Nov. 11--Chicago O'Hare is the worst airport in America for winter travelers who want to be on time and avoid crowds, according to a new report released Tuesday.
Some 42 percent of flights are delayed at O'Hare during the winter, according to flight data site Hopper, which ranked America's 20 largest airports.
O'Hare joins airports in Newark, N.J.; Denver and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as those that have more than one-third of flights delayed during winter months.
The finding about O'Hare is perhaps not surprising, given how busy it is, the winter weather climate in Chicago and its recent track record with on-time departures.
In September, the month for which the most recent data is available, O'Hare departures were on time just 70.8 percent of the time, compared with 82.5 percent for all large U.S. airports, according to federal data. Although September results were affected by a sabotaged air traffic control center that led to delays late in the month, O'Hare in most months ranks near the bottom of 29 big airports that report to the Department of Transportation.
Also not surprising is that Hawaii is your best bet for uneventful winter travel. But airports in warm areas like Florida can rank poorly because popular airports are affected by winter storm delays elsewhere.
Not all cold-weather airports rated poorly. Airports in Boston, Detroit and Minneapolis ranked in the bottom half for winter flight delays.
The analysis used data from Hopper's feeds of flight data, as well as delay statistics from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
A similar analysis by Nerdwallet, which specifically addressed winter holiday delays, found O'Hare was among the five worst airports for delays, but ranked fourth-worst, behind Newark, San Francisco and LaGuardia.
gkarp@tribpub.com
