O'Hare versus Midway

If you’re heading home for the holidays, there’s one thing you can bank on: flight delays. But which Chicago airport will drive you more nuts? That would be O’Hare. Passengers flying out of the crazy-busy travel hub took off late (15 minutes after scheduled departure, as defined by the FAA) on 53 percent of outgoing flights last December (Midway posted a better statistic in the same period of 32 percent of flights running late). Compared to the national average—36 percent of flights delayed across U.S. airports for the month—O’Hare is a tough spot to travel from this time of year. About 70 percent of delays at both Chicago airports were caused by less-than-awesome weather conditions.