Andrew Hertzberg
By now you’ve taken a look out the window into the ice age formerly known as Chicago. If you were one of the lucky ones who managed to get out of work today, start spreading some of those warm, positive vibes to all the poor souls stuck at O’Hare and Midway.
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As of this morning, over a thousand flights have been cancelled nationwide. But Chicago may have been hit the hardest by the recent snowstorm, with snow accumulations of 10-15 inches across the city.
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As of this writing, there have been 677 cancelled flights at O’Hare and 264 cancelled flights at Midway, according to WGN News.
Many of the cancellations were preemptive, as to prevent passengers from getting stuck on delayed flights and to allow the schedule to return to resume as normal once the weather has passed.
“Proactive cancellations allow our customers either more time to reschedule their travel plans or the ability to reroute their trip, utilizing other connection points in our network to complete their travel,” said Southwest Airlines.
Many major airline carriers are waiving rebooking fees due to the weather. If you have air travel plans this weekend, be prepared for the worst. You can follow Fly Chicago for the latest updates.
Things on the ground might not be so smooth either. If you are taking the Metra at all today, stay up to date with their travel alerts.
The CTA has also been a mess on both buses and trains. They’re quite active on their Twitter account so that’s a good way to check for delays and reroutes.
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The Illinois Department of Transportation recommends avoiding driving at all costs unless it is absolutely necessary. If you must drive, be prepared with food, water, blankets, flashlights and other emergency items.
