1.5 hours between flight in ORD

I am leaving FCO and changing planes at ORD with destination DFW.

I am scheduled to arrive at ORD at 3:00 and depart for DFW at 4:30. I am thinking this should be fine. What do the experts think?

I am leaving FCO and changing planes at ORD with destination DFW.

 

I am scheduled to arrive at ORD at 3:00 and depart for DFW at 4:30. I am thinking this should be fine. What do the experts think?

It'll be tight. Very tight. An hour and a half is the minimum I would allow WITH Global Entry. Without, I would give myself two hours at minimum, and 2.5 to be a bit more comfortable.

You will arrive in to Terminal 5, and some gates are a hike to the immigration area. Lines can be slow, but they do have kiosks to speed it up...but, they can still be slow. You then have to wait for luggage, go through customs (which can take 10 minutes with some of the lines I've seen at ORD), re-check your bag (generally quick), get on the train to switch terminals (which can be a few minutes wait + the ride of 3-6 minutes depending on your terminal), re-clear security, get to your gate. That's a lot to do in 90 minutes, if your plane is on time (and I haven't even factored in the 10+ minutes it can take to get off the plane depending on where you are sitting. If you're in the back of a 767, it can easily take 10-15).

But if you already have your ticket, what does it matter? You're stuck with it and have to hope for the best. They'll put you on the next available flight, but that does not always mean the very next flight.

I originally had 2.5 hours and flight was changed.

I noticed the DFW/MIA/ BCN flight changed and had it adjusted, not realizing the return flight change until now. I may call to see if it can be changed, but figure since I accepted it earlier I am SOL.

So after I go through customs I assume they will have a courtesy check? right after I go through customs?

I agree with Zach1213. It's doable but if you can change it that would be better. Any delays and you are out of luck.

Before calling the airline check for yourself and see what other options might be. Use their website or ITA matrix (you can search by airline). The worst way to end a trip is to miss your connection and be stuck getting home hours (or days) later than planned.

Good luck.

My most movie like flying movies have all occures at ORD. Last July , I had over 2.5 hours to connect to a SAS flight to CPH. My flight departed from MSP. I originally had a 1.5 connection and I changed my flight because I was worried.

Conclusion- terrible thunderstorms in Chicago and delays across the board. We left over 1.5 hours late -arrived ( with my 3 kids in tow ). We ran , and I mean ran , across the airport . Had to get the train , terminals far apart , when got to the gate plane was already boarding. Had I stayed with my original connection , pretty darn sure I would have missed the plane. We had a group of 4 , high season , one flight a day , and a tightly planned schedule in CPH that I would have hated to miss...

I fly through ORD a lot. And have experienced far more delays there than any other airport ( when my plane needs to connect there I mean.). Lots of weather issues. And the airport is big with long distances between terminals.

I would want more time for sure.

I went through ORD from MUC last week. I have Global Entry and it took me about 10 minutes from the time I got off the plane to exiting customs/immigration. OP should be okay even without GE, unless the flight is late or she gets unlucky and her flight arrives at ORD at the same time as a lot of other international flights.

I'm with Zach on this one. I have connected from Europe through ORD to DFW or ELP many times and it just takes time. It's very unpredictable. Sometimes it has taken over an hour just to crawl through the immigration line --major reason we now have Global Entry.

I have Global Entry and it took me about 10 minutes from the time I got off the plane to exiting customs/immigration. OP should be okay even without GE

It's very unpredictable.

Unpredictable is right. While I generally connect through ATL and do have GE, I will share this:

Past couple of years I've come back into the country through ATL 8 or 10 times. I have GE so it never takes long, but most of the time the regular line has been minimal and I probably could have gone through in 10-15 min max, even without GE. Last weekend was a different story- had my kids with me so couldn't do GE. Waited in regular line which was ridiculous; it appeared that several inbound internat'l flights landed about the same time. It took us about 1/2 hour to get to a kiosk; then they were getting backed up at the point where you show your kiosk receipt to go through so they were keeping people from even entering the kiosk area, despite there often being 6 or 8 kiosks available. Finally we got through to collect luggage and clear customs and waited another 20 min for bags to begin coming out on the carousel. By the time we got ours and waited in the line to go through customs it had probably been close to 1.5 hours since the plane arrived at the gate, and we still had to go through security and get to our departure gate. We happened to have plenty of time as we had a 3+ hour connection, but my point is that the past 8-10 times there had been little to no line and bags came through quickly, and then this time the lines were long, moved slow, and bags took forever. As Alaskanb said, it's unpredictable.

