ORD experience
 

Start from the beginning. Left my home in heavy rain and drove 1.5 hours to PHL. Wasn't worry because I know my flight will be delayed, sure enough it was. Luckily, they put me on a previous flight that was suppose to take off 3 hours later but delayed till now, and I literally got on the plane in 20 minutes. (Sidenote: PHL Admiral's Club is OUTSIDE of security area, didn't realized this until I entered, urgh.)

Arrived at ORD (earlier than original schedule no less). Very pleasant surprised that it's very easy through and through (maybe it's 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning.) Walk up aisle H and found Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Figure what the heck, CX probably isn't open up yet (I'm already checked through in PHL, will elaborate more on this.) So ate a ripped off 6 oz. Steak dish for $25 USD, killed one hour eating and browsing the net.

Afterwards, took the ATS to Terminal 5, again no problem, very easy. Got off and found CX to the right. It's 11:55 a.m. and already there are 50+ people waiting in line (mostly Vietnamese), luckily no one in the First Class line. Asked a CX guy what time will they start checking, 12 p.m., great, 5 minutes. Waited at First Class line.

CX has a total of eight counters, and they are located right between Swiss Air and Air France/KLM. 2 self-service, 1 First, 2 Biz, 3 Econ. One of the self-service counter is next to First, and actually got served by her (she was ready first and waved for me.)

I asked her to give me the Swiss lounge and Arrival lounge invitations, and then I asked if there are empty rows to assign me to. She gave me the invitations but warned me that although she can assigned me to empty rows, it's likely to be filled later and advise me to stay at my exit row seat, so I did. Overall, the entire service was overly friendly and she was very chatty.

A sidenote, she told me "have fun in TPE there's a surprise waiting for you there" but I wasn't going to TPE so I asked what's that about. She got confused and called for her supervisor. He came and checked the screen and told me to wait as he needed to go confirm something. Of course I chatted up the gate agent and got her to say to me what does it say on the screen, and she said, "there's a note that says 'upgrade, HKG to TPE', that is why I thought you were going to TPE." Anyway, the supervisor came back and said to me "have a nice day Mr. X, all is set." Oh well, no op-up as I know the plane is not full anyway so wasn't expecting anyway.

Went through security, ok, this is the WORST. There are two lines: First/Business and Economy. There is literally nobody at First/Business the entire time I'm lining up (a good 20 minutes), however, the Economy line is real slow. The TSA guys are busy chatting and I don't know what happened (maybe first time flying?) but the people in front of me are afraid to do anything without the TSA agents approving. They waited their belongings until the agent said it's ok to put on the belt, waited at the metal detectors and the TSA agents are chatting and didn't even tell them to walk through, finally the TSA agent impatiently told the people "come on, come on", and it may not sound like much but each person took at least a good 2-3 minutes to clear, and there's only 7 in front of me but it took 20 minutes to be my turn. This is suppose to be a "light day", I hate to see the Economy security line at Terminal 5 on a busy day....

Entered the Swiss Lounge. To the left is First Class and to the right is Business Class. All I can say is that it is very clean, nothing else. Two 4-chair soft set with a table in the middle, Three 2-chair dining tables. A couple came in, same it, and went to Business Class side instead. I don't blame them. Only fruits and salads were served at first. 30 minutes later they bought out Chicken Piccata, Garlic Roasted Vegetables, and Ragatori Marinara (there is a sign for Beef Wellington, but it never came out as I am typing...)

No bathroom on First Class side so have to go to Business Class. There it is a bit bigger, but not much more to offer.

I was lured here by the triple miles offered, but will I come back? Well, from now till November I will. But it will depend on the security line, experience coming back (clearing customs, transfer baggage, making connection in 2 hours), etc. But, so far so good.

I am interested to hear how the entire ORD-HKG route works out for you.

Just remember that the incompetence of the TSA isn't CX's responsibility!

ORD experience part II - flight
 

The CX lounge attendant is very friendly and personally came in to informed me of boarding time, and even offered to escort me to the gate, which I accepted. They are only boarding First/Business/MPC/OW first so there is literally no line as I walked right in.

Saw the new Biz class, very nice but to tell you the truth for some reason I think it's smaller than what I have expected. Anyway, again a male FA offered to take me to my seat, which I declined. The flight crew is probably the friendliest I've seen on my entire CX experience. I see the male crews offering to take all the old people's luggage for them and walk them to their seats, even one case holding the hand of an old lady (who is more than capable of walking herself.) Found that to be very pleasant. And the entire flight the experience is the same, excellent service. I asked for J snack and was promptly given. When they pour the Pierre into my cup with ice the male crew even waited for the bubbles to subset to make a second pour before putting it on my tray, nice.

One thing I notice is the LOW CAPACITY. I would say the Y section is barely 40% full, many people have full rows to sleep in (I have all the exit row to myself, but too bad about arm rest...) J section I saw there's only 8 people, didn't see the F side but still, 40% Y and 8 J? I don't know how CX can sustain this kind of capacity.

