Has ORD improved? (delays, etc)
 

I lived in Chicago from 2006 to 2009 and flew United out of ORD. I now am based in New York, flying Delta from LGA and JFK.

Now, every time I go back to Chicago and fly in and out of O'Hare, it has been a breeze. Yes, traffic from the city out to ORD is the same as it ever was. But the terminals seem less congested (though I only see 1 and 2), I haven't had a significant non-NYC-related delay in years, and it seems I'm always #1-3 for takeoff after a brief taxi.

Is it just me? Has the delay and overcrowding situation really improved? I was flying out of ORD when the new runway 9L opened, but as I recall at the time, it was limited to being used only for poor-weather landings, due to noise complains from Park Ridge. Is it used more generally now and have this and the other runway configuration changes made for an easier go at ORD?

In a nutshell, yes it has. Overall it's due to the adjusting and reduction of schedules by the airlines and the new runway. (it's still used for arrivals only)

Both UA and AA have reached the point where the Regionals are actually flying more than mainlines are, so spacing for both arrivals and departures aren't as great.

What you also see is a shift to canceling more than delaying a flight in the event of bad weather.

Knock on wood I am ORD based and haven't had a single delay over 30 minutes this year. Even the usually horrific Mesa has been (reasonably) on time. Taxi times on landing have also deceased drastically due to new runway configuration. ORD is no longer plagued by as many structural delays but, of course, snowy Friday afternoons in January will still turn Terminal 2 into a refugee camp....