chicago o'hare please help us out!!

[dpayne1969]

Hello
we are not traveling till Nov.but i recently purchased my vacation with expedia i know i should have waited for a better price but this way here it is paid in full in advance and nothing more to do except book my secret nite out with Fl.tours via a 3 hr. Limo ride for my family. On Nov.20 we are flying from OKC to O'hare airport
we only have a 1 hr.layover there.Is this place going to intimidate us?I am worried we wont be able to find our connecting flight in time and miss our flight.We are flying with United and from okc to chicago we are flying on a Canadair RJ plane.Any experience with this also i have never flown before so where should i request my seats?Front ,Middle or back????or does it matter lol.Also does anyone know about weather in Nov.for Chicago??I am worried we may get delayed due to snow or storms.TIA

 

[Jon99]

United is in Terminal 1, you will be fine with your connection...

Weather might be a little cold and snow is possible, but not real likely..My only concern might be whether or not thats near Thanksgiving..

 

[bjakmom]

Just a thought - the closer you sit to the front of the plane, the faster you'll get off after you land - may help if you're really tight on your connecting flight - I've been on flights where people are so tight that the stewards have asked people without connecting flights to stay seated to allow those who do to hurry off the plane.

I've spent a few nights in O'Hare due to bad weather , but always in Dec/Jan - once in the summer due to a vicious thunderstorm- go online and you can probably find a layout of the airport terminals so you can get an idea beforehand where you need to be heading. Just be prepared so you can move quickly and you should be fine !

 

[prncess674]

The CRJs are really tiny and are very quick to deplane. don't stress too much about where you sit on a plane this small. Just avoid the last row and the row in front of the exit row as neither row reclines.

 

[Free4Life11]

Used to live in Chicago.

Yes Ohare is big, but honestly it's not that hard to get around. Unless you were switching terminals, you don't really have much to worry about.

http://www.ohare.com/ohare/terminals/terminal.shtm

There are some terminal maps...you may want to print out the map for your airline for reference. Sometimes they dont print what gate your connecting flight it on the ticket, so it's nice to have a map so you can ask the flight attendant what gate the connection is at.

Ohare is a very nice airport though; clean, modern, nice. But it IS busy.

Just stay close together and you'll be fine!

 

[Eeyore1954]

Since you are connecting on United at O'Hare you should have no trouble. United is Terminal 1, but they have "B" gates and "C" gates -- these are connected with an underground walkway. If you come in on one gate, let's say "B" and your connection is at a "C" gate, you'd just go to the middle of the terminal, take the escalator down and walk through the walkway to the other gate. The walkway is at the midpoint of each section -- about gate 17 or 18. I've arrived with a ticket on a flight leaving at C29 with about 45 mins. to get through security and go through the walkway and made it in plenty of time.

November weather in Chicago is usually not bad. Occasional snow, but nothing that shuts down O'Hare. That'd be an unusual storm (and those don't happen unless I am flying out of O'Hare!) Most of the delays then are due to traffic, not weather.

 

[CAP Aircrew]

To confirm what the previous posters have said, you should have no problem with an hour layover. I travel in an out of ORD frequently. One time, my inbound flight was late and it only afforded me 12 minutes to make it to the next gate. The gate was also at United's other terminal so I had to use the underground walkway.........I made it! Granted the jetway was already closed and I had to plead with the gate agent to reopen it and I was full of sweat but.........I made it.

CRJ's are regional jets. It will hold between 50-70 people depending on whether it is a CRJ-200 or CRJ-700. Boarding and deplaning is very easy for the most part.

Here is a website to check out: www.seatguru.com
It breaks down for each airline and aircraft what the best seats are.

ORD tends to get backed up later in the day especially in the Spring and Summer when T-Storms are likely to roll through the area. This is the only time I've had weather delays at ORD. November should not be a problem.

Enjoy the trip and enjoy your first flight experience. Flying is a wonderful experience....so much so that some people decide to do it for a living!

 

[dpayne1969]

thanks to all who answered and thanks for the great links you all provided!!You guys are great on here and thanks again i do appreciate any and all help i get on here from you'll.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Not to be a spoil sport, but if you are flying a regional jet operated by United Express, it may end up at one of the gates at the far end of terminal 2, perhaps gate F11. This is at the far end of the F concourse and a substantial walk from the gates for either the B or C concourses in terminal 1 where the vast majority of United's flights operate. I flew United Express from/to ORD to Norfolk, VA in early March and departed and arrived from gate F11 for both flights. This was regional service operated by Atlantic Coast Airlines doing business as United Express, but there were a number of other regional carriers also providing service for United Express flights out of these gates. I believe Atlantic Coast Airlines might also provide United Express service between OKC and ORD (although it's hard for me to understand what part of either Chicago or Oklahoma City are on the Atlantic Coast ).

On the other hand, the flight attendants did ask us to let passengers making connections at ORD deplane first so they could make their connections. The gate agents for the ORD-MCO flight will know you are on the flight coming in from OKC and so you should not have to be at the gate as early as would be the case if ORD were the starting point of your trip.

Ralph