'Tired, Hungry, Cranky' Travelers - and a Guy Who Proposed Marriage - Stuck at Chicago Airports

This report is developing and will be updated

With 1,300 flights cancelled at O’Hare Airport and 300 more at Midway Airport due to Monday’s massive sleet and freezing rain storm, the airports are packed Tuesday with weary, frustrated travelers just trying to get home after a Christmas weekend.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, 263 flights are cancelled at O’Hare, and 395 are delayed, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. At Midway, 23 are cancelled and 115 delayed.

A record 1.9 inches of sleet fell at O’Hare on Monday.

So far today, U.S. airlines have canceled more than 1,000 flights at airports around the country, while at least 3,000 are delayed, as the winter storm that hit Chicago Monday lands on the East Coast.

So, what do you do when you’re stuck at the airport, besides fume and complain and sleep in uncomfortable chairs?

One man, stranded at O’Hare for 50 hours, decided to get married.

Danny Roderique was flying home to Phoenix this weekend to ask for her hand in marriage. But his flights were repeatedly cancelled. Roderique texted a photo of the engagement ring to his girlfriend and proposed by phone.

“I’ve been here 50 hours!” Roderique told ABC Chicago. “I’m just, holiday travel, I mean, that’s all I can say, and the weather.”

Also on Patch

• 5 Things You Can Do to Entertain Yourself While Stuck at O’Hare
• Stuck in Chicago? Maybe You Want to Stay and Work for the Cubs

Eva Hachikan told ABC Chicago she spent the night at O’Hare.

“We’re tired, we’re hungry, we’re cranky. They just keep saying, ‘It’s the weather. It’s not our fault.’ It’s not ours either,” Eva Hachikian said.

Nichole Hermes’ had hoped to be vacationing in warm Cancun, Mexico, by now. But she’s crammed into O’Hare with tens of thousands of others, many of whom have been there for days like Roderique.

“Just figured, hopefully, it would have all been cleared up by now. I wasn’t quite expecting these lines, though,” Hermes said.

Indeed, the lines for everything — security, food, bathrooms, airline desks — are very, very long.

“Oh fun,” tweeted Bill Cotter from O’Hare. “The security line ... is over a football field in length and wraps around five times.”

At one point Tuesday morning, according to travelers on Twitter, Transportation Security Agency agents at O’Hare reportedly sped up the lines and passed people through security checkpoints ”on the honor system” regarding their shoes and laptops.

Also on Patch

• Chicago-Area Traffic and Transit Reports

Twitter Views