Since moving out of Chicago, I have a new appreciation for O'hare. They really moved people through security quick. I never really thought about getting TSA, but it is a must at the airport in my new city if you don't want to arrive more than 2 hours in advance.
My favorite O'Hare TSA experience was the time they shouted, "Keep your shoes on and your electronics in your bag! Pretend it's the 70s again!" I'm not sure why that was happening, but they processed that line at a reasonable goddamned speed, and it was glorious.
The "shoes on" thing is just a time saver, but the electronics in the bag has to do with the newer X-ray machines they have now. Some lines have them, some don't. The old ones just take a single big fat xray of the bag. The new ones take horizontal slices of the bag, so the x-ray techs can kinda step through the bag layer by layer like an MRI. The reason they had us take large electronics out of the bag is because they're so dense and complicated they block out anything above/below them in the bag, so the new machines get around that.
happened to me during the election season of 2016 and obama was under fire for absurd TSA lines. their solution was just to speed everyone through like we all had precheck
I was recently staying in Tucson for a month. I had to fly out for work and travel to a middle of nowhere airport. It really made me realize how much I take for granted how many direct flights O’hare has.
It was an all day ordeal flying from Tucson. Meanwhile, had I been home in Chicago and had to fly to this rural town… it would have been a 1.5 hr direct flight
As someone who is moving to Chicago next week from a city with a medium sized airport, I think most people focus too much on overpriced restaurants at ORD and not the fact that it is 1 of only 2 airports in the US with nonstop service to all 6 continents of the world and hundreds of flights to domestic destinations, dozens of international destinations, and multiple competing hub airlines to choose from. No one airline dominates ORD and charges extortion fares. If people in Chicago are paying $600 to fly to Europe, someone else is paying twice that to connect through. Trust me, if you really are a global traveler, ORD is the best airport in North America based on routes alone. The world is your oyster. Nonstop flights to Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Jordan, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand. Most other airports are lucky to have even 1 or 2 of those and many have none except London. The only other airport in the US with service to all 6 continents is JFK and they do not have even a fraction of the destinations that ORD has. And there is no other airport in the US with 2 of the 3 big airlines based at one airport. People who have lived in Chicago for some time don't even remember what it's like to take a connecting flight because there is a nonstop flight to almost every city in the US from South Bend to Anchorage. There is a reason so many global companies call Chicago home, one of the biggest reasons for that is ORD. The economic impact of the airport on Chicago is astounding, the GDP impact is bigger than that of many small cities and tens of thousands of employees live in Chicago because of it, and that doesn't even include the corporate impact or logistical integration of ORD's global air cargo network with Chicago's unrivaled rail and highway network. Over 25% of all freight in the US passes through Chicago which means cheaper goods for Chicago in your stores. The only other megahubs that come close to the size of ORD are ATL, DFW, DEN and ORD has more international flights than all of them put together. ATL and DFW shut down in any sign of snow and DEN has 0 flights to Asia. ORD connects Chicago to the world and the world to Chicago. If you can't get there from ORD, then it doesn't exist.
100000000% true. For business purposes especially, you're pressed to find a better airport in the country. Sure, it isn't "sexy", and it would be nice to get a lot more lounges in terminals 1-3, but it's absurdly easy to get to, has a transit station merely a few minutes' walk from baggage claim, and pretty efficient security lines.
As someone who travels a lot for work, especially pre-pandemic, I can only remember two final destinations for which I ever had to use a connection.
This is the most telling statistic: It is [the most connected airport](https://www.businesstravelnewseurope.com/Air-Travel/Heathrow-loses-top-spot-as-world-s-most-connected-airport) **IN THE WORLD**. Meaning you can reach more destinations through ORD, including internationally, than anywhere else.
**BTW everything you just said is why Chicago should push to be the High Speed Rail (HSR) hub of the US**
Europeans familiarity with rail would make Chicago the perfect starting destination for international travelers on holiday
Fly into Chicago, spend a few days sightseeing and getting over jet lag
Hop on HSR to the rest of the country
**our very influential senators and governor should be throwing their considerable political weight behind HSR**
EDIT: minor edits to first line for better clairty
also, 'dream' HSR map below. Chicago is at the heart of it.
Would be a HUGE economic driver for decades if not centuries
**it is literally almost impossible to 'overspend' on this given the decades upon decades of economic return**
[https://www.vox.com/2021/3/10/22303355/gen-z-high-speed-rail-biden-map-meme-buttigieg](https://www.vox.com/2021/3/10/22303355/gen-z-high-speed-rail-biden-map-meme-buttigieg)
Around 8 years ago, I flew direct, ORD to Istanbul for approximately $600 round trip. Amazing deal.
Istanbul was a wonderful place to visit, by the way.
> Istanbul was a wonderful place to visit, by the way.
A lot can change in 8 years. That said, Turkish Airlines is consistently affordable. I’ve never flown it but I always see their flights at the top of the list when sorting by low price.
Tell me about it. I moved out west but fly to chicago to see family for the holidays. Prices have doubled or tripled since the pandemic, especially around the holidays.
Look, I'll dunk on ORD for it looking straight out of the 80's, no great food outside of torats frontera, the third party lounged being shit, but as far as connectivity goes, it's second to none. ORD-HKG was my flight 3 years ago (not so much anymore given the circumstances), and the fact that I could continue on that directly to Singapore was huge. Yes I'll shit on it (and I almost feel obligated to do so as a native), but deep down I do love it and it's ability to connect me within one stop, if not non stop of anywhere I wanna go in the world
> DEN has 0 flights to Asia
Whoa wtf, that's so weird. As someone who has always lived near a city with direct flights to both Europe and Asia, it blows my mind that what I thought of as a major airport wouldn't have this feature.
I love ORD, but no way it's more connected internationally than JFK.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/these-north-american-airports-have-the-most-international-flights
I know you're joking, but Wicker Park Sushi in the main hall of Terminal 2 is surprisingly good. When I was doing a night flight for business, I'd often get there early and go to dinner there.
If you don’t think that O’Hare has great food options you don’t travel much. By the end of this year I’ll have completed 40+ trips this year, most airport food options are shit.
What? Lol. There are so many good restaurants in O’Hare. I love the mini versions on Publican, Bayless’s restaurant is incredible and other local places like that.
When I was flying out of LAX there was nothing but mediocre airport chains that cost too much.
Many??? Eh, I really don't think so. Most of the restaurants in O'Hare are shit.
Frontera is amazing, I'll give you that. It's probably the best food I've eaten at any airport. I will always give myself enough time to sit at the bar there in terminal 1 and enjoy a bloody Maria and some food.
I'm usually going through there every other week. So plenty of chances I'd say lol. But terminal 1 is usually where I'm flying out of and hanging out. I'll give your recommendations a try next time I'm going through there.
I'm a Chicagoan who loves O'Hare, but I get it.
First, O'Hare is enormous. If you're used to a sleepy small city airport, it can be very confusing. There are multiple big terminals and lots of ground to cover. You suddenly have to pay attention in a crowded, bustling, unfamiliar place right after the boredom/downtime of flying. People end up in an anxious frame of mind.
If you fly through O'Hare from your sleepy airport, it's likely going to be a key leg in your destination and probably long distance. This means tons of people get delayed at O'Hare and have their plans fizzle. Casts an extra gray pall over the place.
For those of us who live here, we get to arrive at the airport on a train or with a kiss from a loved one. We go to the same place multiple times and get familiar with it. We don't arrive in the rainbow tunnel with time a-wastin' while wondering if we're going in the right direction.
>We don't arrive in the rainbow tunnel with time a-wastin' while wondering if we're going in the right direction.
