Last minute plans

[Skittl1321]

So my vacation of a lifetime is currently going to pot. All the flights in the Chicago airspace were grounded today. We are booked on flights tomorrow, but I'm trying to figure out what the heck to do if we don't get there.

My plan is to just get my butt to Mexico and make it all better. It's the down season right? There has to be a boat where someone will take me out diving, is the theory.

So anyhow- I will fly out of anything within a 10 hour drive of Iowa City. The flight would be on Sunday.
Right now, Kansas City is looking to be my best bet.

I've checked: Dallas, Houston, (yeah, those are out of the drive range, but I have family there I could drop in on), Minneapolis, Dubuque, Des Moines, Omaha, Detroit.
Those airports are either way too expensive or only have a connection that would get us there the next day.

Does anyone have any recommendations on other airports we should check?

 

[Hintermann]

The shocking thing is that early reports suggest that the O'Hare arsonist was an FAA employee. I thought they were very carefully screened and vetted before being accepted?

 

[Mike]

F'n Ohare. I avoid that place like the plague. It's like a spider's trap, you never know when you will get stuck in it.

I don't have any offers of where to look specifically to help you, only how to look which would be with the matrix software, if you're not using it you might want to.

Denver is a little bit farther than 10 hours but I would figure would offer you some more choices.

 

[Skittl1321]

The shocking thing is that early reports suggest that the O'Hare arsonist was an FAA employee. I thought they were very carefully screened and vetted before being accepted?

Well, I'm not sure there is a real good way to screen for someone trying to kill themselves. (At least that is what it seems to have done.)

In this case, it really didn't seem to be O'hare's fault totally- it was the entire air traffic control center, and at first our entire airport was grounded because they control the whole region's ground space. A few flights did leave the eastern iowa airport while we were there, but off course our connection was through o'hare and just nothing went that way.

---------- Post added September 26th, 2014 at 03:21 PM ----------

I don't have any offers of where to look specifically to help you, only how to look which would be with the matrix software, if you're not using it you might want to.

I didn't realize matrix would let me search all airports in 500 mile range! That is very helpful.

Looks like within 500 miles Kansas City is still best. Indianapolis is a few dollars cheaper, but an hour longer.

God I just hope I don't have to go to Cozumel this weekend... I wanna go to the Galapagos. But it's good to have a plan!

 

[Zman96]

It was not at O'hare. It was a facility in Auora about 40 miles away. I drove by it right after it happened, tons of media and police with little fire equipment.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Wtf? Just finally got checked in. Haven't heard a thing. Guess I'd best turn on the TV.

 

[morecowbells]

You poor thing! Have you checked flying out of St. Louis? We have several options which get one into Cozumel in a day. We will be visiting Cozumel in mid October, with a noon arrival.

 

[Skittl1321]

Wtf? Just finally got checked in. Haven't heard a thing. Guess I'd best turn on the TV.

Almost 2000 flights canceled.

 

[cvchief]

God I just hope I don't have to go to Cozumel this weekend... I wanna go to the Galapagos. But it's good to have a plan!

Galapagos-Schmapagos. Just go to Coz now!

I guess maybe I was lucky to get home last night, huh?

 

[gopbroek]

Skittles are you flying out of Iowa in the morning, thru DFW to CZM on AA? If so the RON flights out of DFW look like they will be going out tonight. A work around the ORD airspace has been put into effect using other centers to pick up the load