Craig

We have a connecting flight from Hartford to Tokyo (and on to Bangkok) in business class (upgraded from economy with miles). I know it is hard to predict but is this the type of weather that could cause our flights in to or out of O'hare to be canceled? The forecasters say the snow could be heavy at times. I believe that we could reroute through Washington Dulles and probably still get the upgrade to Tokyo. However if we change now before the flight is actually canceled I think we will have to pay a penalty. Also we may have to fly in economy from Hartford. And unless we want to depart at 6 AM and have a 5-hour layover, we will not be able to carry our rollies on the smaller airplane. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. We MUST arrive in Bangkok on the flight from Tokyo or we will miss our flight to Varanasi, India the next day.

ms_go

One quick suggestion is to keep an eye on the United site today to see if the airline issues a weather waiver. This would enable you to make a change without penalty. I don't see one posted now, but I'm also flying out of O'Hare mid-week and am keeping an eye on things.

Marija

Craig, obviously no one knows about Tuesday but Chicago weather has been remarkably good this year. Almost none of the predicted storms have materialized, including the snow predicted for this weekend. Snow's in the forecast for DC on Tuesday so I'm not sure what you would gain by rerouting through Dulles which may still be backlogged from the humongous storm. Relax! Have a great trip!

ms_go

As far as whether this could cause cancellations, very hard to say as the conditions can vary greatly across the area. O'Hare can definitely maintain operations in snowy weather (I experienced that about a month ago when I flew in and out on a day that produced over a foot of snow). But if they have to close runways to clear snow and such, the delays can get significant. International flights are probably the least likely to be affected, although there could be delays. Regional jet flights are often more likely to be affected.

DonTopaz

Craig,

Many snow forecats tend to get overblown, but I'd say that this one looks serious. The best place to follow the forecasts, if you don't already use the site, is the Nat'l Weather Service - the Chicago site is http://www.weather.gov/view/prodsByS...&prodtype=zone.

You might try calling UA, but they probably won't do anything (for free) until they decide to let people flying from/thru ORD to change their flights. This likely won't happen 'til tomorrow, but you should check ua.com regularly.

Flying via IAD is a feasible option. On Tues., it looks like UA's IAD-NRT flight (the one operated by UA, not the ANA codeshare) is about half-full -- about 25 empty seats. I would expect them to open 2 up for you for upgrade when they allow ORD flyers to reroute and reschedule. As for the connection from BDL, you might well get stuck in the back on the 8.20am flight (currently 5 F seats available). You could always take the econ seats and ask to upgrade at the gate.

taitai

ORD is much more capable of handling snow than IAD. Isn't DC supposed to get another storm sometime this week? Having flown out of ORD for years, I just don't see 4-8 inches closing anything. Might make things slower, but no cancellations. This I would not worry about.

Craig

This storm appears to be heading west to east and Hartford is expecting it to arrive on late Tuesday/Wednesday as well. Right now, it does not look like Dulles will see any significant precipitation until the afternoon when we would be on our way already. I am more concerned about getting TO Chicago than getting out of Chicago on our international flight. Of course, I will be monitoring the situation constantly to make sure we do what is in our best interests...

DonTopaz

FYI, the snow predicted for DC on Tuesis for late in the day.

An airport's ability to remain open has relatively little to do with flight cancellations (though, obviously, flights cannot operate to/from an airport that's closed). It's actually very rare that airports like ORD and BOS and JFK close due to snow. However, during snow events, the number of flights allowed to land and take off is greatly reduced. To accomplish this, the air traffic control org will require each airline to cancel some minimum percentage of their flights. In practice, many airlines (especially those, like United, who use these airports as hubs) will choose to cancel <i>all</i> flights to a snow airport, even though the field remains open. An airline's decision to cancel or operate flights into a potentially snowy hub will be made many hours before the snow actually arrives. The decision will be based upon the likelihood of being able to operate a certain number of flights into/out of that field when the snow actually does hit.

The people who equate 'airport remaining open' with 'airline operating all/most/many flights' seem to me to be uninformed.

DonTopaz

As predicted, United today issued a travel waiver for flights to/from Chicago/N. Midwest (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) on Tues and Weds.

Craig

And we are now re-booked to Tokyo/Bangkok via Washington Dulles and we got the IAD-NRT upgrade. Thanks Don.

kuranosuke

good for you, craig. enjoy.

simpsonc510

Have a great time, Craig. I hope all of your changes in plans/flights work out just fine.
Carol

Smeagol

Have a great time Craig - See you in BKK on the 23rd.