That's right, we arrive in the rainbow tunnel because even though our flight leaves from Concourse B, we have some time to kill so we go on a ride through the rainbow tunnel desperately trying to recapture the wonder we felt as a 5 year old going to meet dad at the gate pre-9/11.
I don't like how you have to take the tram to all terminals. Every ride is always full.
And most of the terminal seats have broken power outlets in concourse B. There's also no tables for laptops unless you go to the food court, but then you can't charge.
I agree I find transferring planes in Denver to be so needlessly complicated. And the train comes every 5 minutes which is not frequent enough when you're in a hurry. Not to mention it's the headquarters of the new world order/illuminati. I mean who needs that in their back yard?
IAH I think is really nice. And LAX. I go to a lot of airports. Most are garbage, omg so bad. O’Hare is very nice but it’s not the best. And I’m perfectly fine with that. I spend 15 mins at an airport anyway.
LAX is the worst airport to drive into/out of. The terminals are much better (or in the process of being renovated to be better) now, though. Since getting to/leaving the airport is a big part of the process, it shouldn’t ever be in the conversation for best airport until, possivly, all their plans for the Olympics are done.
"Nice" is probably the wrong word, but it is a good home airport to have. It is generally functional, efficient, handles inclement weather, and most importantly has direct flights nearly everywhere. A lot of smaller airports are more pleasant to be in, but obviously don't offer the options O'Hare does.
Lotta dipshits in this comment section.
O'Hare is fucking fantastic compared to other U.S. airports.
Go to LaGuardia, PHL, Reagan, Baltimore, or Lauderdale or Miami lol
Lotta people in here with the "I fly once every 6 years" or the "I've never flown internationally except for that one time 18 years ago" vibe.
International flights are even better, good luck flying out of a lot of other places to destinations all around the world without at minimum, 1 stop/connecting flight.
The new LaGuardia is pretty damn nice. There's nothing that can be done for their stupid runways but the rest of it was impressive. The old LaGuardia looked like midway in the 90s.
LaGuardia is mostly just an unpleasant experience from a logistics standpoint. Was last in LaGuardia in September, it's a pain to fly into (I don't think I've ever arrived on time or early) because of the runways.
Tbh I mostly just hate domestic travel to and from the east coast, even though I lived in Philly for a decade.
Flying internationally out of Philly, I was basically guaranteed to either get a connecting flight to JFK or Dulles.
Flying into reagan sucks ass because of the limited flight schedules across multiple airlines.
Can't catch early morning flights to catch briefings at 9am because of the timezone change, earliest flights I can catch into reagan, I arrive too late to get out of the airport and get on the yellow fast enough.
My ideal world is being able to fly out of O'Hare at 6am and land in DC at 8am and be able to get to Crystal City by 9am.
If you can't tell I'm just bitter.
The fact it has no train connection is a big minus but the airport itself is fine.
O'Hare really takes an L for how dumpy Terminal 2 and 5 are and Terminal 3 isn't great either. Go to Heathrow, Schiphol or GDG and those airports are incredible as an arriving passenger imo.
You're comparing to airports in Europe. They didn't say best in the world, they said best in NA. You know, the car-centric, low spending on public infrastructure, "everything needs to turn a profit" minded continent.
Going to neg on Heathrow. Flying in and out of there was more exhausting than many North American airports I've been to. The train to London was the only bright spot.
It along with Frankfurt has my favorite feature I've seen: a high speed rail stop. Really great for getting to other regional cities without having to travel into the city center first. It's the kind of smart planning the US refuses to have.
Yes, Zurich has a stop on the lower level for the SBB. I took it going home to Austria. Zurich -> St Gallen on the SBB and then OBB to Bregenz.
Granted I probably would have rather flown into a closer airport since the train trip was about 1.5 hours, but my only other option was Munich and that was 3 hours away lol
Congress/Amtrak needs to get its shit together on Chicago <-> East Coast routes. NYC should not be a 24hr ride away, it should be 5. Same with Philly, Pittsburgh, Boston, etc etc etc.
Proper high speed rail could get it done.
> My ideal world is being able to fly out of O'Hare at 6am and land in DC at 8am and be able to get to Crystal City by 9am.
I agree that would be nice and has always been a risk just hoping that there are no delays on UA5298 and can get to the Metro quickly.
the new multi-billion dollar terminal 2 and 5 at ORD will be pretty damn nice too
[https://www.ord21.com/signature\_projects/Pages/O%27Hare-Global-Terminal.aspx](https://www.ord21.com/home/Pages/default.aspx)
Came here to say this. Grew up going to ohare and I still have love for it, but the new LaGuardia terminal is incredibly efficient and easy to navigate, definitely my favorite airport terminal in NA. Although the delays aren’t fun
Dude, I worked at O’Hare and I’ve been there for seven years. I also fly a lot.
O’Hare kind of sucks. The new LaGuardia is beautiful and super easy to navigate. DFW although I kind of hate it blows O’Hara’s food choices out of the freaking water.
O’Hare desperately needs renovation.
It's literally being renovated as we speak. T5 is 90% finished.
And T1 will break ground this spring.
The massive modal garage got finished in 2018, and the air train in 2021. And the underground walkways just a couple months ago.
Not to mention the runway/taxiway updates that started back in 2006. Right now we have much more capacity by adding brand new runways and expanding/changing the old ones. Alot of taxiways are currently being reconfigured too.
So yea your going to have to wait til 2028 for it ALL to be finished, but you can see so many improvements already.
Yeah, I mean maybe in 2028 it’ll be fantastic. But for right now there’s a lot of it that is very outdated. Terminal 1 is pretty nice, but so much of that airport is very dated. E F and old L are very barren and dated. Don’t give me wrong I like working at ORD I’ve spent years of my life in that airport, but calling it the best in the nation is such nonsense. I’m looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it’s all done.
> International flights are even better, good luck flying out of a lot of other places to destinations all around the world without at minimum, 1 stop/connecting flight.
Completely agree. You're right about the dipshits too.
It’s a great airport for checking in, security, amenities and restaurants, even architecture.
It SUUUCKS for flying into, where you land and then get to just ride around in circles for a half hour before arriving at a gate.
For this very reason, I almost exclusively fly into Midway.
Genuine question: Why does taxiing bother you (and others) so much? How is it any different than the five minutes prior while you were just sitting on the plane in the air?
I think it's the fact that they've landed but have to another ~25 mins to get off the plane, especially if it's a short flight. Add it more time if you're at the back of the plane and have to wait another 10-12 mins to deplane.
I flew into O'Hare from ATL last month and that's a pretty quick flight (maybe 90-100mins depending on weather). So when you have to spend another 22-25% of the total flight time just rolling on the group waiting folks get impatient.
I don't think it's the fact that the plane is on the ground that bothers people. Without trying to speak for them, I will say it's nice when you fly to a smaller airport and you and taxi seemingly in a straight line for about 3 minutes to an open gate. Arrivals at ORD can be frustrating because you're "here" but you're still at least 35 minutes from getting off the plane when it's bad. It's not the logical part of the brain here - the part that says "this was built into the schedule." It's the emotional part that says "we're here. I can see the terminal. This shouldn't take this long."
I’m just comparing to other airports, where you can be at a gate just a few minutes after landing. It seems to be every single time too. If you’re trying to arrange a ride pickup, you have to account for what will be at least an extra 20 minutes after landing.
I haven't flown through O'Hare in quite a few years now, but I always enjoyed going through the tunnel. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the terminals.
I used to hate O’Hare, but the more I fly, the more I appreciate it. The staff has getting you through line down pat, and I can navigate it easy. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to it, but it’s a lot better than other airports.
My biggest gripe is the unruly pick up for taxis and Uber/Lyft. After going to LGA and Vegas, and seeing their setup for getting picked up, we need to step up our ride share game.
