E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
- Thunderstorms disrupted flights to and from Chicago on Saturday.
- More than 80 planes were diverted, including one that went all the way back to Toronto.
- An American Airlines jet diverted twice before landing on its third attempt.
The Windy City lived up to its name this weekend as severe weather over Chicago disrupted travel plans for thousands of passengers in the Midwest.
Some 80 flights destined for Chicago O’Hare landed at different airports on Saturday evening, according to data from Flightradar24. Per FlightAware, roughly 280 others were canceled throughout the day.
A flash flood warning was issued for the two Illinois counties in which the airport is located, as thunderstorms rolled through the area.
One Air Canada journey became a 2-hour flight to nowhere as it returned to where it took off.
The Embraer E175 was over Michigan, an hour into its trip, when it abruptly U-turned and flew back to Toronto.
A second attempt at the flight was then canceled, per Flightradar24 data.
Some American Airlines passengers would take three attempts before reaching Chicago, seven hours later than expected.
Flight 6412, from Idaho Falls, had been in the air for four hours when it turned around over Iowa and diverted to Cedar Rapids.
An hour and a half later, the CRJ-700 made a second attempt at flying to O’Hare, the fourth busiest airport in the US.
It circled twice just outside Chicago, but ultimately decided to go back to Cedar Rapids.
Thankfully for passengers, the third time was the charm, as the pilots took off again and, this time, touched down in Chicago. It landed shortly after midnight, having been initially scheduled to arrive at 5 p.m.
Many flights were diverted to other cities around the Great Lakes, such as Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Indianapolis, among others.
Indeed, this meant many of them were able to launch second attempts and reach the Windy City later in the evening.
Another American flight flew three hours from San José del Cabo, when it entered a holding pattern over Missouri. The Boeing 737 spent half an hour circling before diverting to Kansas City.
It took off again an hour later — then spent another hour in a holding pattern — before landing around 8:30 p.m., a total delay of about three hours.
Air Canada and American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside North American working hours.
