Never Fly To Chicago O’Hare On Delta – Or An International Airline Using Terminal 5 [Roundup]

News and notes from around the interweb:

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  1. All international arrivals into ORD use Terminal 5 because that’s where the customs / immigration outpost is. (The sole exception being UA or AA arrivals from a station where preclearance is a thing, like DUB.) So advising people not to arrive at T5 under any circumstances because they have to take the people-mover to a central Uber pickup point is a little extreme, don’t you think? It’s tantamount to telling many people not to fly into ORD at all. T5 has its drawbacks but it’s absurd to rule it out, and all the airlines that use it, because of the Uber situation. There are taxis.

  2. All ORD International Arrivals are at T5, even AA and UA. There is no way do avoid the schlep when travelling internationally other making a connection somewhere else before coming to Chicago.

  3. Taxis at O’Hare are usually cheaper than Uber anyways. My cab home from ORD (2 blocks from Wrigley) is always $35-$40 +tip. Uber’s range is maybe $28 on a random time but normally $50 to $70.

  4. Some of us have deleted the Uber app for its unpredictability and lack of accountability and get along fine with Curb. Join the taxi queue at ORD T5, get rolling in 5-7 minutes as a rule, use the pairing function on the Curb app to tip and pay, and it’s faster and cheaper than Uber every time.

  5. I was just at ORD last week and was pissed, though not at all surprised, that they have stopped the airside shuttle busses between T5 and the other terminals. This was also the case at EWR last year between terminals due to “covid”. What is the justification for this absurdity at ORD???

  6. so car pickups or using the parking garages for T5 are quite normal?

    Sounds like NEVER is a tad over the top.

  7. @ Gary — DL’s relocation to T5 could be a reason to use DL for positioning to ORD for an international flight. I say COULD because I’m not sure about the logistics after you arrive on DL. in 2021, we flew ATL-ORD on a DL ticket and then ORD-MEX-TIJ on an AM J ticket. It is was miserable because: 1) changing terminals at ORD required taking a jam-packed bus (during a massive COVID outbreak), 2) waiting for the AM check-in to open, and 3) using the horrid Swissport lounge while awaiting our AM flight. At least now 1) and 3) are solved by DL’s relocation. However, knowing how incompetent AM is, they’ll probably make you go back out to the lobby to check-in….

  8. You try every angle you can think of to get people to not fly Delta or to disparage them. Sorry pal, Delta is still the BEST US airline to fly. Period. You actually make me want to fly them even more!

  9. @Tim Dunn – “in the limit”

    To borrow a phrase from Jerry Seinfeld, asking someone to pick you up at the airport is the ‘going all the way’ in a male relationship. So yeah sure just ask someone to drive 25 miles from the Loop to pick you up because you were selfish enough to fly Delta…

  10. @David Stone – The airside TTB has been reinstated.

    @Gary – My wife doesn’t even get ORD pickups.

  11. and I just picked someone up at T5 just a couple weeks ago.
    No different from any other airport and no different from a 25 minute drive in any other major urban area

  12. Take a taxi.

    Seriously, the congestion at T5 has been insane since Delta moved over. Absolute parking lot on Old Mannheim Road. It’s faster to head to T2, or even to the rental car center.

    And yes, it’s easy to say that they shouldn’t have moved Delta until the new roadway is complete, but that would have held up the new Global Terminal construction.

  13. I have a much better idea. Never fly into O’Hare under any circumstances. The Chicago weather is often unpredictable. I once sat on the ground for 4 hours prior to departure. The weather really so bad that it should be illegal to travel there!

  14. When I flew in and out of O’Hare frequently, I used American Taxi. It’s an Uber-like experience, but using the private car/limo model. They have an app for which they didn’t spend a lot of money developing. They still pick up from Terminal 5.

  15. You can also take the AirTransit from Terminal 5 to the Multimodal (car rental_) facility and get picked up at the Kiss-n-fly.

  16. Arrived at T5 the other day. It was packed with arrivals at 4pm. Just hop on the free transit terminal train via elevator and get off at remote parking or the Metra. There u can sched a much cheaper Uber/Lyft ride as they dont have to pass on the mandatory airport taxes and fees.

