Chicago O'Hare, airport of hell

[GettnHuge 1]

A mistake I'll never make again...going thru O'Hare. Now normally I take a direct flight but

to come back on the date I wanted, I had to go thru Chicago. Ok, no biggie, I have a 47 minute

layover, I'll make a couple calls, pick up some food and get out. Hell my previous 3 flights on this

vacation all went great. On the way west both times I had an entire row to myself. And on the way

back, I chose the 1pm flight to OHare, talk about lucky, the 10am flight there was still at the gate

fully loaded with mechanical problems.

 

Now I've been to a lot of airports in this country from detroit to dullus to orlando to atlanta to san diego to vegas phoenix and so on...all were nice places, but Chicago is different. Sure it's the busiest airport anywhere, but

hell if they're that busy they must be good at handling the crowds...not.

 

So I arrive at the end of the terminal and practically have to push my way thru just to get somewhere.

All of the gates I pass are loading planes which can hold nearly 200...and each gate has about 50 seats.

People are sprawled everywhere, standing shoulder to shoulder waiting, it was insane. And these people

were nasty too, the stench of B O was like a mighty river down the causeway. Don't let me leave out UGLY,

normally you go to the county fair once a year and you can see all the weirdos...but at O'Hare you can see them 365 24/7.

 

Imagine how happy I was to see my flight...delayed. Less than an hour hop to detroit and it's delayed. WTF.

Well, no biggie, I'll plug in, play some computer games, get some food...oh wait, the food lines are 50 people

long, forget that. anyway I'll plug in...hmm...where's an outlet? no focken where. But hey, airports

are always full of hot chicks, I'll just kick back and play 'yes, no, too young' etc. Now normally chicks at airports

are: yes, no, yes, yes, no yes...but at O'Hare it's: no, no, no, no, yes, no, is that a girl?? uhh no, no..

 

Hey what's this...the flight is delayed again...and again...and again...and 6 times total. I could have rented a car and driven home already. They said, the weather was bad where our plane was coming from. liars, I checked

on that, it wasn't. 2am I get home.

 

I assume LAX is just as bad, I've always avoided going there.

Chicago B-O'Hare airport sucks.

[ArnieBragg 1]

Maybe the computer glitch at LAX effected flights across the cuntry yesterday?

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

Chicago B-O'Hare airport sucks.

I can second that. It seems that a little bad weather anywhere in the country can fock up an O'Hare flight.

 

Philly is bad when getting baggage, but they're getting a little bit better.

[GettnHuge 1]

Maybe the computer glitch at LAX effected flights across the cuntry yesterday?

 

the plane was running a route 2000 miles away from LAX.

 

I mentioned I checked on the weather when I got in, wasn't bad there.

[donhaas 18]

Midway's even worse...

 

I fly out of Madison.

 

If I really want to hang around Illinoize people, I'll go to Wisconsin Dells

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

Old News. O'Hare is hell all of the time. In the winter it is the lake effect snowstorms. In the summer it is the pop-up thunderstorms. Add-in the fact that all of the airlines that run through their are focked up (United is king) and you should expect disaster.

 

Of course, many airports are that way.

[Jessy 0]

Old News. O'Hare is hell all of the time. In the winter it is the lake effect snowstorms. In the summer it is the pop-up thunderstorms. Add-in the fact that all of the airlines that run through their are focked up (United is king) and you should expect disaster.

 

Of course, many airports are that way.

 

Yep. I've been delayed by snowstorms and thunderstorms pretty much every time I've flown through O'Hare going home. When I'm going through there to get away from home, though, I don't have problems. Weird.

[GettnHuge 1]

well I'm never flying Langoliers Air again

 

almost forgot to mention, the restrooms there make the superdome's look sparkly clean

[cinciman7 2]

[Sho Nuff 719]

I avoid the place myself after a 6+ hour layover with a 3 month old child a few years back.

 

When we fly up to see the family, even if it costs us a little more, we fly through Milwaukee via Midwest...plus you get a nice freshly baked cookie (though my 2 year old now thinks every airplane comes with a cookie).

