<p>When I was 15, I was lucky enough to spend a month in France on an exchange program. Phone lines were very hard to get back then, and I NEVER got a call completed back to my home in the full month. I received ONE letter, because we hadn’t even been provided with my forwarding address until the time to depart, and mail took 2 -3 weeks. </p>
<p>But, when I flew home, though I was never really homesick…when I walked off that plane I could NOT stop the smile from spreading ear to ear (I’m literally welling up just thinking about it). </p>
<p>Of course this was WAY before 9-11 and the TSA etc. Your greeters could come right to the gate. I saw the many people hugging their loved ones. I kept walking, and looking, side to side. My smile is waning. I’m at the end and there is no one there. I turn around, we surely missed each other. It was a bit traumatic. Just for a short time, but still. Found a pay phone but no one was home. No cell phones. Found another relative to come and get me. Turns out I’d been so early and they were a bit late so it resulted in a mismatch.</p>
<p>Anyway, whether or not your kid will “act cool” is still to be seen. But I can’t tell you how much I wanted someone in that airport…but I would have probably THOUGHT that wasn’t going to be the case if you’d asked me beforehand. </p>
<p>You could drive in to an airport hotel and have dinner while you wait on her call to come and pick her up. And, these days (I’ve been a travel agent since 1981), the online “on time” notices are pretty accurate ONCE THE FLIGHT HAS SHOWN AS HAVING TAKEN OFF. You’ll gain visiting time in the car (think of HER stuck in a stinky cab in that traffic alone). </p>
<p>Lastly, @ Missypie…a chair? You only HOPE you get a chair. Or, at 2am you’ll want a spot of floor anyway. In all my many delays all these pase 28 years, one included spending over 12 hours on a bench in the commuter terminal at O’Hare (I don’t think it exists now), but it had a hot dog stand and old bus terminal type wooden benches. I couldn’t afford a hotel and my airline…Britt Airways!..was the ONLY airline who said they were still going to try and fly in the storm. The rest of the day’s delayed passengers had packed up and left. But still MOST people didn’t have a bench. I was alone, and didn’t want to get up to potty because I knew I’d lose my seat. That was a long day. Ahhh…good times.</p>
<p>My son goes to school at Northwestern and we are flying him home to New Jersey on that Wednesday - his flight is at 4:00pm (hopefully) but I have him taking the noon campus shuttle. I’d rather have him there early - I figured the traffic to the airport could be a nightmare and the security lines could be long. My problem now is that he is flying back on Monday and there is no campus shuttle that day - looks like I may have to use a taxi service for him on Monday.</p>
<p>DD a college freshman will be spending Thanksgiving with dear friends on the east coast so she does not make her first flight alone into ORD at dinner time on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Midway! Midway! Midway! Southwest! Southwest! Southwest! Worked like a charm last year. S flew out at 1 pm Wed., picked him up at BWI and continued to NJ. (This is not to say the BWI-Bayonne drive was smooth sailing, however.) This year he’s flying oitno Philly and we will try to get further north earlier in the afternoon. There is a #55 bus that goes directly from Midway to the UChicago campus. </p>
<p>I realize Midway may not be practical for everyone, but if it works for you, I recommend it.</p>
<p>I try to avoid Midway anywhere near the snow season. This is because their runways are shorter, and when they are iced up, well … in the past, some planes have gone through the fence at the other end.</p>
<p>Just an idea (although no friendly parent’s face at the airport). She can take a shuttle bus to the O’Hare Transfer train station. From there she can take a 7:32 train to Buffalo Grove (not far at all from Deerfield) and be there by 7:51. You will travel east to west from Deerfield to Buffalo Grove to pick her up and at that time the traffic won’t be as bad as going to O’Hare. That being said, I have picked up my daughter from O’Hare the day before Thanksgiving. One time it took me two hours to get there from a northern suburb not far from Deerfield; another time it took 45 minutes. It’s a crap shoot. For info on the train, go to [Metra</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.metrarail.com%5DMetra”>http://www.metrarail.com). The shuttle to the train isn’t too difficult to navigate.</p>
<p>thanks for all the good advice. H has already made a cab reservation for her :)</p>
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<p>nice idea but these are the parents who raised the man (H) who won’t pick anyone up at the airport. when D was an infant and I flew alone with her to Chicago (as in, bringing their grandchild to visit them), they reluctantly agreed to pick me outside. but park and come in? no way.</p>
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<p>My thoughts exactly. I’m most worried about bad weather at the other end - Boston. If her flight is cancelled, we do not have a back-up plan. Watch this forum that day - you may see a plea from me looking for a CC family in Boston to take her in for Thanksgiving dinner!</p>
