okay so i just landed at ord and honestly im still trying to figure out why this airport feels like a giant maze designed by a mad scientist but ive done this connecting flight thing here a bunch of times so im basically a seasoned veteran now and i figured id drop some wisdom bombs on anyone else whos stuck trying to navigate this beast of an airport because let me tell you its not for the faint of heart and you defenitely need a strategy or youll end up missing your flight and probably crying in a corner somewhere, trust me ive been close.
its like, this place has so many terminals and gates and concourses that it feels like its its own city and the layout just doesnt make sense sometimes and the signage can be pretty confusing so you really gotta pay attention and not just blindly follow the herd because the herd might be going to terminal 3 when you need terminal 1.
The connection game plan
first things first you need to know what terminals your flights are in because thats literally the most important piece of info you can have and if youre lucky both your flights are in the same terminal or at least connected by a walking path that doesnt take an hour but if youre not lucky which is often the case at ord then you get to experience the magical airtrak train system which is basically the airports version of a rollercoaster that sometimes takes forever to arrive and then makes stops at every single terminal and the parking lot which adds even more time to your journey and its always packed too so be prepared to squeeze in and dont expect a quiet ride its usually loud and full of stressed out people like yourself.
always check your gate number as soon as you land because those things change constantly at ord its like a sport for them to switch gates at the last minute so dont get complacent and think your gate is set in stone just because it was on your boarding pass an hour ago and its a good idea to download your airlines app so you can get real-time updates and hopefully avoid a mad dash across the airport when they pull a fast one on you.
Do you have enough time?
this is the million dollar question honestly and the answer is almost always no you dont have enough time especially if youre connecting through ord and like if you have less than two hours its going to be a stressful sprint and im not even kidding you might need to run because this airport is huge and delays are super common here with air traffic control issues or weather or just general ord chaos so basically you should always aim for at least two and a half to three hours for a domestic connection and if its an international connection forget about it you need even more buffer time like four hours minimum to be safe because of all the extra steps involved.
- baggage hassle: oh man the baggage situation at ord is a whole other level of frustrating especially if your first flight was international and your next one is domestic because then you literally have to claim your bags clear customs and then recheck them which takes forever and the lines for customs can be brutal and then you have to find your airlines baggage drop off which isnt always obvious and if you booked separate tickets for your connecting flights then youre also gonna have to claim your bag and recheck it and pay another baggage fee which just adds insult to injury and more time to your layover so try to avoid that if at all possible or just travel with a carry-on if you can manage it to skip this whole headache altogether.
- clearing security all over again: and yeah sometimes you do have to clear security all over again even if you just came off a domestic flight and are going to another domestic flight and it usually happens if you have to switch terminals and exit the secure area to get to the airtrak or if your airline uses a completely different part of the airport thats not connected post-security and the tsa lines here can be insanely long so budget extra extra time for this and if you dont have tsa precheck you might be waiting for what feels like an eternity so its almost recomended to get precheck if you fly through ord a lot or any big airport really because it will save your sanity and your flight.
so yeah my advice is basically stay vigilant check everything twice pack light if you can and always always give yourself more time than you think you need when connecting through ord because its truly an adventure and not in a good way usually but hey at least now you know what youre up against good luck out there folks youll need it.