I booked my trip months ago and I wanted to get my flight just in case that becomes an issue (particularly price) later on. I am flying on A.A. and have a layover in Chicago for my December trip. I am familiar with the airport, and have dealt with issues later in the winter (February). Are there a lot of cancellations in the month of December? A delay is one thing but a cancellation is another. Thank you in advance!
Posted by
Chicago
8166 posts
I live here and had been going to Europe every December (usually the last week) from 2014-2019 and never had a flight cancelled. The airlines usually know several days in advance if there is a weather related threat and warn customers beforehand. That has been my experience.
Posted by
OP
10 posts
Dazzle+travels- thank you that is great. Gives me some assurance! I usually fly with Delta to Paris but ended up with American this time. I’m hoping the trip goes smoothly!
Posted by
11570 posts
I don’t remember ever having a cancelation at ORD that early in the year. Earliest one was right after Christmas due to ice storm.
Posted by
Chicago
8554 posts
When we lived in Nashville our transfers were always in Chicago and more than once we were circling the airport for a couple of hours while flights left below us including our connections.
On one occasion we had 5 hours to make the transfer to a flight to Rome and planes were taking off but not landing. We managed to land 20 minutes before our on-going flight and because it was before security theater had been instituted, we ran and made it on board although it meant going to another terminal -- partly because they delayed the take off half an hour since so many flights were late getting in. We flew half full.
I think when you fly with connections during winter you have to be a bit zen about getting delayed as much as a day -- probably won't happen, but it has happened. In our case 20 years ago, we were concerned because we were meeting my 80 year old mother in Rome and she was not really able to cope with a foreign city on her own; we really had to be there and should have actually planned to get there a day before her rather than a couple of hours.
Make sure you have a good gap between flights.