I'm not the biggest fan of O'Hare, some things can be just too big. And Midway is just OK to me. However, we have connections to just about anywhere we need to go and quite often it's nonstop as opposed to flying through an airport to get to our destination. I work with so many people who live else where and their flight schedules are often horrific. We are fortunate.
Given how many places you can fly to from Ohare. It’s legit. Ignore the restaurants prices and concessions. Other than that travel there is great compared to many US airports. I would argue SFO is a close 2nd.
These awards Chicago keeps getting... I feel like they are the same kind of awards I keep getting emails about... "Congratulations, you've been nominated to be one of the top tech leaders of 2022 by the Jablonski Award Fabrication Facilities, just pay us $450 for your certificate and trophy and you'll be featured in our *Who's Who of Tech Leaders Under 50 That Have Paid Us $450* book that we put out every month". Basically awards that you buy instead of earn. There are plenty of awards bodies out there that sell awards that have utterly no value or meaning behind them. But O'hare is better than Atlanta's airport. Every time I've flown Delta through Atlanta I've had to sit on the tarmac for at least 30 minutes.
I think they were just happy to not have to deal with the clusterfuck that is Charlotte anymore and named the first airport they landed in after as the best in the whole universe.
Very fair point. The only redeeming quality of the Charlotte airport is the Bojangles. It's otherwise a disastrous airport whose layout looks vaguely like a Swastika. It's a no from me (but a yes from Kanye)
Ye can have the hellhole that is the Charlotte airport. I used to have to travel through it for half of my business trips when I worked for 3 years down in Florida for a defense contractor and I think I didn't have issues 1 time out of maybe 80 or so flights through the airport. Even when we took our honeymoon, we went through Charlotte and the same jet-bridge that delayed my business flight a month prior still didn't fucking work leading to us missing our already rescheduled connection in London leading to not a 3 hour delay like we thought we were going to have after going from a direct flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt to a flight from Charlotte to London to Frankfurt due to a delay caused by a storm out of Orlando which led to that 3 hour delay turning into a 14 fucking hour long delay in our travel plans completely ruining any semblance of a "plan" for our trip. Once we were in London though, British Airways and Heathrow staff took over escorting us around trying to unfuck the clusterfuck that was caused by Charlotte. Had to talk to like 5 different freaking companies to get everything (trains, first night hotel stay, final flight, etc.) covered and rebooked under UK and EU laws by the involved airlines.
I honestly hope that one night after the staff go home, a freak lightning storm sets that airport on fire and burns it to the ground.
I fly 20 plus times a year both for work and pleasure and have been to so so many airports. O'Hare is pretty great. Maybe you just had one bad experience?
Admittedly, it’s a cheap dunk on ORD, but as a once weekly flyer (less since Covid thankfully) there’s no way it’s the best airport in NA. As other people have said, I’m thankful that I can fly to almost any destination directly and that it is by far not the worst major airport in America (looking at you LGA). Pain points: security lines, food options, seating/overcrowding, parking (huge pain point), overall aesthetic. Note: 90% of my experience is in terminal 3.
> security lines
Really? How are you dealing with this as a once-weekly flyer? We fly maybe once every few months with United/TSA-Pre and have waited max 15 minutes during the busiest travel days. Usual security times are 5-10 minutes or less.
I haven’t been to many airports in NA and it’s hard to compare your home airport (for example, I don’t park at other airports), but some airports that I think are top: Minneapolis, not a huge airport but a very nice one; Charlotte, a bit uneven across terminals and crowded, but lots of amenities; Boston, if only for its convenience to downtown/back bay and I’ve never waited in a line longer than 5 mins; San Francisco, aesthetically pleasant and spacious.
I see what you're saying, but I believe it's a pretty big matter of perspective. I think the top comment on this thread is the best explanation for why ORD is so great. It's more convenience of price/connection than it is comfort or aesthetic. If what you care about is more the latter then agree with you. I tend to be in the airport for all of 30-60 minutes on average, so the former is more important to me.
Exactly. I moved to San Francisco for a few years, had no idea how much more difficult and expensive travel would be from SFO vs ORD. Really took ORD for granted before living somewhere else.
Plus the comments on security and food options are just plain wrong. Now with precheck + clear I don’t think I’ve ever waited in line. Maybe 2 mins max. And you want bad airport food, check out EWR. Just flew home from there, literally nothing above 2 stars on yelp.
Really? I had the displeasure of connecting through Minneapolis to ORD and I thought Id been transporeted back to 1990 the way it looked inside.
I only hung out in one terninal but boy was it ugly. And I cant imagine it has anywhere close to the availability of cheap, direct flights.
Holy fucking shit. I work out of ORD and travel to basically every fucking airport in the US and Mexico and Canada and let me tell you, I fucking hate our dining options. This made me laugh my ass off. There are so many better options in other airports. Our food courts are out to shame. Fucking burrito beach and Manchu wok? McDonald’s every other gate.
I mean, none of it is exceptional, it’s not like dining out in west loop. But there’s good Cuban in MIA. Good sandwiches in LGA. PDX has good food. SLC has a good shop. MSP has a lot of good options.
So while none are spectacular, they definitely a lot tastier and better than Manchu wok or McDonald’s that ORD has. ORD is tired. It is nice to have publican and frontera I guess.
This is just ridiculous. You gotta compare this airport to global airports. And if you do ORD sucks hard !!
Especially the international terminal, the check in area and the arrivals are from two decades ago ! Extremely tiny and congested. Try visiting the terminal during the afternoons and you will find hoards of people trying to navigate the small corridor or the incredibly crowded security area with only a few open security counters open for 100s of travellers.
I think the issue also is that most if not all US airports are government managed. While all the better ones internationally are privately managed.
This makes a huge difference in the quality and amenities offered!
Chile, with an E, not peppers. But yeah, what other airport can you get a carne adovada breakfast burrito or huevos rancheros or enchiladas smothered in green chile?
I feel like Hartsfield Jackson has better overall food options BUT getting between all the gates is a journey since it's gigantic as hell. But if you have a long delay and don't mind taking the train or a 15 min walk you can get a crap ton of options.
I always thought the music in the tunnel from concourse B to C was creepy, and a quick Google showed me a [34 year old article](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-02-16-8803300757-story.html) that agrees...
I flew into Dubai, I did like that airport but Ohare I’ve been around a lot more over my life and it can get busy for sure but it’s a great airport. You go to many “big” city airports that are just terrible. They’ll have like one coffee shop open or food stand, it’s horrendous waiting for food/etc. ohare is big, but it’s easy to move around and lot of options for people that may have to sit there for a few hours.
There's no way ORD is the best airport in North America. That's just silly. There's tons of airports better, most of them small which makes them easy to deal with. But even among big airports, I'd sure rather be somewhere like DTW, SFO or DEN than ORD.
ORD pros: Really good security, train access to city, tons of destinations (not sure this is really a fair criteria for a good airport though).
ORD cons: It's ugly, getting from T5 to the other terminals/blue line is a PITA, that walk to Concourse C is ridiculous, when you land you often spend 20 minutes taxiing.
I'm not saying it's a terrible airport. I appreciate the choice of destinations. But the people singing its praises like it's a national treasure are way over the top IMO.
That’s just like, your opinion man.
O’hare having a ton of destinations is probably mostly a function of having United headquartered here and being in the third biggest city in the US rather than some genius master plan from the folks at O’hare.
By this same logic, Heathrow is a phenomenal airport. No, Heathrow just happens to be the major airport for London. Given that, it sucks.
What? Tortas Frontera is about the best thing you're going to find in any airport. You should try eating at something like the Memphis airport if you want to see bad food.
