Cancellations, delays improve at O'Hare, Midway

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Sunday was day three of frustrated travelers dealing with delays and cancellations after an act of sabotage and while it is getting better, it is still far from normal.

Delays and cancellations at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway International Airports persist two days after the FAA En Route Air Traffic Center in Aurora was forced offline on Friday.

Dynata Funderburg and her family got out a day before but had delays returning Sunday.

"When we came to the airport, they told us it was delayed and that's when we heard about it, so we didn't know. We were there for about two and a half hours waiting for a time home," she said.

Sunday O'Hare had on average 30 minute delays and over 500 flights cancelled. At Midway travelers also saw delays and more than 50 flights were cancelled.

While air traffic control was reassigned to other nearby centers it has been a slow transition. And that Aurora center is being repaired, but not expected to be fully operational until October 13.

Erin Rumsey was on one of the few flights inbound Friday.

"We did taxi when we got here, but it wasn't too big of a deal. We ended up getting in about 15 minutes after we were supposed to at the end of the day, so it was easy," Rumsey said.

An attempt to attend a relative's wedding in Chicago on Saturday took several tries for Texan Betsy Young. She missed the ceremony but made the reception and got a bonus.

"My return flight got canceled for (Sunday), but rescheduled for Sunday evening, so I had time to go sightseeing," she said.

The FAA says that the situation should be substantially improved on Monday.