Or you go ahead and get in line, while texting your spouse or trusted other person to contact the reservation number on your behalf
I don’t know if the airport did this, but one time when my flight was delayed due to bad weather, the airline actually got a bus and put everyone on the bus to drive us to our destination (a 5 hour drive). Seems like that would be an option for at least some of the delayed flights - obviously not ALL, but there are a lot of destinations that are drivable from Chicago.
But I never heard of cancelling flights due to cold weather. Snow? Sure. Ice? Yes. But the weather was clear when we landed and clear at the airport we were scheduled to go to. Was there reason to cancel the flight? Maybe… maybe even probably. It was still very frustrating.
Also, I’ve seen airlines blame delays on weather when there was no reasonable likelihood. We were to pick up a friend who was flying from one of the NYC area airports to one of the DC area airports. He got delayed in NY, and they blamed weather in the DC area. We were in DC and the weather was clear and sunny.
This is a good idea. When one flight is cancelled, calling works fine. When a bunch are cancelled, the airline reservation systems quickly clog up. Doing this puts you in two lines at once.
When Heathrow was shut down due to snow just before Christmas a few years ago, my daughter was stranded there. (In a hotel, at least.) The British Air phone and on-line reservation systems were totally useless. Her boyfriend managed to get her rebooked by Skyping into their 800 number equivalent in South Africa.
There may be union or OSHA rules that limit working temperatures for airline ramp workers, especially if they’re far outside the norm for that airport.
It was the only option for me on Friday - me and three friends, a rental car, and a 19 hour drive from Chicago to Rhode Island. I had joked on our arrival in Chicago that interstate 90 runs through. “Just hop on, turn right at the end, and we’re home!” It was a lot less funny four days later.
Four days? I drove from Boston to Urbana in one straight through (with a driver) and went from Urbana to NY in one by myself. You must have done a lot of sightseeing!
I think they mean that when they first arrived in Chicago (four days previously) they made the joke. When it came time to leave on Friday, they had trouble and regretting making that joke. Could be wrong of course.
I cannot recall a recent flight that had any empty seats on it. There must be an awful lot of short shuttles going out half full to make that 84% load factor.
There was a day a year or so ago that all of American’s computers went down and all their flights were cancelled. This was the airline’s responsibility and I was trapped in O’Hare. They gave me a chit for a hotel, but it was 25 miles away and I was on my own to get there. Since I was rebooked for a flight around 6 I would have had to get up around 3 or 4 to get back to the airport and I just say up all night. It would have been nice if some snack bar had been open though.
Since we moved to San Diego, my most frequent route has been between San Diego and San Francisco. Most times we fly, except for busy holiday periods, there are numerous empty seats on the plane.
Got it.
I was on a plane in Denver once with a bunch of kids going to the Merchant Marine Academy. A blizzard shut the airport down. Since the plane was still there, we all left and came back the next day to board it - same seats and everything. The kids were joking around about being late - until they screwed up the deicing and we were delayed yet another few hours. Dead silence then.
That was the easiest rebooking ever, though.
Back in the late 1990’s I was delayed overnight in Sacramento because of technical problems with the air traffic control system in Reno. The airline actually took good care of us…they bussed us to a decent hotel and gave us meal vouchers for the hotel restaurant then bussed us back to the airport the next day.
At the time we were told that if it had been a weather issue or another act of God we’d have been on our own but because it was an airport problem we were “covered”.
Of course, that was a long time ago and policies change - usually not for the better.
These days, you know you’re in trouble when your sitting in the boarding lounge and every single cell phone in the boarding area rings at the same time. Don’t even take the time to answer, go right to the desk and be the first.
Calling the airline instead of standing in line for rebooking used to be a great trick but I think everyone knows it now.
In 1970 I missed a connecting flight in Houston due to weather at a stop in Philadelphia. The airline put me up in a nice motel and gave me a voucher for food, enough for an excellent dinner in the hotel dining room.
Those were really the days.
Pro tip#2 if the reason you need to be rebooked is they closed the airport (blizzard etc) before you call the airlines call the hotel reserve a room and guarantee it with your credit card. Then call the airline.
That night when you aren’t sleeping on the floor of the terminal you can thank me.
I’m not doubting your experience, but I’ve taken a number of cross-continent flights over the past 24 months, and while more planes have been completely full than would have been true ten years ago, I’d still say that’s only 60% or so. (In my experience, that is.)