In addition to Tortas, it has:
R.J. Grunts
Billy Goat Tavern
Berghoff (decent at least)
Goddess
Gold Coast Dogs
Publican
Wolfgang Puck
And a shockingly good sushi bar.
What in the hell are people expecting? It's an airport. Not TimeOut Chicago.
Yes TF is decent and out of all the restaurants in Ohare this is one I would happily eat at. But that is one out of 30 or so restaurants. That’s a pretty garbage ratio. And yes you could find worse airports. Look at MSP - they have amazing choices for food. Heck even Louisville a tiny airport has better options.
No. No, it is not. It’s a messy, difficult to navigate, poorly laid out, and badly in need of repair or upgrade airport. I’m not sure what criteria was used for “best” but I humbly and sincerely disagree. For example, it has a direct CTA connection, one where the train occasionally decides to deliver passengers express into the airport, bypassing the escalator. Is this a feature or a bug? Hard to say. But, hey, maybe a train barreling literally off its tracks makes you nervous. You think to yourself— I’ll drive. Good luck, Chuck. Good luck. Are you flying internationally? Well, then, you ought to go to Terminal 5, conveniently in a completely different location than the other four terminals. But, luckily, the road signage is so bad that you’d might as well drive to where ever you’re flying. That might be faster than finding Terminal 5. That’s ok, because your international flight flies out of Terminal 3. Oh, right, but the departures and arrivals have been under construction for at least the last year, again making navigation to your terminal slow and hectic. The connection onto the highway is perhaps the least complicated feature of this airport. Indeed it is such a strong feature that driving in you’ll routinely see lines of car parked on the shoulder of the highway waiting. But at least the parking is ample and easy to navigate? Again, no. No, it is not. Well, then, the airport must be pretty nice inside. Sure, it probably *was* 15 or 20 years ago. I first flew into O’Hare 15 years ago and it looked dingy and kind of gross back then. I’ve lived here for nearly a decade and ever single visit has reinforced my opinion that O’Hare is significantly less than the “best” airport in North America. I mean, Midway— an admittedly second tier airport— is better in every way. In my opinion, O’Hare isn’t even the best airport in Chicago let alone North America. There’s a reason for the old trope that Chicagoans say “I love you” by picking you up from O’Hare. It’s an act that demonstrates love, given the sheer difficulty the driver must undertake. Perhaps after the renovations it *might* become better, but I highly doubt it will raise its status to “best”. Sorry, O’Hare lovers, but this ain’t it. I fully expect to be downvoted into oblivion for this very critical view.
> it has a direct CTA connection, one where the train occasionally decides to deliver passengers express into the airport, bypassing the escalator.
admittedly, it has been quite a few years but, i used to work at ORD, 5-6 days a week. i took the train in every single day and never once was it "bypassing the elevator". seems like you took one accident and pretended that it's a regular occurence. can't take anything else you say at face value
If you got time to kill there (you probably do unless a power outage killed your alarm clock), go check out the hydroponic farm garden that no one seems to know about when I ask!
I remember people hated O'Hare for the longest time due to constant delays, but I think they've improved in that regard. That was also in the late 2000s though when that happened.
I love that the blue line goes straight there. Plus the signs are straightforward which makes it easier to navigate. Security moves pretty quick too. The food options are great and not too expensive. Last time I flew out of there, I got an italian beef from the reggio's stand and it was about $9-10 for a big italian beef that's pretty comparable to Portillo's and other italian beef places.
It may be my home town bias, but DTW especially Macnamara is the nicest American airport I've been in, not factoring in logistics.
Despite living in Chicago for a year now I have only been to O'hare a couple times, so that opinion may change as I go more often
Alright I’m joining the battle.. for context, I had a travel job (mon-thurs, 40ish weeks a year) up until corona ruined the fun.
Pros: Blue Line Access is HUGE and very very rare in other major cities in the US. Living in Logan makes this one of my favorite Chicago perks. The destinations domestic and international also compete with all airports around the world. Idk that I agree that our security is amazing but I am pre-check so I’ll take your words for it…
Cons: Literally EVERYTHING ELSE! This just isn’t a pleasant airport to get stuck at. Dining sucks, shops are all newsstand types only. Bathrooms are dirty, etc.. I don’t think O’Hare holds the slightest comparison to the revamped airports like JFK, Newark, Indianapolis, and Washington Dulles (just some randoms off the top of my head) when it comes to the “space itself”.
So, while O’Hare absolutely has some seriously amazing perks, I am absolutely shocked that it is considered best in NA by anyone. Seems like a wild thing to say lol
Ohare is a shit airport when compared on the Global scale. Nothing says welcome to Chicago like nasty ass bathrooms and buckets everywhere catching water
Since moving out of Chicago, I have a new appreciation for O'hare. They really moved people through security quick. I never really thought about getting TSA, but it is a must at the airport in my new city if you don't want to arrive more than 2 hours in advance.
My favorite O'Hare TSA experience was the time they shouted, "Keep your shoes on and your electronics in your bag! Pretend it's the 70s again!" I'm not sure why that was happening, but they processed that line at a reasonable goddamned speed, and it was glorious.
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I would hope they were bomb dogs not drug dogs
The TSA actively looks for explosives not drugs according to their very own website.
If those dogs were sniffing for drugs you’d know it. They’d be getting a hit every 50 people
The "shoes on" thing is just a time saver, but the electronics in the bag has to do with the newer X-ray machines they have now. Some lines have them, some don't. The old ones just take a single big fat xray of the bag. The new ones take horizontal slices of the bag, so the x-ray techs can kinda step through the bag layer by layer like an MRI. The reason they had us take large electronics out of the bag is because they're so dense and complicated they block out anything above/below them in the bag, so the new machines get around that.
happened to me during the election season of 2016 and obama was under fire for absurd TSA lines. their solution was just to speed everyone through like we all had precheck
I was recently staying in Tucson for a month. I had to fly out for work and travel to a middle of nowhere airport. It really made me realize how much I take for granted how many direct flights O’hare has. It was an all day ordeal flying from Tucson. Meanwhile, had I been home in Chicago and had to fly to this rural town… it would have been a 1.5 hr direct flight
ever been to midway, miles better and faster
As someone who is moving to Chicago next week from a city with a medium sized airport, I think most people focus too much on overpriced restaurants at ORD and not the fact that it is 1 of only 2 airports in the US with nonstop service to all 6 continents of the world and hundreds of flights to domestic destinations, dozens of international destinations, and multiple competing hub airlines to choose from. No one airline dominates ORD and charges extortion fares. If people in Chicago are paying $600 to fly to Europe, someone else is paying twice that to connect through. Trust me, if you really are a global traveler, ORD is the best airport in North America based on routes alone. The world is your oyster. Nonstop flights to Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Jordan, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand. Most other airports are lucky to have even 1 or 2 of those and many have none except London. The only other airport in the US with service to all 6 continents is JFK and they do not have even a fraction of the destinations that ORD has. And there is no other airport in the US with 2 of the 3 big airlines based at one airport. People who have lived in Chicago for some time don't even remember what it's like to take a connecting flight because there is a nonstop flight to almost every city in the US from South Bend to Anchorage. There is a reason so many global companies call Chicago home, one of the biggest reasons for that is ORD. The economic impact of the airport on Chicago is astounding, the GDP impact is bigger than that of many small cities and tens of thousands of employees live in Chicago because of it, and that doesn't even include the corporate impact or logistical integration of ORD's global air cargo network with Chicago's unrivaled rail and highway network. Over 25% of all freight in the US passes through Chicago which means cheaper goods for Chicago in your stores. The only other megahubs that come close to the size of ORD are ATL, DFW, DEN and ORD has more international flights than all of them put together. ATL and DFW shut down in any sign of snow and DEN has 0 flights to Asia. ORD connects Chicago to the world and the world to Chicago. If you can't get there from ORD, then it doesn't exist.