  17. @Gary et al.. this post headline should actually read: “Never Fly To Chicago O’Hare”
    Why even go to that city, better question when there are options.

  18. Um, who cares about the crime infested dump that is Chicago…?

    Dear sweet baby Jesus do not install that nut job Sara Nelson in ANY authoritative position!!!

  19. Why all the drama.?This is only temporary while they fix the curbs outside T5. Every airport goes through some kind of re arrangement during construction. Take the train to rental facility if you need to be picked up.

  20. Dan,

    The airside terminal transfer is being reinstated in March, and this time it will run every 15 minutes and be bidirectional. Has real potential to be an improvement over the pre-pandemic airside TTB.

  21. Gary, please never link to bits about money . com again. Holy crap what an overly long pile of words.

    The entire piece was inexcusably long and needlessly verbose. You could have reduced word count by 75% and the piece would have still needed an edit.

  22. Taxis are really not an option to the suburbs. The rate card is extremely punitive outside chicago and cook county. You can arrange a flat rate suburban taxi (IE: American taxi) in advance, but visitors don’t know that.

    The lack of ride share thing is actually pretty bad.

  23. Almost every day Gary L has to find a negative about Delta just to draw in further comments. If you did the same to United or other airlines , but no its always Delta. You are pathetic. Just take a look at all the yearly awards Delta gets. Delta isn’t perfect but who is?

  24. @Gar mn – funny, United thinks I’m biased against them. American thinks I’m biased against them. Delta once had me investigated. American performed a statistical analysis of my posts. I write good things about Delta when they do good things. This isn’t even Delta’s fault, just a miserable experience! Oh and I criticize Delta when they stick it to their customers, as I do with United and American!

  25. As a foreigner with family and bags who usually comes into the international t5 and takes Uber -that’s a crazy ideia!
    For the people who arrives for the first time and badly speaks English is just the dumbest and least welcoming decision ever!!! After all is just the most used mode transportation everywhere!
    Also, I’ve been to Chicago just last month from NY to connect to an international flight. Had to do the exact opposite get from T2 to t5 super late with 4 bags and a senior person, add miles, bad signage and “the walking dead” situation with the homeless invasion and get the full warm welcome experience to that important city and airport!

  26. “Delta once had me investigated”
    very interesting. do tell.
    explains alot. Really.
    OMAAT’s Ben supposedly got kicked out of UA’s mileage program.

    “So many delta fanboys barking in these comments.”
    It is simply the clear bias.
    Delta is nowhere near the exclusive airline in terminal 5, first of all.
    Second, NEVER Is a pretty big word when the only real issue is that the app rideshare company’ pickups are being TEMPORARILY moved from Terminal 5 for road construction.

    It is the incessant, over the top hysteria – and it is not exclusively because Delta is being targeted.
    That is the way Gary operates because he thinks that is what it takes to get clicks.
    It’s petty and childish.
    and when Gary gets called out for it, he just doubles down and does more of it.

  27. @Tim Dunn – Never said Delta was the exclusive airline in T5, not only does Southwest operate their (but compare Delta against Southwest operations) I literally wrote in the title “or an international airline using terminal 5” … you’re the one who took it as exclusively about Delta.

  28. Forget the ORD story…that Alaska double tailstrike story because of a software glitch is the real lead.

    Props to the ops leader who halted all their departures after the 2nd strike.

    Basically 737s were going up with calculated weights 20% lower than actual weights, leading to lower than policy thrust.

    Or a muted version of the Air Florida Flight 90 scenario without ice.

  29. Connecting international to domestic in ORD is surprisingly easy if your bags are checked through to your final destination.

  30. Gary,
    not only did you fail to include Southwest -which has been in T5 longer than Delta – along w/ a few other US cats and dogs – but you still can’t justify NEVER.

    It’s hysteria, Gary. It’s childish. and it’s daily.

    Unless you would like to tell us the story, we have to assume that you obviously did something to raise Delta’s interest in how you run your business and the checks they write to you.
    Whether you were guilty or not, you’re still pissed.

    It’s Lent, Gary.
    Let it go.
    You’ll lose weight, your BP will go down, and you’ll make fewer typos.

  31. Don’t fly through Chicago O’Hare under any circumstances. It’s always better to drive or take a Conestoga wagon

  32. When I arrive at Terminal 5, I either have a limo or a friend meet me. I have met my wife and my parents at T5 plenty of times.

