Weather is no rose for bowl travelers
With the holiday travel season still in full swing, Friday's snow storm threatened to derail family gatherings, sunshine getaways -- and Rose Bowl flights.
Fighting Illini fan Jaclyn Banister monitored weather reports Friday, hopeful her next day flight to Pasadena would depart on time.
"We're leaving from O'Hare, and I'm kind of freaking out a little," said Banister, who is traveling with her husband, sister and brother-in-law to watch the orange and blue take on USC.
Weather caused 90-minute delays and 450 flight cancellations Friday at O'Hare.
United Airlines alone canceled 327 flights into and out of O'Hare Friday. It was the fifth straight day the airline had grounded flights.
"We expect that we should be able to accommodate most of these customers in Chicago tomorrow," United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
Even Illini fans who no longer live in the Windy City -- or the windy suburbs -- were stymied by Chicago area weather Friday.
Buffalo Grove High School graduate and Illinois alum Jason Abel flew directly from Washington to Los Angeles Friday, en route to Pasadena.
Still, his United flight was delayed three hours due to the Chicago weather.
"We're very happy to be here, and hoping to see some orange and blue," Abel said. "We saw a couple of orange Rose Bowl sweatshirts at LAX."
Chicago Department of Aviation predicted airlines would be back up to speed today.
"The actual airfield conditions we have well under control in terms of runways being clear, so it's just a matter for some catch-up to be done from cancellations today," a Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman said.
Travelers without leeway in their plans were largely out of luck Friday.
About 220,000 passengers were scheduled to go through O'Hare Friday, par for the course during the holiday season and about 11,000 more than an average day, according to aviation officials.
"The number of people flying this week is substantial," said John Haskins, co-owner of Viking Travel agency in Naperville.
Many of Haskins' customers are booked on cruise ships -- which leave port with or without their passengers. Haskins recommends people leave a day or two before the ship departs, if possible.
"I just came back from South America," Haskins said. "We went a day or two early. If we had gone the day we were supposed to, the airport was closed because of an ice storm."
Law enforcement agents said Friday that bad weather and New Year's Eve weekend can make for a dangerous combination.
"New Year's is always a concern with increases in travel and people out celebrating," said Kane County Sheriff's public information officer Lt. Pat Gengler. "We hope weather doesn't factor in, too."