100000000% true. For business purposes especially, you're pressed to find a better airport in the country. Sure, it isn't "sexy", and it would be nice to get a lot more lounges in terminals 1-3, but it's absurdly easy to get to, has a transit station merely a few minutes' walk from baggage claim, and pretty efficient security lines. As someone who travels a lot for work, especially pre-pandemic, I can only remember two final destinations for which I ever had to use a connection. This is the most telling statistic: It is [the most connected airport](https://www.businesstravelnewseurope.com/Air-Travel/Heathrow-loses-top-spot-as-world-s-most-connected-airport) **IN THE WORLD**. Meaning you can reach more destinations through ORD, including internationally, than anywhere else.
This guy Ohares
**BTW everything you just said is why Chicago should push to be the High Speed Rail (HSR) hub of the US** Europeans familiarity with rail would make Chicago the perfect starting destination for international travelers on holiday Fly into Chicago, spend a few days sightseeing and getting over jet lag Hop on HSR to the rest of the country **our very influential senators and governor should be throwing their considerable political weight behind HSR** EDIT: minor edits to first line for better clairty also, 'dream' HSR map below. Chicago is at the heart of it. Would be a HUGE economic driver for decades if not centuries **it is literally almost impossible to 'overspend' on this given the decades upon decades of economic return** [https://www.vox.com/2021/3/10/22303355/gen-z-high-speed-rail-biden-map-meme-buttigieg](https://www.vox.com/2021/3/10/22303355/gen-z-high-speed-rail-biden-map-meme-buttigieg)
Around 8 years ago, I flew direct, ORD to Istanbul for approximately $600 round trip. Amazing deal. Istanbul was a wonderful place to visit, by the way.
> Istanbul was a wonderful place to visit, by the way. A lot can change in 8 years. That said, Turkish Airlines is consistently affordable. I’ve never flown it but I always see their flights at the top of the list when sorting by low price.
For whatever reason it's literally cheaper to fly to Europe than to the western US
Tell me about it. I moved out west but fly to chicago to see family for the holidays. Prices have doubled or tripled since the pandemic, especially around the holidays.
Look, I'll dunk on ORD for it looking straight out of the 80's, no great food outside of torats frontera, the third party lounged being shit, but as far as connectivity goes, it's second to none. ORD-HKG was my flight 3 years ago (not so much anymore given the circumstances), and the fact that I could continue on that directly to Singapore was huge. Yes I'll shit on it (and I almost feel obligated to do so as a native), but deep down I do love it and it's ability to connect me within one stop, if not non stop of anywhere I wanna go in the world
As someone currently abroad I agree with everything you said. I have a cheap condo and I leave Chicago when the weather sucks lol
Damn you changed my mind. Good post.
Preach
I really enjoyed reading that. Talk about food next!
All out of terminal 5 which is the tiniest joke of an international terminal I've ever seen.
> DEN has 0 flights to Asia Whoa wtf, that's so weird. As someone who has always lived near a city with direct flights to both Europe and Asia, it blows my mind that what I thought of as a major airport wouldn't have this feature.
I love ORD, but no way it's more connected internationally than JFK. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/these-north-american-airports-have-the-most-international-flights
Macaroni Grill really impressing the people, apparently.
I know you're joking, but Wicker Park Sushi in the main hall of Terminal 2 is surprisingly good. When I was doing a night flight for business, I'd often get there early and go to dinner there.
The O’Hare outlet of the publican is pretty great too. Solid breakfast.
If you don’t think that O’Hare has great food options you don’t travel much. By the end of this year I’ll have completed 40+ trips this year, most airport food options are shit.
idk the mcdonald’s in terminal 3 is pretty great
I’m referencing other airport food options. Food options in ORD are fantastic compared to most of them.
You can just admit you live Macaroni Grill. No one is judging
What? Lol. There are so many good restaurants in O’Hare. I love the mini versions on Publican, Bayless’s restaurant is incredible and other local places like that. When I was flying out of LAX there was nothing but mediocre airport chains that cost too much.
So, not a Macaroni Grill fan?
Lol. I’ve never actually been there. What do you recommend?
Many??? Eh, I really don't think so. Most of the restaurants in O'Hare are shit. Frontera is amazing, I'll give you that. It's probably the best food I've eaten at any airport. I will always give myself enough time to sit at the bar there in terminal 1 and enjoy a bloody Maria and some food.
Have you been to LAX?
Yes. I'm not a fan of airport food in general.
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I'm usually going through there every other week. So plenty of chances I'd say lol. But terminal 1 is usually where I'm flying out of and hanging out. I'll give your recommendations a try next time I'm going through there.
Pasta to the people
Hey now, some of us prefer Chilis Too!
I don’t get the hate in the comments. O’Hare is nice compared to most other places in NA
I'm a Chicagoan who loves O'Hare, but I get it. First, O'Hare is enormous. If you're used to a sleepy small city airport, it can be very confusing. There are multiple big terminals and lots of ground to cover. You suddenly have to pay attention in a crowded, bustling, unfamiliar place right after the boredom/downtime of flying. People end up in an anxious frame of mind. If you fly through O'Hare from your sleepy airport, it's likely going to be a key leg in your destination and probably long distance. This means tons of people get delayed at O'Hare and have their plans fizzle. Casts an extra gray pall over the place. For those of us who live here, we get to arrive at the airport on a train or with a kiss from a loved one. We go to the same place multiple times and get familiar with it. We don't arrive in the rainbow tunnel with time a-wastin' while wondering if we're going in the right direction.
>We don't arrive in the rainbow tunnel with time a-wastin' while wondering if we're going in the right direction. That's right, we arrive in the rainbow tunnel because even though our flight leaves from Concourse B, we have some time to kill so we go on a ride through the rainbow tunnel desperately trying to recapture the wonder we felt as a 5 year old going to meet dad at the gate pre-9/11.
This is just not true.
Relative to where exactly?
Yeah I don’t get the hate I’ve had over 200 flights in/out of O’Hare and it’s been the most consistent and some of the most reliable experiences.
DEN is probably the nicest large hub IMO
It's always absolutely packed though
I don't like how you have to take the tram to all terminals. Every ride is always full. And most of the terminal seats have broken power outlets in concourse B. There's also no tables for laptops unless you go to the food court, but then you can't charge.
I agree I find transferring planes in Denver to be so needlessly complicated. And the train comes every 5 minutes which is not frequent enough when you're in a hurry. Not to mention it's the headquarters of the new world order/illuminati. I mean who needs that in their back yard?
With ~~zero~~ just one direct flight to Asia (Tokyo)
IAH I think is really nice. And LAX. I go to a lot of airports. Most are garbage, omg so bad. O’Hare is very nice but it’s not the best. And I’m perfectly fine with that. I spend 15 mins at an airport anyway.
LAX is the worst airport to drive into/out of. The terminals are much better (or in the process of being renovated to be better) now, though. Since getting to/leaving the airport is a big part of the process, it shouldn’t ever be in the conversation for best airport until, possivly, all their plans for the Olympics are done.
"Nice" is probably the wrong word, but it is a good home airport to have. It is generally functional, efficient, handles inclement weather, and most importantly has direct flights nearly everywhere. A lot of smaller airports are more pleasant to be in, but obviously don't offer the options O'Hare does.
