needle

Dear all,

Am arriving into chicago o hare on a Saturday lunchtime. Is 2 hours gap enough to clear immigration collect bag and transfer to connecting flight?

I remember you cant check the bag through when coming from overseas and have to collect it and transfer to some other thing. Please could someone enlighten me on this if possible.

Anyhow just wanted to make sure 2 hours was enough overall

regards

Noorah101

What visa are you entering on?

Rene

civilservant

Regardless of if you need to go through secondary or not, I think 2 hours at a major hub like ORD (O'Hare) is cutting it very fine.

Pulaski

Personally, I'd say two hours is plenty. The risk is that immigration is backed, but my experience has been that larger airports are better staffed and that immigration wait times are less than at smaller airports. Even IF you had to wait for half an hour, you should still be fine. ..... Now if you're immigrating with a visa that requires a trip to secondary for fingerprint and paperwork, then you should allow longer, .... at least three hours.

needle

am on ESTA its just a 2 week visit never had any issues on entry i.e no secondary etc before just wanted to check 2 hours is enough

am not processing a visa or GC etc on this trip just straightforward 2 week trip my connecting flight is 2 hrs 5 mins after landing there

regards

civilservant

Are the international and domestic airline the same? I.e are they transferring your bag between aircraft or do you have to collect and recheck?

DexterBerkeley

I did this just over a year ago at ORD, on an ESTA, same airline in and out.

I allowed 3 hours and only just made it. I think I was unlucky though. The time split was

• 2 hours to clear immigration, there was at least 1 whole other flight already in the queue, at one point we were down to a single officer.
• Got my bag, through customs and re-check, this took about 3 minutes.
• Then about 20 minutes to get to a different terminal
• 1/2 hour in the security queue there.
• 10 minutes to run to the gate which they were closing at the time.

If immigration had even taken an hour I would have been in good shape. I know a lot of people missed connections and just got on later flights, so aside from the delay it didn't appear to be a big deal.

lansbury

Doesn't have to be the same airline. As long as the airlines involved have an Interline agreement they can through check bags and issue boarding passes. All that needs to be done in the US is grab bags, go through customs, put bags back on the transfer belt.

needle

there is a terminal switch for my flight from terminal 5 to terminal 3 at o hare. i checked the timetable to see how many international flights arrive at the same time but have no idea how this guides the wait!

i just have no idea what is the ideal bench mark figure for times between flights? is 3 hrs a good rule of thumb??

Scouse Express

You will need to clear Immigration, claim your bag, clear Customs and then hand your bag over to the AA Staff at T5.

Then exit the Terminal and catch the Monorail to T3 and go through security again. Sometimes, it has taken me only a few minutes,

However, I have known other people to take 2-3 hours.

Hopefully, your International flight will not be delayed.


Jim.

Noorah101

O'Hare is one of the busiest (if not THE busiest) airport in the USA. Terminals are far apart and you have to catch a tram to get around between them. Personally, I would leave at least 3 hours between flights.

Rene

needle

my alternative is i can go via atlanta with a 3 hour transit time in between not sure whether that the better option!

Stoutbanana

If you are in the queue and you have an onward flight departing you must tell some of the border people standing around doing nothing that you have a flight leaving at x time and ask is there enough time to catch it?

Also try to get to immigration as quick as you can

penguinsix

O'Hare has quite a few uncertainties about it such that 2 hours isn't ideal. Is it doable in best or even normal circumstances, yes and more or less, but in less than ideal situations you could be stuck.

Things that can affect this transfer:

Air Traffic DELAYS (O'Hare has significant problems with this).
Weather DELAYS (you are flying into thunderstorm world so it can happen)
Line at Immigration
Transit by Monorail (usually ok)
Security line to re-enter (can be bad)
Hike to your gate (O'Hare has some long walks).

A solo traveller with some experience with airports--yea, go for it.
A family with kids and a stroller and carry ons--ugh.

civilservant

Dosent hold a candle to ATL - which is is the busiest airport in the world by aircraft movement - O'Hare is second with some 120,000 less movements per annum. ATL seems to handle the traffic better though in my opinion, especially since the construction of the new international terminal.

I agree, 3 hours is always the ideal connection time.