I agree with the last three posts; his return ticket to the UK will be canceled when he no-shows for the ORD-IND flight. Reinstating the itinerary won't be a cakewalk.

On top of that, his 1:00 pm arrival means he'll be lucky to be at the curb at T-5, ready to hit the road, by 2:00 pm. Immigration, customs, checked bag delays, etc. That's 3:00 pm in Indy. And that assumes his LHR flight isn't delayed at all.

On a good day, you're looking at 3+ hours from ORD to Indy, and that assumes no traffic in Chicago, no delays due to construction, and no snow or ice on the way.

Here's a thought - if the stars are lined up for him that day, there's a chance (slim, of course) that he could make the 2:05 pm flight to IND. Assuming that there's an empty seat on that flight, the Eagle gate agent might very well let him on it to free up a seat on the last flight despite the usual "no-standby" attitude on international itins and with checked bags. If he can't get on that earlier flight, that leaves you several extra hours to wrap his gifts and bake cookies instead of spending the whole day in the car driving to and from ORD.

Here's a story about this weekend's midwest snow and ice storm: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071202/...s/winter_storm