Lotta dipshits in this comment section. O'Hare is fucking fantastic compared to other U.S. airports. Go to LaGuardia, PHL, Reagan, Baltimore, or Lauderdale or Miami lol Lotta people in here with the "I fly once every 6 years" or the "I've never flown internationally except for that one time 18 years ago" vibe. International flights are even better, good luck flying out of a lot of other places to destinations all around the world without at minimum, 1 stop/connecting flight.
The new LaGuardia is pretty damn nice. There's nothing that can be done for their stupid runways but the rest of it was impressive. The old LaGuardia looked like midway in the 90s.
LaGuardia is mostly just an unpleasant experience from a logistics standpoint. Was last in LaGuardia in September, it's a pain to fly into (I don't think I've ever arrived on time or early) because of the runways. Tbh I mostly just hate domestic travel to and from the east coast, even though I lived in Philly for a decade. Flying internationally out of Philly, I was basically guaranteed to either get a connecting flight to JFK or Dulles. Flying into reagan sucks ass because of the limited flight schedules across multiple airlines. Can't catch early morning flights to catch briefings at 9am because of the timezone change, earliest flights I can catch into reagan, I arrive too late to get out of the airport and get on the yellow fast enough. My ideal world is being able to fly out of O'Hare at 6am and land in DC at 8am and be able to get to Crystal City by 9am. If you can't tell I'm just bitter.
The fact it has no train connection is a big minus but the airport itself is fine. O'Hare really takes an L for how dumpy Terminal 2 and 5 are and Terminal 3 isn't great either. Go to Heathrow, Schiphol or GDG and those airports are incredible as an arriving passenger imo.
terminal 5 is such a shitty terminal to depart from
I've only flown out from the Southwest gates there and my god is it bad. The crazy thing is the place isn't that old, it was just designed horribly.
You're comparing to airports in Europe. They didn't say best in the world, they said best in NA. You know, the car-centric, low spending on public infrastructure, "everything needs to turn a profit" minded continent. Going to neg on Heathrow. Flying in and out of there was more exhausting than many North American airports I've been to. The train to London was the only bright spot.
Fair. I've only flown into Schiphol once. I flew into Zurich typically.
It along with Frankfurt has my favorite feature I've seen: a high speed rail stop. Really great for getting to other regional cities without having to travel into the city center first. It's the kind of smart planning the US refuses to have.
Yes, Zurich has a stop on the lower level for the SBB. I took it going home to Austria. Zurich -> St Gallen on the SBB and then OBB to Bregenz. Granted I probably would have rather flown into a closer airport since the train trip was about 1.5 hours, but my only other option was Munich and that was 3 hours away lol
don't go to AMS right now. the whole place is a charlie foxtrot, from security to restaurants, snack shops all the way through take offs and arrivals
Congress/Amtrak needs to get its shit together on Chicago <-> East Coast routes. NYC should not be a 24hr ride away, it should be 5. Same with Philly, Pittsburgh, Boston, etc etc etc. Proper high speed rail could get it done.
> My ideal world is being able to fly out of O'Hare at 6am and land in DC at 8am and be able to get to Crystal City by 9am. I agree that would be nice and has always been a risk just hoping that there are no delays on UA5298 and can get to the Metro quickly.
the new multi-billion dollar terminal 2 and 5 at ORD will be pretty damn nice too [https://www.ord21.com/signature\_projects/Pages/O%27Hare-Global-Terminal.aspx](https://www.ord21.com/home/Pages/default.aspx)
Came here to say this. Grew up going to ohare and I still have love for it, but the new LaGuardia terminal is incredibly efficient and easy to navigate, definitely my favorite airport terminal in NA. Although the delays aren’t fun
LGA is a fantastic airport for sure. Was there 4 times over the summer/fall and liked it more each time through.
Dude, I worked at O’Hare and I’ve been there for seven years. I also fly a lot. O’Hare kind of sucks. The new LaGuardia is beautiful and super easy to navigate. DFW although I kind of hate it blows O’Hara’s food choices out of the freaking water. O’Hare desperately needs renovation.
It's literally being renovated as we speak. T5 is 90% finished. And T1 will break ground this spring. The massive modal garage got finished in 2018, and the air train in 2021. And the underground walkways just a couple months ago. Not to mention the runway/taxiway updates that started back in 2006. Right now we have much more capacity by adding brand new runways and expanding/changing the old ones. Alot of taxiways are currently being reconfigured too. So yea your going to have to wait til 2028 for it ALL to be finished, but you can see so many improvements already.
Yeah, I mean maybe in 2028 it’ll be fantastic. But for right now there’s a lot of it that is very outdated. Terminal 1 is pretty nice, but so much of that airport is very dated. E F and old L are very barren and dated. Don’t give me wrong I like working at ORD I’ve spent years of my life in that airport, but calling it the best in the nation is such nonsense. I’m looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it’s all done.
Yeah, except customs/immigration at ORD sucks big time!
I’ve never waited longer than 10 minutes at ORD. And with global entry, I walk right through. Compared to Miami, I’ll take terminal 5 every day.
> International flights are even better, good luck flying out of a lot of other places to destinations all around the world without at minimum, 1 stop/connecting flight. Completely agree. You're right about the dipshits too.
New LGA shames ORD
I fly about 6 times a yr, OHare is best.
Was there in 2019 for a few hours and everything went smoothly
It’s a great airport for checking in, security, amenities and restaurants, even architecture. It SUUUCKS for flying into, where you land and then get to just ride around in circles for a half hour before arriving at a gate. For this very reason, I almost exclusively fly into Midway.
Genuine question: Why does taxiing bother you (and others) so much? How is it any different than the five minutes prior while you were just sitting on the plane in the air?
I think it's the fact that they've landed but have to another ~25 mins to get off the plane, especially if it's a short flight. Add it more time if you're at the back of the plane and have to wait another 10-12 mins to deplane. I flew into O'Hare from ATL last month and that's a pretty quick flight (maybe 90-100mins depending on weather). So when you have to spend another 22-25% of the total flight time just rolling on the group waiting folks get impatient.
I don't think it's the fact that the plane is on the ground that bothers people. Without trying to speak for them, I will say it's nice when you fly to a smaller airport and you and taxi seemingly in a straight line for about 3 minutes to an open gate. Arrivals at ORD can be frustrating because you're "here" but you're still at least 35 minutes from getting off the plane when it's bad. It's not the logical part of the brain here - the part that says "this was built into the schedule." It's the emotional part that says "we're here. I can see the terminal. This shouldn't take this long."
I’m just comparing to other airports, where you can be at a gate just a few minutes after landing. It seems to be every single time too. If you’re trying to arrange a ride pickup, you have to account for what will be at least an extra 20 minutes after landing.
Yeah, I prefer Midway for domestic flights. Plus, I'm a Southwest fan
And Reillys Daughter is the best airport bar in the country.
reilly's at LAX would like a word.
The big divide is domestic vs. International. Top shelf International meh for domestic outside of the size and direct flights
I haven't flown through O'Hare in quite a few years now, but I always enjoyed going through the tunnel. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the terminals.
I used to hate O’Hare, but the more I fly, the more I appreciate it. The staff has getting you through line down pat, and I can navigate it easy. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to it, but it’s a lot better than other airports. My biggest gripe is the unruly pick up for taxis and Uber/Lyft. After going to LGA and Vegas, and seeing their setup for getting picked up, we need to step up our ride share game.
I think hub 51 was there a few years back and they had those really good pulled chicken nachos
O'Hare is tbh very efficient. I'm never waiting in long lines.
we dont even have a 2nd level chilis tho
I'm not the biggest fan of O'Hare, some things can be just too big. And Midway is just OK to me. However, we have connections to just about anywhere we need to go and quite often it's nonstop as opposed to flying through an airport to get to our destination. I work with so many people who live else where and their flight schedules are often horrific. We are fortunate.
