Winter weather leads to flight delays, cancellations in Chicago

The winter weather that slammed the Chicago area early Monday was not doing any favors for people trying to fly out.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at O'Hare and Midway international airports. As of 6:37 a.m., a total of 374 flights had been delayed at O'Hare and 23 at Midway. Spring break would have to wait for some.

But the weather was not the only factor causing problems at the airports on Monday morning.

Anyone trying to fly into Chicago was likely to be snagged by long security lines due to Transportation Security Administration agent shortages. A total of 300 agents have quit, and call-outs have more than doubled form what they were before the partial government shutdown affecting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began.

TSA lines have not been an issue for Chicago airports so far. But that shoe is about to drop too, according to the president of the union that represents Illinois and Wisconsin TSA workers.

"If you don't have the resources to come to work, you're not going to be able to be to work," said AFGE Local 777 President Darrell English. "That means that there's going to be longer wait time lines, there's going to be an impact on the flying public, and it's going to disrupt things."

As was observed last week at O'Hare, the security lines at TSA PreCheck seemed to have the longest weights Monday morning. But the line fluctuated, ramping up and dying down.

A nervous energy was observed at O'Hare between the PreCheck line, conditions on the roads due to the weather, and flight cancellations.