ubernostrum

Sooner or later, either UA or AA is going to have to de-hub or at least significantly scale back operations at ORD. It's well beyond capacity, and no relief in sight. Cutting a lot of the RJ flying would be a big help.

makfan

Flying YVR-LAX-SFO tonight when the Eagle YVR-LAX portion canceled. Even though the EXP agent was willing to put me on another carrier there was not one seat available on a non-stop or a legal connection past 3:15 pm on any carrier they work with. I finally got them to change my AA ticket to another departure date, bought an AS ticket with an overnight in Seattle and then lucked out with an early arrival in SEA, a sprint to the N gates, and a super helpful agent who put me on the last SEA-OAK flight of the night. (Side note - when the phone agent is telling you to go to the ticket counter, but you are already inside the preclearance area, you are about to have a bad day. This was why I decided to buy a new ticket myself since I had to travel again anyway and it saved two customs clearances in the process.)

I'm like many of you - I book slack in my connections and bring work to keep myself productive. I just cannot stand running through airports, skipping meals or eating complete junk, and generally being stressed out every time I travel.

makfan

I would book a tighter connection at PHX than at ORD (ugh), MIA or DFW. Despite being pretty big, DFW is probably the most navigable of AAs mega hubs, but it is still a hassle having a tight connection.

cmd320

Neither will happen unless ORD becomes slot restricted, and seeing as how US airlines have the U.S. Government in their back pocket, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Once the ORD layout shift is completed that will significantly increase capacity.

Catbert10

UA or AA will de-hub ORD right after the other one goes first.

Actually, ORD has expanded in the last few years and has the capacity to expand further. Not all hubs can say that.

XLR26

From an article in today's Chicago Tribune re the latest runway that's set to open this Fall:

The runway is part of the city's O'Hare Modernization Program, the overall goal of which is to increase the airport's capacity to at least 1.2 million flights annually, or to roughly 3,000 daily, up from an average of about 2,400 flights a day now. Officials hope to reach the threshold without a continuation or worsening of the chronic delays that two runways built since 2008 have failed to eliminate.


Full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...mn.html#page=1

FWAAA

And similarly, either DL or B6 or AA will have to abandon JFK, as it's terminally overcrowded and delayed.

Actaully, there is some relief in sight, as the fifth parallel runway will open later this year and Chicago is still talking about building the sixth parallel runway. Even though ORD had more aircraft operations (takeoffs and landings) than any other airport last year, the number was still down by about 10% from the 2004 peak at ORD. There's plenty of capacity at ORD.

Exactly. JFK, SFO and LAX are overcrowded, and someone has to give up and abandon ship at those airports. I'm sure they'll get right on it.

The article mentions that UA and AA have objected to the planned sixth parallel runway, calling it un-necessary, but in a few years, I'm certain it will be required. Might as well get on it soon.

linglingfool

The real issue isn't gate capacity at ORD, it's the fact that the alleys between piers are often congested, leading to delays in pushing back or pulling into the gate.

(Also, for those of you running into the Trib's paywall, load up the source page in your browser, and delete the HTML entries for style data-dss-role="css" and reg-overlay.)

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Also for example that newest ORD north runway takes like 20 minutes to taxi back to the terminal. DFW also a couple of runways out in no man's land. The other issue in today's flying versus 10-15 years ago with the cut back in capacity there is often only one or maybe two flights from a hub such as ORD to other smaller stations. Think airports in the East such as RIC or OFR. You might be able to reroute through a double connection on US to PHL or CLT but if you have time sensitive travel that might not be much of a fix.

imapilotaz

Back in the day, I understood that Air Wisconsin used to base its spare aircraft in MKE instead of ORD when they flew for United Express. The reasoning was that it was actually faster to launch their "hot spare" in MKE and get it to the gate in ORD, then it was to taxi from their hangars on the far opposite side of the airport.

Having been a part of scheduling for multiple airlines in ORD, I can tell you I get that. Ops/MTC really dont want spares unless they can sit on a gate, as they take too long to bring over from the hangar areas.

Taxi times in ORD are horrible, especially for far flung locations at the airport.

imapilotaz

I had a DCA connection of 1:30... flight arrived 30 minutes late, bus took 15 minutes to board and leave for Eagle/US Express. Then it took another 10 minutes for bus to AA terminal, and got stuck behind a departing jet dropping another 15 minutes. I boarded 5 minutes before they closed the door.

I too echo the connecting times. I would always shoot for a 80-120 minute connection in LAX/PHX/MIA/ORD/PHL... I dont want <60 minute or >180 minute.

syndney

It's posts like this that really worry me.

After some schedule changes at COU and ORD, I have a 50 minute connection this summer on my first leg of COU-ORD-PHL-FCO.

Flight leaves COU and lands at ORD at 6:30 a.m. and AA flight to PHL now leaves at 7:20 a.m..Will be going from American Eagle/Envoy to AA.

I specifically asked an AA reservations agent about that connection when I called in to discuss the schedule change and was told that 40 minutes is the cutoff so I was fine.

Reading your experience makes my VERY nervous! I am hoping that early Saturday morning travel might help ORD be less busy. My PHL to FCO flight doesn't leave until 6:25 p.m. so I have a 8 hour layover. Just don't want the stress to start off the trip!!

AA-Flyer-SAN

It worked real well in DFW today (sarcasm). The ripple effect and cancellations were terrible.

linglingfool

The first flights of the day are the most likely to be on time. Since you have considerable slack for your PHL connection, I wouldn't be worried -- you'll either be rescheduled on a later ORD-PHL, or rerouted on the ORD-FCO direct.

cmd320

Flightaware is still showing an average departure delay of 80 minutes at DFW even now at nearly 9pm. The Centurion was probably an absolute zoo today.