Chicago is paralyzed by a snowstorm affecting Lincoln International Airport. A Trans Global Airlines (TGA) Boeing 707 flight crew misjudge their turn from Runway 29 onto the taxiway, becoming stuck in the snow and closing that runway. Airport manager Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is forced to work overtime, causing tension with his wife, Cindy. A divorce seems imminent as he nurtures a closer relationship with a co-worker, TGA customer relations agent Tanya Livingston (Jean Seberg).
Columbia Air Lines Flight 409 is a Boeing 747-100 on a Red-eye flight route from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Scott Freeman, meanwhile, is a New Mexico businessman flying his private Beechcraft Baron to an urgent sales meeting in Boise, Idaho. However, an occluded front has the entire West Coast of the United States socked in, with Los Angeles reporting Visibility#Very low visibility. Columbia 409 and Freeman's Beechcraft are both diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport.
A privately owned luxury Boeing 747-100, Stevens' Flight 23, flies invited guests to an estate in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by wealthy Philanthropy Philip Stevens, who also owns the jetliner. Valuable artwork from Stevens's private collection is also on board the jetliner, to be eventually displayed in his new museum. Such a collection motivates a group of thieves led by co-pilot Bob Chambers to Aircraft hijacking.