East Coast Blizzard Stranding Many Travelers At O'Hare, Midway
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The snowstorm moving along the East Coast was creating big headaches for many airline travelers.
Thousands of flights across the country have been cancelled because of the storm, including hundreds of flights in Chicago, leaving many people spending the night at the airport.
On Monday, airlines canceled more than 190 flights at O'Hare International Airports, and more than 30 flights at Midway International Airport, according to the city's Aviation Department.
As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, airlines had canceled 280 flights to or from O'Hare, and another 45 to or from Midway, according to the FlightAware website, which tracks flights at all major airports.
That's just a fraction of the flights grounded nationwide due to the East Coast blizzard. Nearly 8 ,000 flights have been canceled across the U.S., after many airlines preemptively canceled any Tuesday flights to the Northeast.
United Airlines and American Airlines both canceled Tuesday flights in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, because of a blizzard battering a 250-mile stretch of the Eastern Seaboard.
That means getting to the East Coast will be difficult, if not impossible, for most travelers on Tuesday.
For some, the flight cancellations meant a night at the airport.
"I seem calm, but I'm really not. I'm just freaking out, because I don't know how I'm going to get home," Faris Lyle said.
Tenisha Sweet tried to find a hotel, but all were either sold out, or too expensive.
"I was not going to pay $1,000 for a hotel, so I stayed the night here," Sweet said.
Unless she finds an affordable hotel Tuesday, she might end up spending another night at O'Hare, as it appears flights to the East Coast won't resume until Wednesday at the earliest.