N1cky

Wondered if anyone has any experience of connecting through Chicago?

I have a flight from SFO with a connection time of 1 hour 10 minutes to make my flight to Manchester.

On the way back I have a 1 hour 30 minute connection time, but will have to go through immigration.

My bags will be booked straight through, so don't have to mess around there.

Do you think these times are too tight?

Thanks

tonrob

O'Hare is a very busy airport. I'd be concerned if this were my itinerary.

N1cky

I should have just emailed you, I knew you would be the first to reply, and the reply I would probably listen to.

tonrob

What time of year are you flying? Do you know which terminals those flights tend to arrive/depart?

N1cky

Flying in August

SFO - Chicago arrives Terminal 2
Chicago - MAN departs Terminal 3

MAN - Chicago arrives Terminal 3
Chicago - MAN departs Terminal 3

Will I have to collect my bags and take them through customs in ORD?

tonrob

Yes re bags.

Summer obviously a bugger for thunderstorms which can cause havoc for a big hub like Chicago. I've missed bigger connections than yours there. Any way to change your flights?

N1cky

Thanks Tonrob. Yes, I can change my flights, it was just a quote. I now have:

SFO-ORD arrive 3.20pm
ORD-MAN depart 6.05pm

MAN-ORD arrive 12.55pm
ORD-SFO depart 4.25pm

I'm much more comfortable with these.

Can't believe I'm going to England again. I'm already looking forward to the curry, sausages and crispy duck

Scouse Express

Are you flying AA and are you booking your tickets direct?

Personally, I have never had a problem transferring through ORD, although when picking groups up....there have been delays.

If flying AA when coming back, you will have to clear Immigration, first, collect your bags then clear customs, and then hand your bags back too AA for them to transfer to your connecting flight.

Then you have to exit Terminal 5, catch the Monorail to Terminal 3. Clear TSA and then haul ass to catch your connecting flight.

AA uses shitty Boeing 757s on ORD-MAN......BEWARE

Jim.

N1cky

Yes I'm flying AA direct. I have good reason to, I get $1,300 off my flights by flying with them. Never flown with them before, but certainly wouldn't be my first choice. It's too good a saving to pass up.

Scouse Express

I use ORD-MAN fairly regularly. They used to have 767s on it and then downsized a couple of years ago.

Okay, but, a bit too long on a single-aisle Jet for me.

If you are booking direct with them, at least they are responsible for the connection.

Jim.

GeoffM

Moot now but 1h10 for a domestic to domestic/international connection is tight at the best of times. A few minutes delay getting off the first plane, trying to walk/ride to the next gate... some of those walks are looong!

Having said that, our MCO-ORD-LHR flights a couple of years ago, with a good 3.5 hour connection, resulted in the MCO-ORD arriving at the gate next to the ORD-LHR flight. 3h25 to wait. Ho hum.

lansbury

As others have said, doable if nothing goes wrong and at ORD I've found it pays to expect things to get messed up. I now try and connect anywhere but ORD if I can.

scrubbedexpat091

As long as there is no weather or other delays at the airport you should be okay, but any kind of weather in the area and it could get nasty. I worked as a CSR for an airline at O'hare for a while, and if there were T-storms or other weather our flights could be delayed for hours at the originating airport, and at times it would land ontime or even early but take 60 minutes to taxi to the gate due to traffic on the ground.

tonrob

I'm not sure AA has champers in the lounge...

N1cky

Thanks everyone, I've gone for the flights with the longer connection times. I'll only stress about catching the flights if I leave it too tight.

I'm saving $1,300 I can buy my own if I need to

Plus I'm travelling on my own with the kid, not sure getting hammered is a good thing to do.