As DM I got served meals first, and noticeable that the FAs made a personal attempt to make sure I needed everything.

The meals are Dinner - Breakfast (or Refreshment as it says on the menu), and dinner is served 2 hours after take-off, and Refreshment is served 3 hours prior to landing.

Finally, head to Arrival for the first time and I must say, it's a very nice tiny resting lounge. You get a menu of entrees to choose from (6 dishes) and the Japanese Udon with friend pork cutlet I ordered was great, and the salad bar is decent. Soda choices limited and I can't find any alcohol, what's up with that? Ate, took a shower, head home.

Final verdict: great service, great fare, great ride, but the freaking security at Terminal 5... I talked to a few American pax on CX and all of them said they are trying ORD for the first time (their usual ports are SFO or LAX) and they said the security will be the reason they won't be coming back. They told me I'm lucky it only took me 20 minutes, most of them took 1 hour and one of them took 1.5 hours and barely made the flight.

I don't understand why everyone is complaining about the security line. I hate the scanners, but it took me about 5 minutes to get through...

I did hear about the long check in lines for the first flight due to a full load...but flights out of ORD these days have less than 100 pax on them...

I was on 807 last Sunday, and I hope it's gonna be the same when I fly this route again this Sunday (9-11:()

I've not flown out of ORD T5 in many many years but my experience at T3 is that security usually takes only a few minutes and is generally hassle-free (by US standards).

Good for you if it only took you 5 minutes, but everyone else took 1 hour or more. I don't understand what don't you understand.

Well, it's only my first T5 experience, and it only took me 20 minutes, but like I said, all others in the lounge/flight as we talked complained about it as everyone said it's one hour, some 1.5 hours, and one person barely made it and he thought he was safe when he had "more than an hour to go", guess not.

But hopefully you guys are right, it's more of an aberration than norm.

The Return flight
 

Just to round out my report. The return fligth HKG-ORD-PHL which is now officially HKG-ORD-MIA-PHL.

Anyway, checked-in, and once again the flight is barely 40% full in Y, and at least half empty in J. The ISM is superb that she asked me if I'm "comfortable" where I am, noticing that this is an invitation to get a full row I replied "I'll sure take a row of seats if you can find me one", and sure enough she did by asking a FA to reserved a row for me so others can't grab it. Then was when I asked for J snack she actually offered J entree! I didn't take it because I prefer noodles anyway, but it was a great gesture none the less.

Landed at ORD on time (was hoping for early), and luckily I went back to my front exit seat 30 minutes prior to landing. The line is ok at first but the custom agents are all taking their time it's amazing. Had I stay back say as one of the last few Y pax I estimate at least 40-50 minutes. I was up the front and I had to wait 20 minutes.

Baggage transfer was easy. Right to the left as you exit customs.

Ok, the nightmare and why after the triple miles offered I probably shouldn't keep doing this route. There was light rain and of course my flight got cancelled "due to weather", and of course all other AA flights going to other cities have no problem taking off on time. They consolidated the onward PHL flights and I was pushed to tomorrow. Not going to take it and after a few back and forth they finally "found a seat" for ORD-MIA-PHL... urgh... at least I'll earn extra miles....

Well, that's it folks. Few things to recommend:

1) Sit as front as possible so when you disembark you can get to the customs faster.

2) Transfer is easy, ORD is really not as bad as I have experienced in the past.

3) Do remember there's always a risk taking domestic flights as airlines in America loves to blame weather when they need to consolidate flights to maximize profit.

Well then sounds like a good trip then how was ORD airport ? How does it compare to LAX or JFK in terms of efficency

Custom is slower than JFK and that is hard to do. Luggage ok the same. Worth mentioning the cart is free at ORD. Freaking 5 dollars at JFK.

40% utilization would be an example of high capacity. Since capacity means the maximum amount something can contain, and since only 40% was used they have excess capacity but low consumption, or low utilization, not low capacity.

Hmm maybe next time I have some points laying around and I need to go to Asia, I'll use them to get a ticket to ORD and try it out of there, not that the service is any different than other CX flights

ORD Questions for newbie
 

This is my first post on FT although I have been following a few different forums.
Cathay Boy, thanks for your description of your ORD experience. It is helpful for me as I am flying out of ORD on CX for the first time next month. You mentioned going through metal detectors at T5. I thought they had AIT installed there. I am stressing a little about the AIT/pat downs because of horror stories I have read. It seems like the easier thing to do would be just to subject to the AIT instead of opting out but I haven't even allowed my dentist to do diagnostic x-rays on my teeth for years! I would rather minimize radiation exposure until these AIT machines have been tested in use for at least 5 years. Do you have a choice of metal detector or AIT at T5 and T3?

You can never choose which device to screen through. In T3 they have both devices but the agent will direct you to one and that decision is final. You can always opt out and I have done it when not in a hurry. First you must wait for an agent, then perform the pat-down, then they perform a more rigorous (punitive) search of your personal items. If you opt out I would expect to add about 10 minutes to your security time.

When I was there they sent everyone through metal detectors and AIT wasn't used.