ORD Terminal 5 discussion (more recent posts)
 

Going to bring this thread current....

This Wednesday March 20th, will be the formal ground breaking ceremony for the Terminal 5 expansion and by default the start of the TAP program that will roughly end in 2028/2029.

Great! Any renderings of what the expanded part of T5 would look like? Or more of the same?

I wanted to see whether anyone could help me by providing an update about the current status of Terminal 5.

1. During the last time that I went through security in T5, there was a dedicated Precheck/business class lane but it was not open prior to my departure. Is it open at some times now? Would it likely be open on a late Sunday afternoon?

2. I have run into really long security lines in the past at Terminal 5. Are they still generally really long (particularly during the late afternoon)?

3. Can it be faster to take the shuttle bus from Terminal 5 to another terminal and then take the Terminal Transfer Bus back to terminal 5 than waiting in line at Terminal 5 if one has Precheck?

4. Is the current Precheck in Terminal 5 when there is no dedicated lane regular Precheck, or "Precheck Lite" (where one still has to take things out of one's bags, etc.)?

When I went through at about 17:50 on Thursday last week the Pre-Check light was open and not busy. I cannot speak to other times and it would be a matter of luck whether the T3 to and fro would be equally crowded.

Conceivably, yes, it could be faster. If you check in online and don't check a bag, then you could even go straight to another terminal, clear security there, and then take the shuttle bus to T5. But I have no idea whether the TSA will let you go thru Pre at another terminal if your flight is leaving from T5, and it'd be a tremendous waste of time if you were turned away at another terminal and had to go back to T5.

I also don't know what the PreCheck Lite situation at T5 is, since tsa.gov doesn't list a Pre checkpoint at T5.

There is only Pre-Check light at T5 as of last week but you can enter at another terminal and use Pre-Check as long as you don't have checked bags with you and your BP has Pre-Check on it.

Thanks. Given the fact that TSA agents seem to operate with something approaching papal infallibility, and the fact that we're going to have our 10-month-old son with us the next time we fly from T5, I don't think I'm chancing going through security at another terminal. I don't think I'd be able to convince my wife to (a) go to check bags at T5 (b) take a shuttle from T5 to T3 (c) clear security at T3 (d) take an airside shuttle back to T5 just to get Pre - she wouldn't even walk to the other end of the terminal at MEM to go thru Pre when we flew out of there a few years ago.

It could conceivable be a heck of a lot slower, too. I don't think the Terminal Transfer Bus is running every 5 minutes. Isn't it more like every 20 minutes?

Thanks everyone for the responses. They are greatly appreciated.

Does this mean that one has to stand in the same line as everyone else even if they have Precheck? What happened to the line that used to be Precheck/Business/First class? Did they do away with this?

That line is still there (I used it) and it feeds into Pre-Check light, though I don't know that they offer it to everyone. It may help to tell them you have Pre-Check. Since I am over 75 I get it either way.

Flew out of ORD T5 mid afternoon on Thursday, 12 September. Had Pre-check (P-c), but T5 has P-c lite as others have described - you are handed a laminated card at the TSA identity check station that you give to the TSA luggage scanning agent when it is your turn, and you do not have to remove your shoes and go through a metal detector, as opposed to a scanner. The queues to get through TSA identity check and luggage/personal scanning took 45 minutes on the aforementioned date.

A word of advice to the FT community regarding T5: Avoid the last queue to the right that goes towards the scanner/metal detectors. I noted that airline crews use that queue and are given priority - go to the beginning of the line and everyone behind them has to wait. There was a large airline crew that did this, resulting in at least an extra 10 minute wait for passengers in that queue.

This queue is also used for disabled passengers and their families. Another reason to avoid it.

Thanks for the update for Terminal 5. When it works for my flight hours, I now generally find it faster to go through security in another terminal and take the Terminal Transfer Bus to Terminal 5.

I am surprised that there still is no separate Precheck lane now that Frontier has moved to Terminal 5.

Me too. When I can help it, I refuse to go through security at T5.

When I was last through in late September, there was a full Pre line established, complete with another gatekeeper to check you had been given one of the laminated Pre cards. Much different and better experience than the last time I was through in June.