Silly question about O'Hare (or other airports)

[jpcher]

Is the day before Easter a super busy/crowded day at airports? I figure the busy day would be Friday before Easter, but I could be wrong.

I'm asking because DD#1 is flying back from New York, landing at about 3:00 p.m. at O'Hare the day before Easter.*

Normally, when I'm picking people up at the airport I have them call me when their plane lands and I leave my home as soon as the call comes in. On good traffic days this works out as perfect timing.

Due to the possible heavy traffic, I'm tempted to ask DD#1 to take a cab home, but this leads to my silly question about O'Hare -- Does she need to call a cab? Or are there still cabs lined up at the curb for anyone to take? How do I find out this information?

Cab cost from O'Hare to home is about $25.




*No, not DD#2 that went to France, just in case anybody was wondering.

[joraemi]

Chicago is notorious for weather delays. Easter or no Easter!

 I typically just follow th eflight of whomever I'm waiting for on ifly.com.  I can actually see whe the aircraft is on a little map.  Then I know exactly when they land.

 Other than weather, I can't imagine that once your DD is on the ground she should have an issue.

[gollymolly2]

About 1000 things can cause flights to be delayed. You can plug in her flight in any number of websites to get realtime updates about her landing. You can wait in a cell phone lot until she's ready. Or there are always tons of cabs at o'hare. Google is your friend on airport logistics.

[wonderfullyanonymous]

There are usually cabs hanging around outside, also, the El train has a stop out there too.

[Lovemykids]

flightaware.com is a great website for tracking flights in realtime.  You can set up an alert and the site will email you 45 minutes before a flight is supposed to land, which might help you with timing your departure for O'Hare . . .

[CharlieBraun]

There is a regular cab stand, usually with anywhere from 10 to 50 cabs lining up, to pick up passengers and take them where.  Follow the signs to "Ground Transportation."

[thedudeabides]

O'Hare (like most airports) has a fairly decent website that can actually get you all that information: http://www.flychicago.com/Pages/LandingPage.aspx

[Lynnv]

There is a regular cab stand, usually with anywhere from 10 to 50 cabs lining up, to pick up passengers and take them where.  Follow the signs to "Ground Transportation."

That is what I have done when needing a cab at O'Hare (and LAX, Dulles, Heathrow,  DIA and countless other airports).  It really only doesn't work at the tiniest airports. 

[cicero]

I don't know that area at all and I don't know where you live in relation to the airport but in my modest travels I've found that using the train/subway/air trains to get out of the airport is usually the most efficient way. Not alwasysd cheapest but usually fastest. On a recent trip I had to get from Newark airport to long island, i uses the aiir train and trains and trains and got there in a little over an hour. By bus or shuttle service it would have taken at least double if not more.

Your best bet is to go to a site that specializes in travel advice like trip advisor, because you get advice from real people who have done the trip.

[Piratelvr1121]

My only experience with O'Hare is as a layover and they were packed to the gills and that was just a normal day in August!  That and man, it is one HUGE airport! 

[joraemi]

My only experience with O'Hare is as a layover and they were packed to the gills and that was just a normal day in August!  That and man, it is one HUGE airport!

My last flight through O'Hare I happened to have my pedometer on - it was 0.5mile between the gates for my connecting flights.

[Piratelvr1121]

My only experience with O'Hare is as a layover and they were packed to the gills and that was just a normal day in August!  That and man, it is one HUGE airport!

My last flight through O'Hare I happened to have my pedometer on - it was 0.5mile between the gates for my connecting flights.

I can believe that.  Actually that trip on the way out from BWI I had a layover in Cincinnati on the way to Cedar Rapids and on the way back had a layover in O'Hare.  Wow, for both places. I'm glad I had an hour layover and didn't have to rush to find my next gate.