Help connecting to FRA or Zurich from Chicago
 

Need to get to Parma Italy to help with the coronavirus at their medical school.....trying to figure out a reliable way to get from Chicago to either FRA or Zurich without chance (if possible) of cancellation....one way.....how reliable are the LH or Swiss daily flights (usually fly or cancelled?)....Many many thanks

I can then navigate to Parma

Difficult to predict. You can check on flightradar24.com the history of the last 7 days for a specific flight number or a route.
And keep in mind that there are restrictions based on your nationality. You need to cross at least one border when going to Italy.

Swiss now flies three times a week from EWR to ZRH since Corona - I think so far very reliable as these flights did not exist before.

:confused: LX has been flying to EWR for years...

But to the OP, I agree that for the next few weeks, both LX and LH seem to have arrived at a stable, very minimal emergency flight schedule that includes a few transatlantic flights. These should operate normally unless governments change the rules again.

However, as per Unterwegs, make sure you have the paperwork required to continue from either FRA or ZRH to your destination. Intra-European borders are closed to non-essential travel.

Actually, it is quite a long way from FRA to Parma... check out MUC instead of FRA.

By car, the difference is probably about two hours. Not such a big deal.

No LH ops in Munich at all, only a few CL flights.

OP should be able to get onto the 3x weekly ORD-FRA flights that are still operating as per the special schedule. Good luck crossing multiple (closed) borders to get to Italy.

Make sure you meet all the criteria to get across all borders when attempting to drive!

FRA to Parma: about 8 hours if you can drive through Switzerland (check the conditions in detail!) If you can't drive through Switzerland, it's more like 10,5h taking the Brenner route if you can drive through Austria (check the conditions in detail!)

MUC to Parma: about 6 hours - again if you can drive through Austria (check the conditions in detail!)

+ add in an extra hour or 2 for each border crossing...

Don't even think about driving to Parma... LH is operating flight from FRA to MXP, see the special time table here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luft...s-changes.html