Hundreds of frustrated fliers could be seen staring at the arrival and departure screens Tuesday morning hoping to not see red, but many still were as cancellations continued hours after Monday’s winter storm wreaked havoc on travel plans.
More than 1,600 flights were canceled Monday amid an icy storm system, creating a massive backlog of passengers trying to get out of the city.
Stranded travelers spend the night sleeping on cots in Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports, on chairs, the floor or anywhere they could find space after yesterday’s storm grounded thousands of Chicago flights after the holidays.
Airlines worked to de-ice planes quickly enough to get as many planes as they could onto their destinations, but with more than 300 flights canceled at O’Hare and 1,300 flights canceled at O’Hare, by the day’s end more than half of the city’s slated air schedule had been cleared for re-booking.
By 4 a.m. Tuesday lines of people could be seen at both airports trying to make their way through massive security lines that continued to grow over the hours, weaving their way to ticketing counters in hopes of booking a new flight.
At 6 a.m., the wait to reach the counter was more than two hours. Many travelers said it took another hour to make their way through security.
Passengers also had issues getting their bags back from flighs that were canceled. Ademola Yusuf’s flight from Chicago to Dubai was nixed three times and he had a tough time getting his bags return.
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"We’re three days late for our vacation but now we are going so it’s okay we couldn’t go without our luggage because there was nothing to wear," Yusuf said.
The Greenberg family had been coming back from vacation when their flight had been canceled. They finally made it home to Chicago but without all of their luggage.
“The airports were crazy Miami was crazy," Judy Greenberg said. "They had no info for us, kept telling us to wait. There were 84 people on standby on our flight last night.”
American Airlines, who many passengers said could not find their luggage, said in a statement: "Our team in Chicago is working around the clock to reunite our passengers with their bags as soon as possible."
The company added that passengers should visit this site is they have a file locator, or this site if they have their reservation number.
Chicago flights were just a small piece of the puzzle that is making re-booking a nightmare for both airlines and passengers. FlightAware showed that more than 2,800 cancellations across the U.S., more than half were at the Chicago hub-city airports.
