mclachlan4321

Due to fly on this flight in a few weeks time. It’s scheduled to arrive at 18:15. I’ve had a few good arrival experiences at ORD in terms of immigration lines, but also lots of long waits. Is 18:15 a busy time for arrivals at T5 ORD?

GlasgowBlue

I arrived in ORD on this flight back in April. To my untrained eye it looked like 1 or 2 other international LH flights had landed around the same time so the immigration hall was certainly busy with longish queues.

However the queues moved quickly and it took around 30 minutes at most to get through immigration.

I was also doing my Global Entry Interview on Arrival that day and despite only 5 people being in front me that took just over an hour to be seen.

JMontpelier

I arrived on this flight on June 1. I have Global Entry, but the regular immigration lines were the longest I've seen in a long time. In addition to all the European flights, there are a number of Mexican/Caribbean arrivals at that time. It's peak summer travel, so expect a wait.

Furby

In late June last year it took us over an hour to get through immigration from this flight, and that is with Global Entry and US passports. It was a total zoo.

aristoph

Ugh I’m on AA91 right now, LHR-ORD. does the hand luggage only exit still open at O’Hare, and is it likely to be a better bet than Global Entry?

MaxFlyer

Is this site to check historical immigration queue times.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - CBP Airport Wait Times (AWT)

MADPhil

I don't know if it still exists but it used to have GE machines by it. There has also been a GE exit from the baggage hall, though it is often well hidden, which makes taking that route faster than if you join the regular exit queue.

London Dude

The last couple of times I landed at ORD it wasn't open.

mclachlan4321

I never knew there was a hand luggage only lane.

MADPhil

It was somewhat inconspicuous at the side of the corridor to the main hall. I think it was called one-stop because the agent checked you straight to the exit. It's use seemed to gradually fade away with GE and other improvements but it could still save a lot of time when there was no GE exit from the baggage hall.

aristoph

has it definitely gone now then?

GUWonder

It can be. Just varies. A couple of years ago, at around that time it could occasionally even be over 70 minutes for my travel party members at around the 5:30-6:30pm times.

Last month at around that time for me and related travel parties, it’s been anything from sub-10 minutes from plane door opening to getting to the land-side ATS train to change terminals (that too without using Global Entry) to c. 40 minutes. When it gets on the long-side with clearing the passport control check, it sort of is a wash if having checked luggage to claim.

1-stop for hand-baggage only passengers and flight crew is dead and has been dead at ORD for over 3 years for my trips. Haven’t seen it in operation since at least mid-February 2020 (if not even Q4 2019).

BearX220

I came in on the 297 six or eight weeks ago. We landed a little early and deplaned around 1800. Then followed a solid 75 minutes in line for immigration -- multiple other widebodies arrived around the same time. GE was not open, and only four of 24 interview booths were staffed.

The area was also, um, dilapidated: no signage, just hand-scrawled signs on white paper Scotch-taped to posts and walls; all LCD / plasma information displays dark and dead; ceiling tiles displaced or missing, wires hanging down, etc. It was like arriving in an airport recovering from a recent mortar attack -- an embarrassing first view of Chicago and the US.

It took us 90+ minutes to get from the airplane door to the taxi rank.

aristoph

So AA91 pulled onto stand at 1650h tonight and I was through immigration and customs by 1700h!

I have Global Entry and was doggedly following the temporary signs pointing to it. I walked past the ESTA entry line - almost empty and in a separate zone from the main area - and then ran into a mass of people tthat seemed to be the US citizens immigration line. It was crazy, filled the tiny hall and backed up into the corridor (the opposite way from where I had walked). I pushed through and the GE line was a single file roped-off area against the wall. There were maybe 7 or 8 machines, but no more than 15 people in front of me and the new facial recognition is so quick i barely waited at all. However if the GE line had extended (and it was building behind me) it would have spilled back into the general line and become very very difficult to find.

Reading the Mid West forum it seems that every entry experience at ORD is different right now, so I don’t know how much you can extrapolate from this but I would at least say don’t be afraid to push through to find the right line, whether that is ESTA or GE. It seems US citizens without GE are in the worst category.

mclachlan4321

I've always experienced long wait times at Chicago, however on my most recent trip, about 10 months ago, there was nobody in front of me - from aircraft door to reclaim in about 5 minutes. I must have been just VERY lucky that day from reading the replies on here.