<p>As long as she knows in advance that you won’t be at the airport, but that she needs to get into a cab she will still be in “traveling mode”, and won’t be expecting that smiling face until she gets out of the cab. So smile and have a great Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>The mere thread title makes me turn pale with horror.</p>
<p>Possibly the only worse thing is ANY large airport on Christmas eve. I recall waiting for our baggage in Detroit for something like 2 hours. I think the baggage handlers were going through it all and stealing the presents. Many of the suitcases had obviously been opened.</p>
<p>Are you sure you aren’t my sister in law? As I mentioned before, even when we were traveling with infants, we still had to stand in line for the shuttle bus that took us out to the suburbs.</p>
<p>When Son was 13 months old, H and I took a trip and arranged a stopover at O’Hare so the grandparents could watch him. So they DID have to drive to the airport that time because we couldn’t stick a baby on the bus. But did they come inside to get him? No. We walked outside to the curb (not a parking space) in Feb. in Chicago to put Son in their car. </p>
<p>We fly out of DFW and at DFW there’s a charge to enter/exit the airport, whether or not you park. I always think that it would drive the inlaws crazy trying to game that one. (When they fly out of Midway they go to one of the neighboring hotels, park their car and ride the hotel shuttle to the airport so they can park for free. I keep hoping that one day they’ll be towed, but not so far.)</p>
lol! I’ve often thought we must be related in someway, missypie At the very least I do think we share the same in-laws. Didn’t you mention on another thread that when they came to stay with you after you had a baby they expected you to cook for them? My MIL handed me her dirty laundry, to just toss in with whatever laundry I was doing when I was 4 days postpartum. huh?</p>
<p>I neglected to mention that the time they made me wait outside with a 4-month old, it was also unseasonably cold. I asked them to take us striaght to a store where I could by D her first snowsuit. In case there was anymore waiting outside in the cold during my visit :(</p>
<p>Depending on where you live in the north suburbs, Milwaukee’s Mitchell field might be a viable option. You can take the Amtrak train to Glenview from the airport. Southwest just started landing there.</p>
<p>Pre-arranged rides at O’hare pick up on the lower level–on the far side lane. (If you know the area this makes sense.) You call upon arrival, or when you get to baggage and the cab company tells you which door to wait outside of and gives you a cab number.</p>
<p>You go out to the pick up area and look for your cab.</p>
<p>If you have to go to O’Hare the day before Thankgsiving the best thing to do is to park the car and go in. The line to get to the terminals is very long, the line in the garage is not that bad and it is only $2 for an hour of parking. You also get right out and on your way.</p>
<p>I know someone suggested picking up passengers on the upper level/arrival level.
If you are caught doing this, you will get yelled at and get a huge ticket. (I’ve seen it happen)</p>
<p>I have two girls coming in at two different times–hoping for the best!!</p>
<p>PRJ-Partly cloudy and low 50s predicted for Boston next week. She should be fine. We have a Logan pick-up at 5PM Wednesday, so if she runs into trouble, let me know.</p>
<p>It was 20 years ago when we lived in Chicago. I hope the cab phone line is less busy now. I can remember trying to call over and over and getting a busy signal.</p>
<p>Do kids today know what a busy signal is? LOL</p>
<p>Nova10 - Milwaukee is a great idea for next time. it also could be a back-up plan is she ever needs to be rerouted. thanks.</p>
<p>meredesfilles - thanks for the explaining the reserved cab process. that is almost word for word how H explained it in an email to D.</p>
<p>my-3-sons- thanks for the weather report and the offer. if you really have 3 college age sons, she might think that’s a great option seriously, we have a close family friend in NH, which is as close to a back-up plan as I’ve got.</p>
<p>As someone who lives in the northern suburbs, I must say that only one plane has gone through the fence. I pick Midway over O’Hare any day even though it’s further for me. Part of that has to do with the fact that I prefer Southwest over any other airline. My job requires a lot of driving, so I often listen to traffic reports. I can almost guarantee you that 95% of the time, if there are any delays at the airports, the delays are longer at O’Hare than Midway, and substantially longer.</p>
<p>Because Midway’s runways are shorter, they don’t allow the bigger planes in that need longer runways. Midway’s cell phone lot is closer to the airport than O’Hare’s.</p>
At the very least I do think we share the same in-laws. Didn’t you mention on another thread that when they came to stay with you after you had a baby they expected you to cook for them? My MIL handed me her dirty laundry, to just toss in with whatever laundry I was doing when I was 4 days postpartum. huh?</p>