Avoid Chicago like the plague

I had a quick business trip to Ohio this week. On last trip before the baby is born. If only was that simple.

I started off Monday with a very comfortable flight from LA-Chicago. This was a nice 3-class 777 aircraft, and I was upgraded to business class which made the flight comfortable and enjoyable. The fun started as we were decending to land. Apparantly President Bush was leaving Chicago, and they had to basically shut down the airport while Air Force One took off. That caused us to land about 30 minutes late. No biggie, as I had a 90 minute layover for my flight to Ohio. Looking at the departure board, most flights are now shoing delayed due to the Air Force One isuue. As our new departure time approaches, it starts raining. If you've watched the news recently, even a single drop of rain can wreck havoc on Ohare operations. Our flight was delayed again. Then a thunderstorm hits....another shutdown of Ohare due to lightning. Our airplane still hasn't arrived as our delay keeps getting worse. Finally, they say the airplane we were supposed to travel on was diverted to South Bend, IN due to the weather and cancel our flight. I was fortunately rebooked on another flight that was not much later now due to all the delays. We board, and depart, only to be #26 in line for takeoff with another hour delay. Finally after spending 7 hours in delays in Chicago, the 45 minute flight to Ohio took off and I arrived at my hotel shortly after midnight. Grr..to 8am meetings the next morning.

I might add that the my original flight was on a smaller regional jet, so it left from the commuter F terminal. The commuter terminal was not designed for 7 hour delays. It was designed for short commuter flights. So, it was crowded, cramped, had little available food, and had a broken air conditioner which made for a bad waiting experience.

Now I sit in my hotel room with rain/wind pounding my window wondering how my flight home will go tomorrow. The only evening flight from Ohio to Chicago tonight that some coworkers tried to get on after our meeting ended up being cancelled. We'll see what tomorrow brings.