<p>Be sure to call the airline involved and ask for some food vouchers. They are usually pretty good about that and especially if you let them know he is a college student, etc, etc.</p>
<p>OP</p>
<p>Airlines do not typically cover expenses related to accommodations when it comes to weather-related delays.</p>
<p>I don’t know your son’s situation, but a couple of other options to check into would be to try to rebook his flight out of Milwaukee. He could take the El into Chicago and catch the Amtrak up to Milwaukee. Typically in the Chicago area, Midway and Milwaukee’s delays will be less than O’Hare.</p>
<p>Any chance you could talk him into catching a Greyhound up to MSP? As soon as the winds die down and the plows can get roads cleared up, it could be a viable option as it will take perhaps days for O’Hare to catch back up. I imagine Greyhound will be back on schedule tomorrow.</p>
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<p>Well, maybe the Patriots!</p>
<p>When my son was stuck in Columbus, Ohio airport for 2 days three years ago, Southwest Airline did not give any food voucher, nothing. He was a freshman coming home for spring break, Columbus had its worst blizzard in 20 years, some 20 inches of snow!</p>
<p>It was quite an experience for him, he survived it w/o too much problem and complaint. Well, me and him kept checking up to date flight status all morning and afternoon, no cancellation as of 3:45pm, so he got on the 4 pm shuttle bus leaving for airport. 1/2 hour later, the flight was cancelled, but he was already on the bus, couldn’t turn around, the bus would not take any students back on campus. Just our luck. He planned to just spend the night at the airport, our family is too frugal to even think of booking a hotel room! It never even crossed his mind. After a couple of hours at the airport, he bumped into another kid from the same school, my son did not know him well. He asked if my son would like to sleep on the floor in the hotel room his mom had booked for him. Sure, why not, it is better than the cold plastic chairs at the airport. That was Friday night. </p>
<p>No flight leaving on Saturday either. Instead of eating at the hotel which would be too expensive, my son offered to pay for the 2 meals for Saturday. Hotel offered continental breakfast, my son was delighted. He took the hotel shuttle bus back to the airport to pick up burgers and stuff from Wendy’s for lunch, then he was stupid enough to walk cross the highway to the McDonald across the street to get dinner. He said it was one heck of a walk during blizzard conditions, I would have told him to just eat at the hotel for heaven’s sake! Such a stupid move! But he didn’t tell me anything until the next day. And he told there weren’t any cars on the road during a blizzard, mom! So this was Saturday.</p>
<p>Southwest only had 2 daily flights from Columbus to Philadelphia. His friend was lucky to get a 7am flight out of Columbus, so at 5am Sunday morning, my son had to “move out” of the hotel room, he did not get the 1st flight of the day, so he finally was scheduled for the 6:45pm flight. He told me 13 hours spent at the airport was not very pleasant, seats were uncomfortable, so he was thankful his friend let him stay in the hotel. So this Sunday morning, he had a good “continental breakfast” since it was free, ha. After almost 48 hours later, he had $5.50 left in his wallet. He has a debit card so he could spend on whatever he needed, but remember he was raised to be very careful with money and never buy any unnecessary stuff. With a combined lunch and dinner meal where he ordered from Wendy’s dollar menu equivalent at the airport, he still got cash left, though not much, oh, he asked for a cup of ice water! (since it was just for himself, he could be cheap!)</p>
<p>He finally stepped into the house after 10pm Sunday night, after he started his trip at 3:45pm on Friday, he was totally exhausted. One thing he did not care for was that he had to carry around his suitcase, laptop case and backpack all day long where ever he went. </p>
<p>I often hear about the problem with O’hara airport when it snows, but when there is a blizzard, a tiny airport like Columbus can still cause much trouble. OP, don’t worry, he will make it home safely before you know it.</p>
<p>Mafool, I hope your traveller made the flight out!</p>
<p>S does have a credit card so he gets by. He was able to check in the hotel by himself (he was worried that they wont rent to someone under 21). I only find out the cash problem when he wondered if he can order pizza with his credit card. He figures a pizza will give him the most amount of food with the lowest cost! 