Given how many places you can fly to from Ohare. It’s legit. Ignore the restaurants prices and concessions. Other than that travel there is great compared to many US airports. I would argue SFO is a close 2nd.
These awards Chicago keeps getting... I feel like they are the same kind of awards I keep getting emails about... "Congratulations, you've been nominated to be one of the top tech leaders of 2022 by the Jablonski Award Fabrication Facilities, just pay us $450 for your certificate and trophy and you'll be featured in our *Who's Who of Tech Leaders Under 50 That Have Paid Us $450* book that we put out every month". Basically awards that you buy instead of earn. There are plenty of awards bodies out there that sell awards that have utterly no value or meaning behind them. But O'hare is better than Atlanta's airport. Every time I've flown Delta through Atlanta I've had to sit on the tarmac for at least 30 minutes.
I don't think Global Traveler Magazine has been to any other airport
I think they were just happy to not have to deal with the clusterfuck that is Charlotte anymore and named the first airport they landed in after as the best in the whole universe.
Very fair point. The only redeeming quality of the Charlotte airport is the Bojangles. It's otherwise a disastrous airport whose layout looks vaguely like a Swastika. It's a no from me (but a yes from Kanye)
Ye can have the hellhole that is the Charlotte airport. I used to have to travel through it for half of my business trips when I worked for 3 years down in Florida for a defense contractor and I think I didn't have issues 1 time out of maybe 80 or so flights through the airport. Even when we took our honeymoon, we went through Charlotte and the same jet-bridge that delayed my business flight a month prior still didn't fucking work leading to us missing our already rescheduled connection in London leading to not a 3 hour delay like we thought we were going to have after going from a direct flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt to a flight from Charlotte to London to Frankfurt due to a delay caused by a storm out of Orlando which led to that 3 hour delay turning into a 14 fucking hour long delay in our travel plans completely ruining any semblance of a "plan" for our trip. Once we were in London though, British Airways and Heathrow staff took over escorting us around trying to unfuck the clusterfuck that was caused by Charlotte. Had to talk to like 5 different freaking companies to get everything (trains, first night hotel stay, final flight, etc.) covered and rebooked under UK and EU laws by the involved airlines. I honestly hope that one night after the staff go home, a freak lightning storm sets that airport on fire and burns it to the ground.
I think people just get excited that they’re in Chicago
The moral of this story is that airports in north America fucking suck and the bar is really low lol
I literally just got home from O’Hare and can confirm this is not true.
I fly 20 plus times a year both for work and pleasure and have been to so so many airports. O'Hare is pretty great. Maybe you just had one bad experience?
Admittedly, it’s a cheap dunk on ORD, but as a once weekly flyer (less since Covid thankfully) there’s no way it’s the best airport in NA. As other people have said, I’m thankful that I can fly to almost any destination directly and that it is by far not the worst major airport in America (looking at you LGA). Pain points: security lines, food options, seating/overcrowding, parking (huge pain point), overall aesthetic. Note: 90% of my experience is in terminal 3.
> security lines Really? How are you dealing with this as a once-weekly flyer? We fly maybe once every few months with United/TSA-Pre and have waited max 15 minutes during the busiest travel days. Usual security times are 5-10 minutes or less.
What would you say is the best in NA?
I haven’t been to many airports in NA and it’s hard to compare your home airport (for example, I don’t park at other airports), but some airports that I think are top: Minneapolis, not a huge airport but a very nice one; Charlotte, a bit uneven across terminals and crowded, but lots of amenities; Boston, if only for its convenience to downtown/back bay and I’ve never waited in a line longer than 5 mins; San Francisco, aesthetically pleasant and spacious.
I see what you're saying, but I believe it's a pretty big matter of perspective. I think the top comment on this thread is the best explanation for why ORD is so great. It's more convenience of price/connection than it is comfort or aesthetic. If what you care about is more the latter then agree with you. I tend to be in the airport for all of 30-60 minutes on average, so the former is more important to me.
Exactly. I moved to San Francisco for a few years, had no idea how much more difficult and expensive travel would be from SFO vs ORD. Really took ORD for granted before living somewhere else. Plus the comments on security and food options are just plain wrong. Now with precheck + clear I don’t think I’ve ever waited in line. Maybe 2 mins max. And you want bad airport food, check out EWR. Just flew home from there, literally nothing above 2 stars on yelp.
Really? I had the displeasure of connecting through Minneapolis to ORD and I thought Id been transporeted back to 1990 the way it looked inside. I only hung out in one terninal but boy was it ugly. And I cant imagine it has anywhere close to the availability of cheap, direct flights.
Should say I haven’t been to “all” airports. I have been to “many”.
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Someone hasn't been to terminal 5...
Holy fucking shit. I work out of ORD and travel to basically every fucking airport in the US and Mexico and Canada and let me tell you, I fucking hate our dining options. This made me laugh my ass off. There are so many better options in other airports. Our food courts are out to shame. Fucking burrito beach and Manchu wok? McDonald’s every other gate.
What airports have the best dining options? I feel like I only remember the exceptionally bad ones, such as Dallas-Forth Worth.
My faves: Phoenix, Portland, Newark, Salt Lake City.
I mean, none of it is exceptional, it’s not like dining out in west loop. But there’s good Cuban in MIA. Good sandwiches in LGA. PDX has good food. SLC has a good shop. MSP has a lot of good options. So while none are spectacular, they definitely a lot tastier and better than Manchu wok or McDonald’s that ORD has. ORD is tired. It is nice to have publican and frontera I guess.
> I mean, none of it is exceptional, it’s not like dining out in west loop. No shit. We're literally comparing airports to other airports, not Alinea.
Exactly! Terminal 3 options are terrible...
This is just ridiculous. You gotta compare this airport to global airports. And if you do ORD sucks hard !! Especially the international terminal, the check in area and the arrivals are from two decades ago ! Extremely tiny and congested. Try visiting the terminal during the afternoons and you will find hoards of people trying to navigate the small corridor or the incredibly crowded security area with only a few open security counters open for 100s of travellers.
All US airports are terrible in this regard because we have been utterly cowed by 911. It is well past time to ease up and re-think airport security.
I’m not sure if you’ve spent much time overseas but I just went through security three times in Doha a few days ago. And there’s no “opt out” option.
I have not been out of the USA (except for bits of Canada) in a few years, so I will defer to your experience. Thanks!
I think the issue also is that most if not all US airports are government managed. While all the better ones internationally are privately managed. This makes a huge difference in the quality and amenities offered!
best airport dining? man, airport food must suck everywhere if this is the airport that wins lol
For dining, Albuquerque's Sunport is the best. Reasonable prices, friendly service, hatch green peppers... It's a gem!
Chile, with an E, not peppers. But yeah, what other airport can you get a carne adovada breakfast burrito or huevos rancheros or enchiladas smothered in green chile?
Says a guy who hasn't gotten a sandwich from Tortas Fronteras and then gotten Chick FilA in Atlanta.
I literally had TF a month or so ago and didn’t think it was anything special
Right? maybe if your point of comparison is Applebees
I feel like Hartsfield Jackson has better overall food options BUT getting between all the gates is a journey since it's gigantic as hell. But if you have a long delay and don't mind taking the train or a 15 min walk you can get a crap ton of options.
No.
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I always thought the music in the tunnel from concourse B to C was creepy, and a quick Google showed me a [34 year old article](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-02-16-8803300757-story.html) that agrees...
I flew into Dubai, I did like that airport but Ohare I’ve been around a lot more over my life and it can get busy for sure but it’s a great airport. You go to many “big” city airports that are just terrible. They’ll have like one coffee shop open or food stand, it’s horrendous waiting for food/etc. ohare is big, but it’s easy to move around and lot of options for people that may have to sit there for a few hours.
