She was supposed to fly to Istanbul yesterday night departing at 21:25. Airline told her to come over because it looked OK. At 20:30 they boarded the plane, stayed on it for half an hour and then were told that the flight was cancelled.

They were given vouchers for a hotel one hour away from the airport, The hotel shuttle did not show up. After waiting almost an hour with almost no traffic outside the airport, she spotted an intercontinental hotel shuttle, threw herself outside and managed to get to the intercontinental after getting stuck in the snow a number of times. She was fortunate to get the last room available.

Her luggage is either on the plane or at the airport with her i-phone and i-pad chargers. The airline does not know she is at the intercontinental. her telephone is almost out of charge. the trains from ohare to chicago will not be running till this evening.

We are worried that this evening's scheduled flight may take off in this terrible blizzard. We are afraid that she will end up staying at the intercontinental (the last room available was a suite) running a massive bill which no airline will reimburse. We are afraid that her suitcases with rather expensive camera equipment will be lost.

We have been both taking simple sedatives in addition to our regular citoloprams.

Do you have any suggestion?

I think the airport is closed until tomorrow according to a cyber friend who lives in Chicago. Why on earth is her phone in her luggage?

She probably needs to buy a phone.

Thanks Gretchen,
I did mean to say "the chargers" for her i-phone and her i-pad. she is trying to find something from the concierge in the hotel.

I live near Ohare. The snow has stopped and the sun is shining.

Ohare is not closed. I would guess that flight will take off tonight.

is she downtown or at Ohare IC?

The blue line to the airport is running according to the website and the news. If she is downtown she should take the blue line. If she is at Ohare IC, she is right there anyway,

She should call the concierge or front desk - I bet they can get a phone charger for her. They most likely have one she can borrow.

First of all, a little reminder about packing essentials such as a phone charger in carry-on luggage might help.

Second, teaching her how to pick up an old fashioned telephone and calling the airline involved to let them know where she is and what the current options are would be even better. Why would someone WAIT, IN A BLIZZARD, for someone to come up with a place to go, IN A BLIZZARD, to get a phone charger when there is a perfectly functioning phone in that suite?

Queenie, thank you so much. You are a dream. We are calling her room immediately.
The airline is not responding, so she cannot reach them yet.

We did remind her to check with the concierge or desk. I think she is just acting worried but enjoying her luxury.

She is at the airport IC. There was no way she could have found a shuttle to go downtown last night.

I am talking to her while i am writing now. the front desk told her that the blue line is not yet running.

Never check anything that you can't do without: computer/phone, chargers, medicine, clean underwear.

Never check anything anyone would want to steal: all of the above except your underwear.

If she is at the ORD IC she does not need the blue line! She is right there.
I don't know who she is flying, but check here:

http://flychicago.com/PassengerInfor...n/Default.aspx

Looks like she is on United / Turkish codeshare.
it shows an on time departure tonight.

Dukey1, thanks for the advice.
But it is the worst thing you can do to say "i told you so" or "you should have........" to anyone, let alone your child.

She is not a very dumb little kid. - Of'course she has been using the room telephone and also her telephone still has just a little charge just in case.

The airline office was supposed to open at 9AM but it is possible that they were also delayed coming to OHare.

Otherchelebi, doesn't the suite your daughter is staying in at the Intercontinental have a land line phone? I would be very surprised if it didnt'. Also the Intercontinetal hotel would assist your daughter with this situation regarding the airline I would certainly think as they are a top full service hotel chain.

About all the items, charges and expensive photo equipment in your daughter's checked luggage, I sure hope she retrieves her luggagge with all items intact but I imagine she in the future will not put valuable or necessary items in her checked luggage.

Well I posted before I saw the other posts from Fodorites and from you, otherchelebi. Good wishes to your daughter, I hope that can gets on the flight tonight. Being a parent sure is stressful at times.

Ackislander, i think she only has underwear (or what looks like undewear to me) and the cameras, extra lenses and all in her suitcase.
She has recently graduated with an MSc. in historic preservation and restoration from SAIC, and is coming with all that equipment to study the ruins at pergamom, assos and Troy.

Please keep us updated on how she is doing! I hope all goes well after this difficult start to her trip.

The hotel will let her keep her room til 4PM and then we all decided that she should push off to the airport.

If she feels very uneasy, and the train is running, she should just grab her suitcases back, try to change her ticket to "OPEN", and go back to her home on state street.

We will pine and weep and snap at each other, but will graciously support her decision not to continue with her original plans.

And LoveItaly, thanks but you can probably expand what you said to " at MOST times".

Socialworker, yes, i will definitely post the outcome, no matter how late it will be for us. Due to the 8 hours difference, we were up till 6AM our time this morning, checking airport info, weather info and talking to her.

I guess, we are due for another sleepless night. My wife plays this stupid pig killing game with a slingshot on her i-pad, thankfully without the noise, all night, but if i move to another room she may misunderstand my intentions. Being a husband is tough, most times also.

If she ever gets to the airport, buying a 1 day pass to an airline lounge will get her in to Lounge airline reps who can help her w/reimbursement delays (if any since related to weather likely) but more importantly can track her luggage and rebook her onto new flight..worth the $50.00 or so as the usual Customer service will be swamped....

If she is alredy checked in for the flight I'm not sure how she is getting her luggage back (assuming it's still on the plane that is stuck there).

I had a situation in Boston in an ice storm - where they finally let off the plane - dalyed 6 hours - people who no longer wanted to go (they had missed their meeting or whatever). But they did NOT get their luggage back. It went on the trip as planned - and they had to go to a special counter in the airport to arrange for it's return the next day. (I had only a checked bag so it was OK -don;t know what happened to the people with the luggage).

Agree that you never check anything that you MUST have - from electrical stuff to meds - keep it all with you at all times.

thanks 1jar, i will remind her of the lounge option.

there is only one direct flight, the one Queenie wrote.
It originates in istanbul and today's flight from Istanbul was cancelled. it means that they will be combining yesterday's and today's passengers on this return of the plane which arrived yesterday afternoon.