He would not consider eating at the hotel (too expensive). </p>
<p>He did find an ATM machine today but did not want to pay a fee of $3.50 on top of the bank fee for a cash withdrawal on his debit card. This kid can be overly frugal sometimes.</p>
<p>Hopeful820 sounds like we have similar experiences! My S had to rush to the airport Saturday in a taxi because United re-booked him on an earlier Delta flight (ORD to Detroit to MSP). He was about to board the flight to Detroit when Delta told him the Detroit to MSP segment was cancelled. Should he or shouldnt he go to Detroit? We had to decide right away. He decided to stay put in ORD. It didnt occur to us that the storm was heading towards Chicago!</p>
<p>Teriwtt, thanks for the suggestion about alternate way out of Chicago. We are staying with the airline because we are afraid of losing his return ticket. For a round trip ticket like his, he needs to use the first ticket before he can use the return ticket.</p>
<p>I have calmed down quite a bit about this. Thanks for listening!</p>
<p>Hopeful820 - I never go to an airport without the expectation that I might get stuck and have to provide for myself. No airline is going to issue vouchers, etc. for weather-related delays/cancellations. If the delay is their fault in any way, then they typically do. Anyone who travels at this time of year should be prepared. It really isn’t the airlines fault when weather disrupts travel; they have no control over it. </p>
<p>That being said, I remember one time getting stuck in Philadelphia overnight because of a regional air traffic control computer outage effecting the whole east coast, in combination with an unruly passenger on our flight who caused us to return to the gate after finally taxiing on the runway for over an hour waiting to take off, and miss our window of departure. Neither one was within Southwest’s realm of control, but within a month, both my daughter and myself received free RT tickets (with no solicitation of this on our part) with an apology. </p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand people who expect free things from airlines when it’s out of their control.</p>
<p>DreamMom - he was very, very lucky to get a hotel room. I’m sure many passengers were stranded and looking for a room. They can go very quickly (another lesson I learned… if there’s a small chance you’re going to be stranded overnight, have one person make calls to get a room somewhere while another is addressing the rebooked flight - my husband was back at home making calls to hotels for us, while we were in the Philly airport rebooking our flight).</p>
<p>H arrived hour ago–so, only 36 hours late. His flying partner not so lucky…still sitting in Denver, because plane that was to bring him to West Coast, did not make it to Denver from Chicago. He is WL on last flight tonight, and confirmed for tomorrow a.m. </p>
<p>As a frequent flyer, H knows that the best thing to pack when traveling in winter (or anytime, really) is patience. He has now amended that to pack his charger. After spending LOTS of time on phone with airline, which paid off, his phone was dead.
AT&T store at Mall of America charged it for him, along with his Blackberry–Yay!</p>
<p>And agree, airlines do not compensate for weather related issues. On Friday, United actually offered waivers for flights on Saturday in bad weather areas, something that was never done a few years ago…not only is re-booking a flight a PIA for flyers, but it’s no fun for airlines either.</p>
<p>Let’s hope our kids all get thru the Holidays without any more weather issues. Yes, we still have one more to get home next week…</p>
<p>I was stuck in DC last Feb. during the big blizzard. That’s one of the few times I didn’t check weather ahead of time. By the time I arrived at my destination, everyone was talking about it. So I checked on-line as soon as I got to my hotel, and the only SW flight leaving was at 7 a.m. on Friday morning. I had come for a meeting which started at 9:00. </p>
<p>Fortunately, I had Friday to prepare. I was staying in a residence hotel with a kitchenette. I stopped at a grocery store on the way back from my meeting and got enough food for a couple of days. Then Friday night I ordered a double order of carryout sushi. All the while, thinking I would leave Sunday early afternoon. Everytime I tried to get on-line to get my boarding pass, the closure had been extended. I rebooked 3 times. Finally, I was supposed to leave on Monday at 4:00 p.m.</p>
<p>The hotel offered free breakfast on Monday. I went to check weather and saw that another blizzard was moving toward my destination! I finally decided to hear for the airport and try to fly standby. The worst that could happen was another night in a hotel in a different city. Fortunately, they let me on standby without having to pay extra because of the weather and there was room (sometimes there isn’t on SW) because the weather had perturbed everyone’s plans. I had to check my carry one (and carry my laptop) on the connecting flight, but I made it. It was just starting to snow when I arrived but not yet sticking. If I had waited another 4-5 hours to return on the original flight, I would not have made it home that night.</p>
