The Leave 8

My wife is not particularly fond of air travel.  And, with the way airports have gotten, especially with the claustrophobic and sardine style seating, but also with regards to the heightened security since TSA became necessary in 2001.... I tend to feel that flying may get you THERE a bit faster, but you will actually be more tired and exhausted than other means of travel.  

Our flights home (we had connecting flights), unfortunately did not go smoothly. Our connecting flight was from Chicago O'Hare.  Chicago O'Hare is, of course, one of the largest HUBS in the US and handles ~2,500 flights EACH DAY.  

On the day of our returning home, unfortunately very rough, stormy weather was traveling through the Chicago region.  And, these storms lasted a good portion of the day, and included very harsh thunderstorms, high winds, and even the threat of tornados (I think the only tornado to touch down, though ended up being in Mid-Wisconsin.... but then again, I was not really privy to news during this time, so there may have been many others within the Midwest on that day.)

With such weather, at an airport handling ~2,500 flights EACH DAY, this can and does lead to a whole helluva lot of chaos.  Here is how it transpired for us:

1.  We arrived at the Nevada airport 2.5 hours before our VERY early morning flight scheduled to leave around ~7:00am-ish (and my wife is very firm about arriving well ahead of the 2 hour ahead suggestion so it was VERY early), worked through check-in, TSA stuff, and were sitting near our gate for about 2 hours.... before notification was given over the loudspeaker system that our flight was "delayed" by an hour due to conditions in Chicago.  

2.  The one hour "delay" then moved to two hours.... then to three.  Ultimately, we then boarded the plane and then taxied towards the runway....... and then before being given clearance to "take off", we STOPPED.... and waited roughly an hour.... before we were informed that due to the chaos at Chicago, our "landing spot and time" and been transferred to some OTHER flight that too had been considerably delayed.... and we taxied back to the Nevada terminal.  

3.  After about 14 hours from our start of airporting.... we did receive new clearance that our flight could be accepted, and ultimately we left sometime boarded again roughly around 7:30pm to fly to Chicago.  My wife and I cheered, and happily boarded the plane.... and cheered further when we receivd a text (well, my WIFE received the text) from our airline, saying that our second leg flight TO HOME had also been delayed all day long and that it was now scheduled to take off from CHICAGO to home at ~1:00 am (which is of course the next morning after midnight).  

4.  We were truly overjoyed at the thought of getting back home, even though it would be perhaps somewhere possibly between 3 am and 5 am in the morning.

5.  So, as our phones were shut off, we were EXHAUSTED from airport sitting.... but also optimistic about getting home.

6.  Our plane landed in Chicago roughly around ~12:30am and we were anxiously getting prepared to hoof as fast as we could to whatever damn gate we would ultimately be assigned to.  

7.  Upon landing while taxi-ing into our gate my wife turned her phone back on...... and a text appeared.... due to logistical issues, our connecting flight had been officially CANCELLED... and we were urged to see the ticket counter to rebook a flight.

We were devastated, and then as we disembarked into the terminal..... it was like a scene from Soylent Green....... literally thousands of folks were stranded at Chicago O'Hare.  

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