I agree about the unpredictability. As I posted on another thread-we made a connection through Chicago about two weeks ago which originally allowed 1 hr and 25 min to make connection from CPH/ORD to ORD/MCO (DFW is better, more flights in general). We took only carry on knowing this would happen and were rewarded when there turned out to be a separate immigration/customs line for persons with only carry on. It moved pretty fast and you end up right in the terminal near the train. The flight also landed about 15 min early and we were given TSA pre-check (do not have GE) so we got to our domestic flight in under an hour with no real lines anywhere. We were happy but another time, none of this might work. We have encountered the situation where several big international flights land at once and it takes forever to get through immigration no matter what nationality. We sprinted to our next flight but many families with children did not.

Also true in Chicago is the problems if bad storms come in. On our flight to CPH from ORD two weeks before that, a bad storm rolled in and the airport was closed down until it passed. Our "safe" 4 hour layover evaporated as we sat at the end of a runway in St Louis. We arrived at our gate just as our group was boarding (then another bad system came through and we sat on the plane for an hour waiting to leave). Bottom line: Get a connection time you are comfortable with and hope for good weather but hedge your bets with things like GE, etc if you can because the unpredictable stuff is not the fault of the airlines.

Are the flights booked? What would you do if the "experts" say it's not enough time? Pay the change fee? Or are you just looking for reassurance? It's a tight connection. If you miss it, AA should put you on the next flight with available seats to DFW, but that may not be the very next flight. What is your itinerary after DFW? I assume this is on your trip home after a cruise.

I agree that you never know at ORD. I once scheduled a flight for my DIL from CDG with the first US stop at ORD, (2 hour layover) and it wasn't enough time. She missed her connecting flight.

If your flight is not booked then I would not do this.

It's too tight a connection for an international arrival.

I can't see spending part of the cruise worrying about this so if it was me I would not do this.

Keith

I originally had 2.5 hours and flight was changed.

 

I noticed the DFW/MIA/ BCN flight changed and had it adjusted, not realizing the return flight change until now. I may call to see if it can be changed, but figure since I accepted it earlier I am SOL.

 

So after I go through customs I assume they will have a courtesy check? right after I go through customs?

In my opinion, there's no "may" about this option. I'd surely may the effort. Remember the saying, "Don't ask. Don't Get."

I'd also encourage you to be the most gracious you can possibly be. Admit the fact that you didn't check the return flight when the outbound changes came through. Explain that those changes consumed all your energy. Be charming. Get the agent on your side. However, if the agent keeps saying "no" ask to speak to a supervisor.

Finally, can you identify anything about yourself that may be useful in pulling off this change to a later flight. My husband is almost blind and we've had reasonable luck in similar situations by explaining that fact. Standard rules and time allowances simply don't apply to our situation. Is there something in your life?

I suspect there are plenty of flights between ORD and DFW so you should have options.

I'd rather spend 3 or 4 hours between flights waiting to get on a plane for which I have a reserved seat than taking the left over seats on a later flight if I miss the original. YMMV

Other factors to consider:

How many are in your party?

Do you have travel insurance?

If insurance = yes, what does it say about missed connections and travel delays?

Do you have time to get global entry and are you willing to do so? For your entire party?

Do you or any in your party have any kind of status with the airline or a hotel chain?

If this last is yes, it might make life a little easier.

Other factors to consider:

 

How many are in your party?

 

Do you have travel insurance?

 

If insurance = yes, what does it say about missed connections and travel delays?

 

Do you have time to get global entry and are you willing to do so? For your entire party?

 

Do you or any in your party have any kind of status with the airline or a hotel chain?

 

 

 

If this last is yes, it might make life a little easier.

