Flying through Chicago - times between flights

onceling

Every airport is pretty different in how much time you need between flights. I've flown from Vancouver (home) to Boston once already this year, and I made the mistake of travelling through Toronto.

The mistake of course, is that I then had to pick up my baggage and clear US (on the way) and Canadian (way home) customs and re-check my baggage in the short time between the flights. I almost missed both.

So this time I know to get around that, I need to fly from Vancouver (which has a US customs building on site to clear you before you leave) direct to a US city, then onto the next US destination. There don't seem to be any direct flights from Vancouver to Boston (or San Jose, which I also did recently).

Anyway, Chicago looks like an affordable stop on the way.

So my questions to you are:

1. How long do I need in Chicago to switch planes?
2. Is there a better suggestion than Chicago?

I have been to places (LAX, I'm looking at you) where 5 hours is not enough time, and places where 1 hr is like, too much time because you're practically walking 3 steps to the other gate. To make things easy I will ensure that I'm using the same flight company for both flights.

Here's an example:

Leave
Sat, Nov 17 United Airlines 686
Depart: 8:08am
Vancouver, Canada (YVR)

Arrive: 2:10pm
Chicago, IL (ORD)
1 stop in ORD

4hr 2min | Airbus A319


Change planes. Time between flights: 1hr 35min

United Airlines 882
Depart: 3:45pm
Chicago, IL (ORD)

Arrive: 7:03pm
Boston, MA (BOS)
2hr 18min | Boeing 757

Total duration: 7hr 55min

Short version:
How much time needed to change planes in Chicago? Is it easy like Portland or a real crap place like LAX?

zilo

O'Hare sucks. It's huge and difficult to navigate. If you're sticking with the same airline between flights you cal probably do it in an hour. If you're switching airlines, expect a hell of a run and give yourself a few hours to find where you're supposed to go.

Improvolone

I actually love O'Hare. However, it IS huge. So check a map to findout how far your airline companies actually are.

tsmvengy

It's a big airport, but if you're on one airline your gates will probably be relatively close. An hour and a half should be enough time - and remember that they pad those flight times with so much extra time that you'll probably arrive early, even if you leave late.


Also, how the hell could 5 hours not be enough time to make a connection? I guess I could see that if you're going through customs and shit... But you don't have to worry about this this time.

Improvolone

Fuck, I didn't even notice. United to United? You are probably golden.

Thanatos

Man, an hour if you're on the same airline is probably going to be too much time. O'Hare is not as difficult to navigate as people say it is; Dallas-Ft. Worth is way worse.

I've had flights on opposite sides of O'Hare, and an hour was more than enough time to make it.

Specularity

I fly through O'Hare all the time, and I'll second you having plenty of time. It was a hassle when I was going overseas, but domestic flights have been golden, and that's flying from/to Lincoln, NE, where they put us down in the Gate That Was Forgotten in...C Terminal, I want to say, but it looks like you're flying from major cities, so they'll probably all be relatively close. Hell, I saw a flight to Heathrow boarding right out of security.

The only problem I've had, with United in particular, I believe, is that if you have just enough time to make your flight your luggage may not. Three times I had to have luggage delivered the next day because the planes were too far apart (again, The Last Gate on Earth). This current flight you have, though, looks like it should be golden.

In short: You should be perfectly fine flying through Chicago. It's treated me well every time, and I even had a 16-hour layover there.

zilo

My O'Hare hate comes from trying to find the US Airways gates when arriving from the blue line train. I had to basically guess which terminal the US Airways ticket counter was in, hump my luggage all the way up there, and track down the 1960's-era screen that showed which gates my flight was at. As far as I could tell it was the only place in the airport that displayed US Airways gate information.

For United you'll probably be fine.

Javen

As long as your connecting flights are on the same side of the airport you're fine. When I was coming back from PAX my first flight was delayed which left me with all of five minutes to get from one gate to the next, which was made easily. Everything is clearly marked and easy to navigate, so if you're just going from one waiting area to another I wouldn't worry about it at all.

MuddBudd

You can make it from one end of O'hare to the other in like 20-30 minutes tops, at walking speed.

spacerobot

I'm sure an hour is fine, since you won't be doing any check-ins or security. It might be difficult if you were changing terminals, but even then you'd probably be ok.

Liquid Hellz

O'Hare is extremely easy to navigate and get from one side to the other so long as your not an idiot and a fat slow bumbling slob. With this said, in my experiences with United you will most likely be delayed or have a canceled flight altogether so good luck with that. At least 50% of my United flights (10 total to and from O'Hare in the past year) have either been delayed or canceled.

Javen

I've had bad luck with United as well, but pretty much all airlines are suffering from the same problems so you're pretty much running the same risk regardless of the carrier you choose.