Planes, Trains and Automobiles: RSNA 2025 Travelers Brave Chicago's Historic Snowfall
A storm hits, plans are upended and journeys begin
This is part one of a three-part series chronicling the travel challenges and successes of several undaunted RSNA annual meeting attendees. Read part two and part three.
When Kate Hanneman, MD, MPH, made her travel plans for RSNA 2025, she anticipated flying from Toronto early on Saturday, leaving enough time to settle into her hotel room and prepare for the meeting’s opening on Sunday, Nov. 30.
But Chicago’s encroaching snowstorm—one that would turn out to be the snowiest November day in Chicago, ever—changed the course for her. It also affected hundreds of others across the globe who employed creative, resilient, and determined new strategies to be there for the most important week in radiology.
A cardiac radiologist at University Medical Imaging Toronto, Dr. Hanneman checked in for her flight with colleagues as the snow rolled in and the cancellations began. More than 1,300 flights would ultimately be canceled that day at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports, and more than eight inches of snow blanketed the city by Sunday morning.
Devising a Creative Rerouting Plan
Meanwhile, RSNA Past President N. Reed Dunnick, MD, and his wife Marilyn Roubidoux, MD, a professor of radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School, in Ann Arbor, woke at 5:30 a.m. to make their 8:45 a.m. flight from Detroit to O’Hare. Dr. Dunnick was looking forward to attending the RSNA Past Presidents’ Dinner on Saturday evening.
“We were allowed to board the flight, but an hour later, even though the plane was completely boarded, they canceled it,” he said.
Emerging from the cramped cabin to the same gate they’d entered, Dr. Dunnick considered trying his luck with Milwaukee, where the storm hadn’t yet arrived in full force. A flight scheduled for 12:15 p.m. would connect them to the Amtrak, which could carry them comfortably to Chicago’s Union Station.
Diverted Flight Leads to Road Trip
David Yousem, MD, MBA, was scheduled to present during a session on imaging paraneoplastic syndromes on Sunday morning. His flight from Denver took off on Saturday as planned and was due to arrive at Chicago’s Midway Airport later that morning.
He and his fellow passengers learned that they were being diverted to Cleveland to refuel. “So, we landed in Cleveland, and the flight attendants said to stick by the gate, so after we refuel we could make another attempt at the gate.”
After two hours of waiting, the flight was canceled, and the attendants were aiming for a new plane scheduled to leave much later. Dr. Yousem then decided to rent an all-wheel drive car.
Another Team Hits the Road
Back in Toronto, 14 miles across the city from Dr. Hanneman, M. Alejandra Bedoya, MD, was growing increasingly anxious about timing.
She was scheduled to present a pediatric musculoskeletal US course during a RSNA Hands-On Lab on Sunday morning, one of the earliest sessions of RSNA 2025.
After her own canceled flight, she weighed her options and the upcoming flights didn’t look promising.
"I had made a commitment to presenting the workshop, and the attendees were counting on me, and I decided that I had to at least try," Dr. Bedoya said. "So, I accepted the trip through St. Louis, knowing that there was a high chance that it would get stuck.”
As she waited at the gate, Dr. Bedoya got a text from Aurélie D’Hont, MD, a fellow pediatric radiologist at SickKids.
“She said, ‘My flight got canceled, too. Do you want to drive?’”
Thus began another travel team up for the 520-mile drive. Drs. Bedoya and D’Hont—originally from Colombia and Belgium, respectively—joined Maria Fernanda Dien Esquivel, MD, a pediatric interventional radiologist originally from Costa Rica; Dr. Esquivel’s friend Miguel from the Dominican Republic, and prior SickKids fellow Diana Veiga, MD, from Valencia, Spain.
In part two of this series, the travelers encounter long drives, kind strangers and snowy obstacles on their journey to RSNA 2025.
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