OP is connecting, on AA (only airline that does FCO-ORD and ORD-DFW), ORD-DFW. Odds are they will get home that day, even if they miss the connection. While it may or may not be the very next flight, AA has hourly flights between these two hubs. I don't really see the need to get GE or worry about hotel status on this connection. While I don't see OP making the connection, I also don't see them spending the night in Chicago unless things go very wrong.

I originally had 2.5 hours and flight was changed.

 

I noticed the DFW/MIA/ BCN flight changed and had it adjusted, not realizing the return flight change until now. I may call to see if it can be changed, but figure since I accepted it earlier I am SOL.

 

So after I go through customs I assume they will have a courtesy check? right after I go through customs?

As I read all of these posts I come to the same conclusion.

I would call the airline.

I would explain that you originally had a 2.5 layover and this one is too short for your liking and that you are only calling now because you didn't catch the wrist time around that the return flight changed.

No one can promise you that you will be OK with this one. The problem when you have a connection like this one is that if something goes wrong you are likely in trouble and none of us can predict whether or not something will go wrong. What can go wrong?

Flight takes off late due to weather, security, mechanical issues, originating flight is late or many reasons.

It takes longer than expected to get your luggage.

Customs stops you. They do stop some people.

Lines are long going through immigration.

I am not sure about anyone else but things do go wrong and I have seen people who didn't have a long connection literally screaming at the immigration people because they were going to miss their connection. That did no good and it looked like they were on the verge of getting arrested.

If it was me I would change it unless you are fine with stress and don't mind going through the frustration of likely being jet lagged and having to deal with getting new flights (if you can that day) and all of the frustration that missing the flight will bring should you miss it.

Keith

OP is connecting, on AA (only airline that does FCO-ORD and ORD-DFW), ORD-DFW. Odds are they will get home that day, even if they miss the connection.

Agree with your statement, "they'll get home that day" but I disagree with the "if" part of "if they miss the connection. Their stop at Chicago is their arrival point in the US so that will add passport control and Customs. Passport control is a big unknown unless they're enrolled in one of the Trusted Traveler programs. Going through Customs itself is a big nothing for the average returnee, but having to wait to reclaim their luggage will eat into their 1.5 hours significantly. The international arrival is definitely a complicating factor.

I can only repeat that I'd rather spend 3 or 4 hours between flights waiting to get on a plane for which I have a reserved seat than taking the left over seats on a later flight if I miss the original booking. I hope the OP succeeds in changing her itinerary ahead of time. If not, she should console herself with the frequent flights between ORD and DFW, knowing she'll probably need to get on one of the later ones.

Agree with your statement, "they'll get home that day" but I disagree with the "if" part of "if they miss the connection. Their stop at Chicago is their arrival point in the US so that will add passport control and Customs. Passport control is a big unknown unless they're enrolled in one of the Trusted Traveler programs. Going through Customs itself is a big nothing for the average returnee, but having to wait to reclaim their luggage will eat into their 1.5 hours significantly. The international arrival is definitely a complicating factor.

 

I can only repeat that I'd rather spend 3 or 4 hours between flights waiting to get on a plane for which I have a reserved seat than taking the left over seats on a later flight if I miss the original booking. I hope the OP succeeds in changing her itinerary ahead of time. If not, she should console herself with the frequent flights between ORD and DFW, knowing she'll probably need to get on one of the later ones.

I agree with much of what you have said.

I arrived to ORD from an international flight originating in London. The line itself to get through immigration took well over an hour. Why? Because about 15 minutes before we got in the line there were a couple of flights that had large contingents of people from countries other than the USA. At that point the lines for USA citizens were not very long so they allowed them to get onto those lines. Well by the time we arrived the lines were massive and the lines were slower than usual since many of the people arriving spoke very little english and that added to a very lengthly process slowing down the line.

You just never know. OP could have a very little line to wait on or something like we did.

Keith

So, I just wanted to come back and let you know I was able to get my flight changed back to the original 2.5 hours between flights. Hopefully that will give us the time we need.

Thank you everyone for your input.

Excellent.

Keith

So, I just wanted to come back and let you know I was able to get my flight changed back to the original 2.5 hours between flights. Hopefully that will give us the time we need.

 

Thank you everyone for your input.

Terrific!