[Bozak 0]

Haven't flown into O'Hare in awhile, but I don't remember it being that bad.

Of course I usually fly into Midway.

 

Now St. Louis' airport is god awful.

I had a connecting flight to Detroit that stopped there. I hate that airport.

[Churchill610 0]

I avoid O'Hare like the plague.

My last time thru a few years ago, we ended up sitting on the plane for 4 hours because of bad weather on my way back to DC.

They also card EVERYONE at the bar. A guy in his 60's ambled up to the bar next to me and was asked by the bartender for his ID. WTF????? How about using some common friggin' sense?

[GettnHuge 1]

A guy in his 60's ambled up to the bar next to me and was asked by the bartender for his ID.

 

 

Cmh?

[m_c_meyer 0]

... we fly through Milwaukee via Midwest...

 

Midwest: the best airline period!

[torridjoe 0]

I don't doubt it can be hell--but what major city airport isn't that way anymore? (Actually, if 500K people and international flights makes you a major city, then Portland's airport is a flyer's dream).

 

We flew through O'Hare both ways in the last two weeks, and had no serious problems. We were about an hour late out of there last Saturday.

 

I did notice that the people spilled out into the concourse in line to get on the plane, which seemed weird. If you were going past, you had to fight through the boarding crowd.

 

I noticed there were no outlets nearby actually, too.

 

The operating rule is that if you plan to fly, plan to be focked around in some way. Thanks, President Reagan!

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

The operating rule is that if you plan to fly, plan to be focked around in some way. Thanks, President Reagan!

 

Yeah, I am sure that the firing of striking air-traffic controllers some 20 years ago is the reason that we have poorly run airports today

 

Perhaps it is because of airline de-regulation.

[torridjoe 0]

Yeah, I am sure that the firing of striking air-traffic controllers some 20 years ago is the reason that we have poorly run airports today

 

Perhaps it is because of airline de-regulation.

My bad--it was signed in 1978. Thanks, President Carter!

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

My bad--it was signed in 1978. Thanks, President Carter!

 

Thank you.

[mobb_deep 917]

All the pretty neon lights over the human treadmill are neat though

 

It's the midwest what do you expect. They don't call the midwest the armpit of America for nothing. It simply sucks on all levels of life.

 

[jerryskids 5,206]

I assume LAX is just as bad, I've always avoided going there.

Chicago B-O'Hare airport sucks.

I usually take Southwest thru Midway. Other than weather delays, the airport is fine.

 

LAX is terminal dependent. There are 7 of them, all different layouts. Terminal 1 (Southwest) is pretty dern congested. Eye candy is excellent in general. I just flew into United's international terminal there, and the customs/passport process is the suck.

[Strike 3,979]

Dulles is absolutely the worst as far as I'm concerned. I absofockinglutely hate that airport.

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

Dulles is absolutely the worst as far as I'm concerned. I absofockinglutely hate that airport.

 

I have had pretty darn good luck with Dulles lately. Now, DCA is a different story. You are pretty much guaranteed to get strip searched there.

[DaWeffa 0]

I have had pretty darn good luck with Dulles lately. Now, DCA is a different story. You are pretty much guaranteed to get strip searched there.

 

hmmm weird...never had a problem at dca...usually a great airport for me....dulles was OK, but a pain to get to.

[GettnHuge 1]

I did notice that the people spilled out into the concourse in line to get on the plane, which seemed weird. If you were going past, you had to fight through the boarding crowd.

 

I noticed there were no outlets nearby actually, too.

 

The operating rule is that if you plan to fly, plan to be focked around in some way.

 

 

like I said, it seems like there were about 50 seats at each gate for liners that carry ~200 passengers.

 

as for the outlets, the only ones available were not amongst the seats, but along the causeway, concourse whatever.

for the dozen gates at my end, I saw three that were available and those were mostly used by employees and their stupid

carts that they plowed thru the crowd with. I might have tried to get one had the floor not been so fockin scummy.

 

I always go prepared for delays, but this and the atmosphere was beyond reasonable.

 

and a thumbs up to the orlando int airport which is where I was earlier that day. I had a 3 seat section all to myself off to the side

with an outlet under my seat and with a perfect view of the babes walking by and the flight bored.