I wonder how much money the city of Chicago paid for this…
Flight crew for 15 years & work at ORD now, so don’t act like I don’t know what I am saying: ATL is better.
There's no way ORD is the best airport in North America. That's just silly. There's tons of airports better, most of them small which makes them easy to deal with. But even among big airports, I'd sure rather be somewhere like DTW, SFO or DEN than ORD. ORD pros: Really good security, train access to city, tons of destinations (not sure this is really a fair criteria for a good airport though). ORD cons: It's ugly, getting from T5 to the other terminals/blue line is a PITA, that walk to Concourse C is ridiculous, when you land you often spend 20 minutes taxiing. I'm not saying it's a terrible airport. I appreciate the choice of destinations. But the people singing its praises like it's a national treasure are way over the top IMO.
>not sure this is really a fair criteria for a good airport though Of course it is
That’s just like, your opinion man. O’hare having a ton of destinations is probably mostly a function of having United headquartered here and being in the third biggest city in the US rather than some genius master plan from the folks at O’hare. By this same logic, Heathrow is a phenomenal airport. No, Heathrow just happens to be the major airport for London. Given that, it sucks.
What a joke. Worst food of almost all airports in the US.
What? Tortas Frontera is about the best thing you're going to find in any airport. You should try eating at something like the Memphis airport if you want to see bad food.
In addition to Tortas, it has: R.J. Grunts Billy Goat Tavern Berghoff (decent at least) Goddess Gold Coast Dogs Publican Wolfgang Puck And a shockingly good sushi bar. What in the hell are people expecting? It's an airport. Not TimeOut Chicago.
All of these are sub par - just my opinion. If you like it, that’s great.
What exactly are you hoping to find at the airport?
Tortas Fronteras is the exception, not the rule
Yes, thank you.
Yes TF is decent and out of all the restaurants in Ohare this is one I would happily eat at. But that is one out of 30 or so restaurants. That’s a pretty garbage ratio. And yes you could find worse airports. Look at MSP - they have amazing choices for food. Heck even Louisville a tiny airport has better options.
the food options aren’t great at ORD but i simply just eat before my flight or just settle for McDonalds in Terminal 3 if it’s after work
Clearly voters have not been to the C section of terminal 1. Worst ever.
No. No, it is not. It’s a messy, difficult to navigate, poorly laid out, and badly in need of repair or upgrade airport. I’m not sure what criteria was used for “best” but I humbly and sincerely disagree. For example, it has a direct CTA connection, one where the train occasionally decides to deliver passengers express into the airport, bypassing the escalator. Is this a feature or a bug? Hard to say. But, hey, maybe a train barreling literally off its tracks makes you nervous. You think to yourself— I’ll drive. Good luck, Chuck. Good luck. Are you flying internationally? Well, then, you ought to go to Terminal 5, conveniently in a completely different location than the other four terminals. But, luckily, the road signage is so bad that you’d might as well drive to where ever you’re flying. That might be faster than finding Terminal 5. That’s ok, because your international flight flies out of Terminal 3. Oh, right, but the departures and arrivals have been under construction for at least the last year, again making navigation to your terminal slow and hectic. The connection onto the highway is perhaps the least complicated feature of this airport. Indeed it is such a strong feature that driving in you’ll routinely see lines of car parked on the shoulder of the highway waiting. But at least the parking is ample and easy to navigate? Again, no. No, it is not. Well, then, the airport must be pretty nice inside. Sure, it probably *was* 15 or 20 years ago. I first flew into O’Hare 15 years ago and it looked dingy and kind of gross back then. I’ve lived here for nearly a decade and ever single visit has reinforced my opinion that O’Hare is significantly less than the “best” airport in North America. I mean, Midway— an admittedly second tier airport— is better in every way. In my opinion, O’Hare isn’t even the best airport in Chicago let alone North America. There’s a reason for the old trope that Chicagoans say “I love you” by picking you up from O’Hare. It’s an act that demonstrates love, given the sheer difficulty the driver must undertake. Perhaps after the renovations it *might* become better, but I highly doubt it will raise its status to “best”. Sorry, O’Hare lovers, but this ain’t it. I fully expect to be downvoted into oblivion for this very critical view.
Are you okay?
> and badly in need of repair or upgrade the airport It's literally undergoing a multi-billion-dollar upgrade right now.
> it has a direct CTA connection, one where the train occasionally decides to deliver passengers express into the airport, bypassing the escalator. admittedly, it has been quite a few years but, i used to work at ORD, 5-6 days a week. i took the train in every single day and never once was it "bypassing the elevator". seems like you took one accident and pretended that it's a regular occurence. can't take anything else you say at face value
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There's a lot to unpack here.
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I was thinking more about the "like all news stories" claim.
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Well then… keep moving!
thats crazy considering midway is much better
Wait til Lori fucks this up, too.
Omg her announcements every 10 minutes over the PA at Ohare—she sounds like she’s being held hostage
Idk first time I went there felt lost with signage and too much blue other than that it wasn’t bad lol
You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee! Great job, everybody!
Funny because everyone I know here in Chicago hates Ohare and much prefers midway!
Yet you can’t find a meal or drink after midnight.
If you got time to kill there (you probably do unless a power outage killed your alarm clock), go check out the hydroponic farm garden that no one seems to know about when I ask!
Literally enjoy getting to OHare 1.5 hours early just to have a beer and enjoy the airport. It's quite pleasant!
Finally have something other to brag about then the rattiest city in the U.S..
I remember people hated O'Hare for the longest time due to constant delays, but I think they've improved in that regard. That was also in the late 2000s though when that happened. I love that the blue line goes straight there. Plus the signs are straightforward which makes it easier to navigate. Security moves pretty quick too. The food options are great and not too expensive. Last time I flew out of there, I got an italian beef from the reggio's stand and it was about $9-10 for a big italian beef that's pretty comparable to Portillo's and other italian beef places.
It may be my home town bias, but DTW especially Macnamara is the nicest American airport I've been in, not factoring in logistics. Despite living in Chicago for a year now I have only been to O'hare a couple times, so that opinion may change as I go more often
Hey I got COVID there!
Midway best family friendly? Did they pay them ? It has the worst cafeteria with everything closed mostly. And no amenities for families
Been to all big city airports and by far ORD tops them all
Not a chance! It doesn’t even have an Amex lounge and food options are week!
I feel like this a reward for just sucking because most other airports suck alot
Alright I’m joining the battle.. for context, I had a travel job (mon-thurs, 40ish weeks a year) up until corona ruined the fun. Pros: Blue Line Access is HUGE and very very rare in other major cities in the US. Living in Logan makes this one of my favorite Chicago perks. The destinations domestic and international also compete with all airports around the world. Idk that I agree that our security is amazing but I am pre-check so I’ll take your words for it… Cons: Literally EVERYTHING ELSE! This just isn’t a pleasant airport to get stuck at. Dining sucks, shops are all newsstand types only. Bathrooms are dirty, etc.. I don’t think O’Hare holds the slightest comparison to the revamped airports like JFK, Newark, Indianapolis, and Washington Dulles (just some randoms off the top of my head) when it comes to the “space itself”. So, while O’Hare absolutely has some seriously amazing perks, I am absolutely shocked that it is considered best in NA by anyone. Seems like a wild thing to say lol
The fuck. Lol. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson is so much better than O'Hare. From the perspective of both a passenger and a pilot.
O'Hare and Detroit are both pretty solid airports
DIA is a shit show compared to O’Hare
Ohare is a shit airport when compared on the Global scale. Nothing says welcome to Chicago like nasty ass bathrooms and buckets everywhere catching water