It was like the 405 at rush hour. The taxiways at Chicago’s Ohare airport. We’d been delayed leaving Albuquerque, eating into our tight connection time in Chicago. Still, things were looking good until touch down at Ohare. As we barreled down onto the runway I noticed long lines of planes lining the taxiways. As soon as we made the turn to clear off the runway, we came to a full stop. Stop, go, stop, go. In the lane next to us we crawled past 3 planes facing the gates blocked by 3 planes facing the runway. How that mess was going to get unsnarled, I had no clue. The pilot explained the “there was some weather and the airport sort of shut down and now they are trying to recover”. I suspect the air traffic controllers were understaffed and overwhelmed. I mean, it was a miracle that there weren’t any fender-benders.
35 minutes later, we made it to the gate. The boarding for our flight was due to close in 4 min. I put on my pushiest face and plowed through the aisle clogged with passengers, ran up the jetway and raced across the terminal. Ridiculous 75 year old woman “sprinting”. Ha. But I made it. Grubb not far behind. And geez, the flight was only about half boarded. All’s well.
Oh, being helpless to speed up a line or a plane in gridlock when you have a tight connection. It sounds like adrenaline got you to the gate just in time. Whew!
Got my heart rate up for sure!