 

 

asian peeps sure like to travel don't they?

 

I have had pretty darn good luck with Dulles lately. Now, DCA is a different story. You are pretty much guaranteed to get strip searched there.

 

 

dull gets a just for the bus transports. two times I was in, ate and out of there in less than an hour.

[Korben Dallas 0]

Classic, guess where I am RIGHT now.

 

I've become numb to this airport. I fly through here pretty consistently, 3 to 6 times a month. You learn little tricks that make it a little more bearable. Go through the F gate security and then double back to B/C, etc...

 

If it makes you feel better, those outlets you were spying likely didn't work anyway.

 

A couple of weeks back I had another Ohare nightmare evening. Landed a little late but not bad, then sat for 2.5 hours on the tarmac waiting for a slot, missed my flight and had to spend the night. I had a shot at another flight out at midnight (it was delayed) and walked 14 miles to that gate, only to watch them shaft a bunch of people going to San Paolo. They shut the door and when these people ran up, refused them entry. YOu could still SEE the people in line on the other side. Total crap.

 

btw: if you are stuck there, don't even bother going over to the conveniently located Hilton in the airport, rooms start at $325, which I ate because I was exhausted and had been on 4 planes already.

 

Which was better than last time I got screwed in Chicago and everyone had missed their flight and landed every room within 15 miles.

 

Ahhh Ohare...btw, my flight is delayed.

[Churchill610 0]

I blame the proliferation of Regional Jets for all the freakin' delays these days. Instead of a carrier flying between 2 cities 5 times per day on a bigger jet, they put into service a Regional Jet and fly that route 10 times per day. All these RJ's are causing the backups.

 

 

 

 

 

OK, gripe over now........I'll move along.

[GettnHuge 1]

I blame the proliferation of Regional Jets for all the freakin' delays these days. Instead of a carrier flying between 2 cities 5 times per day on a bigger jet, they put into service a Regional Jet and fly that route 10 times per day. All these RJ's are causing the backups.

OK, gripe over now........I'll move along.

 

 

what is this crap? you sound reasonable. I want outrage. I want crap splattering. I want you to boil over and blame the airlines

for everything from flight delays to your little girl's dog dying!

[Artist Formerly Known as Big O 0]

O'Hare blows. You think domestic is bad, try international flights. Every focking time I go to China I have to come back through Chicago. Focking 2-3 hours in customs is common

[GettnHuge 1]

O'Hare blows. You think domestic is bad, try international flights. Every focking time I go to China I have to come back through Chicago. Focking 2-3 hours in customs is common

 

obviously I got to meet quite a few of my fellow angry flyers and heard quite a bit about that from a chick returning from

Osaka. she thought because of that crap she'd miss her connection to detroit. feh.

[jerryskids 5,206]

I blame the proliferation of Regional Jets for all the freakin' delays these days. Instead of a carrier flying between 2 cities 5 times per day on a bigger jet, they put into service a Regional Jet and fly that route 10 times per day. All these RJ's are causing the backups.

OK, gripe over now........I'll move along.

Gawd forbid the airlines try to make money. I suppose next you'll blame Southwest for being too darned efficient turning planes around, thus enabling more routes/plane?

[torridjoe 0]

Gawd forbid the airlines try to make money. I suppose next you'll blame Southwest for being too darned efficient turning planes around, thus enabling more routes/plane?

 

they're a mode of public transit, even if privately operated. Taxicabs are private, but there are plenty of rules controlling fares, routing, etc.

[Churchill610 0]

Gawd forbid the airlines try to make money. I suppose next you'll blame Southwest for being too darned efficient turning planes around, thus enabling more routes/plane?

 

 

 

My gripe is that they plan all these extra flights without regard to an airport's ability to handle the rise in traffic.

[Dick Hertz 1]

Forget about O'Hare.

 

 

NEWARK!!!

[jerryskids 5,206]

they're a mode of public transit, even if privately operated. Taxicabs are private, but there are plenty of rules controlling fares, routing, etc.

What is your point?