CHICAGO (WLS) — Nearly four dozen flights were canceled at Midway Airport overnight and into Sunday morning.
A spokesman for Southwest Airlines said thick fog was to blame. Due to poor visibility, the FAA imposed a ground stop at Midway Airport until 9:30 a.m.
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According to FlightAware, Midway Airport has the most cancellations overall.
Statement from Southwest Airlines:
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, resulting in some diversions and subsequent flight cancellations. Because visibility remained below required operational minimums throughout the night and is expected to continue through daybreak, we have modified our scheduled launch for today (Sunday) from Chicago Midway. It is all hands on deck as our staff work quickly to care for our customers and accommodate them on alternative flights. Chicago Midway is our fourth largest airport operation with over 200 daily departures over the holiday weekend. The fog at Midway canceled about 2% of our total flights on Saturday (177 of 4313) and less than 1% of our total flights early Sunday (53 of 4242).
Passengers waited for hours in baggage claim for their luggage and received little information. It seemed that some passengers finally started getting their luggage around 8am
Some literally jumped for joy when they received their bag while one woman cried.
Other passengers left Midway without their luggage and rebooked flights at O'Hare Airport or rented cars just to get out of town.
A passenger told ABC7 her flight to Fort Myers was canceled around 8 p.m. Saturday and she has been waiting at the airport ever since.
“We stood in line at the gate for two hours just to be asked to come here and talk to baggage claim,” said holiday traveler Sherri Woods. “Then we stood in line for another two hours until we were told to just sit here and wait.”
Another passenger was hoping to see his mother for Christmas, but his flight was delayed several times and then canceled. He said the flight he had rebooked for later in the day was canceled just minutes after making the reservation.
This year's aviation drama follows Southwest's collapse around Christmas last year, when the airline canceled 17,000 flights and stranded more than 2 million passengers.
Just last week, the airline was fined $140 million by the federal government due to last year's travel nightmare.
The Transportation Department said Southwest has already paid $600 million in reimbursements and refunds to passengers.
Passengers at Midway are still angry Sunday morning, saying they receive little guidance and have no idea when they will get their luggage.