chiacgo Airport

[mumoftwo]

We are travelling from Dublin Ireland via ohare airport to orlando on the 17th of december. We fly into the international terminal, we will not have to go through immigration as we pre clear in Dublin but will have to pick up our bags. We have about 2 hrs to do this, will this be enough time to get from that part of the airport to domestic departures. We are on the last flight from chicago to orlando on that day. We fly airlingus/ american airlines. Do you think this is enough time. We are considering flying with hand luggage only. What do you think ?

 

[bavaria]

You should be fine. I fly through O'Hare every two weeks, and often have to change terminals. Often I only have 45 minutes connection time. You may want to go online to check out the airport (sorry, don't have a link in mind, but do a google search)

There is a train and you could walk from terminal to terminal, depending on distance. For instance, Star Alliance partners use B and C, which are connected via an underground escalator. Some regional United flights depart from another terminal, reached via foot or train.

Also it sounds like you are on partner airlines (Aer Lingus and AA). If so, see if you can get your boarding pass for the Orlando flight in Ireland. I do that a lot and it's usually not a problem.

Hope that helps - you should be ok. I often connect international through O'Hare...

 

[paladin]

You will need to take the train as you will be coming in to Terminal 5 on Aer Lingus and then departing out of Terminal 3 on American. These two terminals are definetly not walking distance. It looks like you should have 2 hrs 15 minutes (if you are connecting to AA 1582), so you should have plenty of time.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We are travelling from Dublin Ireland via ohare airport to orlando on the 17th of december. We fly into the international terminal, we will not have to go through immigration as we pre clear in Dublin but will have to pick up our bags. We have about 2 hrs to do this, will this be enough time to get from that part of the airport to domestic departures. We are on the last flight from chicago to orlando on that day. We fly airlingus/ american airlines. Do you think this is enough time. We are considering flying with hand luggage only. What do you think ?

I don't think it's necessary to fly with only hand luggage.

I've flown Aer Lingus from Dublin to Chicago. As you noted, although you pre-clear United States Immigration at Dublin Airport prior to departure, you still arrive at the International Terminal at Chicago-O'Hare. American Airlines has a counter on the arrival level of the International Terminal where you can re-check your bags to your final destination in the United States. Then, hop onto the Airport Transit System (ATS) train to Terminal 3, which is one stop way. The ATS service is frequent, fast, and free. I don't think it's possible to walk from the International Terminal to the Terminal 3.

Two hours should be plenty of time for arrival processing at the International Terminal, rechecking your bags, taking the ATS train to Terminal 3, re-clearing US TSA security, and walking to your gate. There's even a margin of error if your Aer Lingus flight is delayed a half hour or so. American Airlines typically begins boarding 30 minutes before the scheduled time.

By the way, Terminal 3 has many places to buy food after you pass through security. (When flying within the United States, American Airlines doesn't feed you anything in coach class except for a small bag of pretzels or corn chips.) Take a look at the terminal maps and other information about O'Hare at http://www.flychicago.com/ohare/home.asp

Have a good flight!

 

[mumoftwo]

Thanks to everyone for the info maybe we will take more than just hand luggage especially as we are in orlando for two weeks.