,” that means that things aren’t completely decided . There are a few details left to decide. So you can say, “Our holiday plans are a little up in the air, but I know we’ll be coming home no later than Christmas eve.” If you say that, you don’t know the exact dates of your visit, but you have a pretty good idea . It’s a little up in the air, so you might change some details later.

You might also hear someone say, “still up in the air.” You can use this when you would expect a decision by a certain time, but you don’t have one yet. Back to holiday plans. A relative calls you on December 10. “Hey, when will we see you?” And you might have to reply , “Well, our plans are still up in the air. I don’t know what days I’ll be able to take off work.” It’s still up in the air is very common. It means, “unfortunately, I was expecting an answer, I was expecting a decision, but I still don’t have one yet.” It’s still up in the air.