Jaunted

Airport News / Chicago Travel / ORD / MDW / Airports / Gambling / Las Vegas Travel / → All Tags

Slot Machines Coming to Chicago's Airports? It's a Safe Bet.

You step off a plane and into the terminal, to the smell of fresh-baked Auntie Anne's pretzels and the bing-bing-bing sounds of slot machines. Where are you—Las Vegas, right? If it's a few years from now, that answer could be Chicago-O'Hare instead. The Illinois House of Representatives approved a bill on Monday (yes, they were working on Memorial Day!) to bring casinos to Chicago. The idea is for the casinos to open not just anywhere in Chicago, but in heavily touristed places like the lakefront and both O'Hare and Midway Airports.

Guess who's totally down with the new casinos plan? Chicago's fresh-faced mayor Rahm Emanuel, who supports the development of gambling establishments within Chi-city limits for the all-American goals of job creation and raking in more moolah. How much more moolah will Chicago casinos bring in to the state, exactly? Oh, just a billion dollars a year. Maybe they'll even take some of those zeros and make O'Hare less of a giant suckfest.

more ›

Travel Snapshot / MDW / Chicago Travel / → All Tags

The Blues Brothers Greet Travelers at Chicago's Midway Airport

We were traipsing through Chicago's Midway Airport and came across the perfect cheesy Chicago photo op: life-size statues of the Blues Brothers.

Tucked away in the airport's Concourse A, near the House of Blues kiosk, there's a Jake and Elwood pair getting down, and another pair relaxing in chairs and watching jet-setters go by.

Since the city had a starring role in The Blues Brothers flick, it was fun to see a reminder of old Chicago greeting travelers into the Windy City in the form of John Belushi (Jake) and Dan Aykroyd (Elmwood) replicas. It sure beats the sometimes boring airport displays we've seen. We just wish there were some blues tunes blasting in the background to give the full effect.

One more pic of the Bros, after the jump

more ›

New Routes / New Airlines / Porter Airlines / YTZ / MDW / → All Tags

New Routes: Porter Airlines Headed to Chicago

After Porter Airlines vaguely announced earlier this month that it would start service to an unnamed airport in Chicago, TheAirDB reports that the Candian airline will start service to Midway soon.

It'll be the second destination in the US for Porter, which flies seven times a day between Toronto City Centre Airport and Newark. There's still no official word on when trips to Chicago might start.

Porter has also recently added service to Quebec City, and in the past it's made seasonal trips to Mont Tremblant--something to keep in mind as winter creeps up on Canada.

Related Stories:
· Porter Airlines [Official Site]
· Porter Airlines: MDW to YTZ [TheAirDB]
· Porter Airlines coverage [Jaunted]