Here's a cautionary note for all the OF air travelers...a Delta Airlines flight experienced extreme
turbulence that necessitated an emergency landing in Minneapolis in order to get 25 passengers to hospitals there. (see linked article). Initial reports of severe thunderstorms developing over Wyoming may have played a role since the flight path crossed that area. The NTSB will be investigating.
Delving further into this (I'm planning future flights East in the near future) I spoke with my sister who was a jet pilot and flight instructor. She has seen T-Storms with tops up to 30-40,000 ft and says they are truly 'scary'...pilots do all they can to avoid them, but the effects of "clear air turbulence" can be felt tens of miles from the visible edge of such storms...so to all travelers...Fasten Your Seat Belt (comfortably) when flying...and don't linger in the Aisles.
I was reminded of a business trip with a leg from Denver to Houston where our early evening flight was being delayed for an hour or two...the reason was that our pilot (part of an all-female crew) was engaged in a debate with the airline dispatcher over the prescribed route...she was aware of a large storm front in Texas that ran N-S from Dallas to Houston and wanted to change the plan to allow her to fly toward San Antonio and then come into Houston from the South, thereby avoiding any involvement with the storm front...she won, and we finally took off. Along the way, outside our left windows, we were treated to a non-stop "Fireworks Display" of lightning strikes in the nighttime sky...while we smoothly made our way to Houston. Passengers were very appreciative, in spite of the delay.
Link: https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-travel/delta-flight-diverted-minneapolis-after-severe-turbulence-leaving-25-people-board-hospitalized