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Thick fog devastated travelers at Chicago's two international airports – O'Hare and Midway – early on Christmas Eve, as more than 50 flights were grounded and travelers were stranded over the holiday.
On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a dense fog warning for the entire Chicago area, initially expiring at 9 a.m. but later extended to 12 p.m. due to persistent heavy fog.
There have been around 50 cancellations at Midway alone so far, with delays increasing as the FAA issued a ground stop until 10:30 a.m. after the trip was put on hold late Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, O'Hare Airport has reported just 15 canceled flights with minimal delays.
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Travelers rush through one of the terminals at Chicago O'Hare Airport. (iStock / iStock)
A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told Fox News Digital that they are engaging with travelers and working to resolve the situation.
“We are working with our customers whose travel has been impacted by fog at Chicago Midway that began Saturday evening and prevented incoming aircraft from landing, forcing some diversions and subsequent flight cancellations. Visibility remained below the required operational minimums throughout the night and continued this morning. “We have changed our scheduled takeoff for today (Sunday) from Chicago Midway,” Southwest Airlines said. “We have all hands on deck as our employees work to respond quickly to our customers and accommodate them on alternative flights.”
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Stranded Southwest Airlines passengers search for their luggage in the baggage claim area at Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images/File / Fox News)
Southwest Airlines added that Chicago Midway was its fourth-busiest airport operation, with more than 200 departures per day over the holiday weekend.
“Due to the fog at Midway, we canceled approximately 70 flights for Sunday (less than 1% of our total 4,242 flights systemwide), most of which are departure and morning flights from Midway. We're doing the rest now “But we continue to experience outages and delays as our operations recover,” Southwest said.
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Passengers wait for flights to resume at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. (Portal/Jim Vondruska / Portal Photos)
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In addition to the weather-related delays, one user posted on