<p>And it was my birthday! Told H he better have cake and a nice present waiting!</p>
<p>It was all smiles when DD’s flight arrived Early from Chicago. I am glad UofC closed its dorm at noon yesterday. Had it been today, it would have been horse of a different color. :)</p>
<p>Wow, I had no idea that things were so bad at O’Hare, or that the weather in Chicago was so bad on Saturday! My D flew out of there on American – her first flight for around 6:00 pm was cancelled, but she was put on another earlier flight, which was delayed, so ended up leaving at about the same time. I’m not sure if she wasn’t just extraordinarily lucky, but the people at American were very helpful to her. Maybe it helped that she was flying east, out of the storm. Anyway, OP and others, I hope your children all get home safe soon. (And I hope my D has not used up all her luck with airline travel. She’s due to fly to Europe in January.)</p>
<p>mousegray - it wasn’t bad here Saturday during the day. But I think the problem developed because planes from areas west and north of us were getting grounded, and not making it to O’Hare, so the backlog began. </p>
<p>And also from what I’ve read, it’s not the taking off that’s problematic, it’s the landing. So if you can get planes here (and keep them properly de-iced while they’re on the ground), they can take off. Of course, yesterday it became a matter of it not being appropriate to land - I think 90% of it was due to wind, as we did not get all that much snow (maybe 3"). We’re still having gusts in the 30+ mph range today.</p>
<p>That’s exactly it, teriwitt, and why everything snowballs (pardon the pun) when the weather is bad in one location from which planes are coming. Since airlines are generally scheduling fewer flights and they are therefore fuller, when there’s a cancellation due to weather or any other reason, there often aren’t seats to accommodate those whose flight(s) has been canceled, so it can take several days to take care of all those people.</p>
<p>Op here. My son finally got home. Yay!</p>
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<p>So true. S was booked on an evening flight today. He went to airport by noon and was getting on an earlier flight as a standby except get this - that flight was CANCELLED at the last minute! Someone said the plane got hit by a truck on the ground!!</p>
<p>He couldnt get on the next flight, but they found room for him on the flight after that. He arrived home late afternoon, 3 1/2 hour before his rebooked flight. </p>
<p>I am going to sleep well tonight. :)</p>
<p>My D has had to overnight in OHare a few times, waiting for an early AM bus to Wisconsin. That airport, from what I’ve seen of it, has no welcoming areas after you claim luggage. No benches without arms, no carpeted floor to sleep on. A literally very hard place to curl up with a suitcase and snooze for a few hours. Any slightly nicer areas I’ve missed? Our local airport feels much more welcoming, with a few nice lounge areas. </p>
<p>Glad he’s home, dreammom! What a saga. Sweet dreams!</p>
<p>Borderline miraculous (or so it seems to me, because I have been stranded so many times): our traveler was scheduled on the only SWA flight that actually left MSP for MDW Sunday night.</p>
<p>Good luck, mafool. Hope the journey ends safely and SOON. This is the first week in many, MANY months that my DH has not had to fly to/from Chicago. I am quite grateful. Hope he’s home soon! And OP-- glad yours is home!</p>
<p>mafool, what goes up must come down! In last year’s blizzard our son’s plane went up in Denver and we couldn’t believe it. He’d already been delayed a day. Nothing was going in or out of anywhere in the midwest. He landed at Ford…the only plane to land that afternoon. There were a whole bunch of college kids sitting in a circle on the floor waiting to head east and west and south from all the area colleges. We looked up through the blizzard and saw this little plane coming down with snowplow trucks racing ahead on the runway. It was a hair curling ride to get him and hair curling to see that plan come down. He said the pilot told them mid-air that he had no idea where he was going to land but they shot this plane out of Denver during a break in the snow.</p>
<p>How did I miss this thread? Daughter was done last week but had some non-school things to take care of so wasn’t coming home (NY) until Monday. Well, Sunday was so bad by the afternoon that she couldn’t do what she was supposed to do and then was really bummed that she didn’t come home on Sunday. I told her that she wouldn’t be home on Sunday but rather stuck at the airport because almost all the flights had been canceled! She should be happy she was able to be cozy in her apartment even if she was lonely with no one else around. In the end her Monday morning flight left 2 hours late so she especially appreciated that she wasn’t stuck at the airport all day Sunday.</p>
<p>She’s home now, upstairs asleep. When do I get to wake her?</p>
<p>If she doesn’t have to be any place, don’t you dare wake her up!</p>