Are RDU flights on time? How to find out.

The Chicago airports are icy today. What's happening with flights between RDU and Chicago, and other flights in and out of RDU?

Here's how to find out.

1. Ask the airline about a specific flight. Airline web addresses and 800 numbers are listed here. It helps to know the flight number, but you can manage if you know the to-and-from airports, and the approximate scheduled departure or arrival time.

2. Check some of the flight-tracking websites linked here.

I had luck with one called Flight Stats. It had a color-coded map to help you find airports with the most delays, a few delays or no delays.

Under 'travel tools,' check flight status of an individual flight or check by airport, enter RDU and choose either arrivals or departures. It gives you a quick list of all the current scheduled flights with info on whether they're on time or how late they are.

3. Check the arrival-departure boards in the RDU terminals. Some day, this current info will be available on the airport website, we hope. Until then, it's hard to get unless you're actually in the terminal.

4. Try the official FAA flight delays website.

Also color coded, and clearly a primary source for the commercial tracking sites. It gives overall official info about which airports are socked in with ice, fog etc. Also color-coded.

This morning it said flights departing elsewhere for Chicago O'Hare were delayed 3 hours. That seemed still to be true this afternoon, when I checked some individual flights bound from RDU for O'Hare.

CAVEAT: If you've been snowed in at an airport, you know that this info changes rapidly. In
the blink of an eye, a 1-hr delay changes to a 3-hr delay or a cancellation. 

I don't know
how accurate the Flight Stats info is, or how quickly it is updated as conditons change.  

Don't put too much trust in what you found online a few minutes ago.  Call the airline again for an update on your flight.