    According to my wife, as well as friends, Miami is the worst airport to fly into from abroad. The lines for customs and immigration are just miserable.

  33. Larry,
    I don’t get worked/fired up about being a voice of reason and logic and I don’t find it difficult.

  34. OMG! You have to ROLL your bag out of the terminal? To a train?!?!? To get to ride share?!?!? THE HORROR!!!!!!

  35. ORD is my home airport (as in, I live about twenty minutes away), and I utterly refuse to use Terminal 5. It’s designed, lit, and decorated like a nightclub in Purgatory, with poor to no services. It’s also a test: if you can’t stand flying in, we don’t want you here. As for Terminal 5’s domestic service, there are three airlines I will never fly out of there (or anywhere), and there’s the repulsive dumpster fire known as Delta. They’re still trying to get the stench of Delta out of Terminal 2, and may succeed by the time it’s torn down.

  36. This happens all the time when airports are in flux. Jeez…T2 at JFK was a nightmare last fall before it finally closed. ORD has issues all around…but I fell it’s getting (somewhat) better.

    As for Delta…full disclosure…I fly them exclusively. Not because I’m a “fanboy” or anything else. Why? Because – hands down – they are the least suckiest US airline.

  37. I agree with WB that Delta is the least obnoxious domestic airline. I used to live in Chicago and honestly didn’t find O’hare to be that horrible. But it does help if you know the airport well. The long walks are only an issue if you have to change concourses to get a connecting flight. Generally the airlines try to keep all their flights on the same concourse at ORD. I find LAX and MSP to be worse than O’Hare in terms of connections.

  38. I am now happily retired in France. I was at onetime a ORD based flight attendant for UA. If I had two days till my next flight out I always went to a friend’s crash pad in Evanston. After experiencing Uber and Lyft with some mixed results I ended up always using American Taxi. It is priced by zone. Never a surprise. Good, prompt service.
    I remember having a fight with a Lyft driver who refused to pick me up at T5. Then wanted me to go upstairs etc. He had a filthy car as well. Then it gets better. An Uber female driver who came to pick me up was not the one shown on the picture they had sent me: she explained that she uses her friend’s ID because she is malentendant (seriously???!) and would never be accepted. She was so sweet: I never reported it.
    I spent 22 years living in the US. I also was based in Paris for United for a fabulous 10 years. During these 10 years I had time to discover the downtowns of SFO, ORD and IAD on my lay-overs in the US. I loved Chicago, perhaps the most interesting city in the US. It is filled with art! On the streets, in the museums, the sculpture park on the lake, the amazing city architecture, I felt the positive Feng Shui every time our van approached the city. Too bad the winters are killers.

  39. Your comments might as well say don’t stay at the O’Hare Hilton if you fly into Terminal 5. Don’t take the L trains if you fly into Terminal 5. Don’t park at O’Hare if you fly into Terminal 5. Don’t change planes to United or American if you fly into Terminal 5. All of these activities require a schlep through the airport.

  40. For the love of dogs, 80% of these comments seem to fighting over the word “never”, and the rest are from mopes that clearly don’t live in the area (or who are just politically grandstanding).
    It’s a REALLY good chance I’ve been to your city, and I can tell you, there is a few hundred reasons why Chicago wins best city in the WORLD by travelers consistently. Best food city in the world…best summer city in the world…amazing culture of near-infinite variety, not as spread out as L.A., not as crowded as N.Y.C., and friendlier than pretty much any other city out there (as long as you aren’t a competing drug dealer/gangbanger).

    I just flew out of O’Hare last month on a trash airline, and yes, I saw homeless people, but not as many as it is made out to be. Yes, there is a lot of walking, because (SURPRISE) it’s a huge airport!

    The whining about uber/lyft…good golly, did none of you exist 20 years ago? Get a cab or a ride or find a bus if you’re broke and friendless…
    Even smarter/easier (if you can) is going to Midway.
    I can be downtown faster from there than O’Hare anyway, and getting in or out is MUCH easier.

    Talk about first world problems…”I had to roll my bag…”
    Way too soft to be FROM Chicago, that’s for sure.

Comments are closed.