BearX220

Landed from overseas at 615pm about four weeks ago and the line for returning US citizens without GE was +/- 75 minutes. Beyond that, the physical environment was an embarrassment: no signage, LED information monitors dead and blank and hanging uselessly, only 4 out of 24 booths staffed, shattered or missing ceiling panels all over, and of course no kiosks. We'd just zipped through YUL and LHR in seconds, and T4/JFK normally has me processed and on my way in two minutes, all using modern kiosks, but O'Hare was emphatically third world.

It was our first time returning to ORD from overseas since the pandemic, and the experience has us weighing the value of either sticking to EI in future, because of DUB pre-clearance, or booking longhaul into NYC or IAD instead, then hopping home to Chicago on a separate ticket. (It should be said that ourT5 longhaul departure was no walk in the sun either -- gates M11+ were 70% construction site.)

Is it always so bad? Will things improve before the Global Terminal opens circa 2030? Worth it in your view to change travel behavior to avoid T5? It was a hell of a welcome home and a terrible first impression for Chicago to offer our foreign visitors.

JimInOhio

Four weeks ago? You're rivaling the speed of the construction crews at T5 doing all the work you had to navigate through. (j/k)

goodeats21

I have Global Entry, so don't personally share the pain, but have definitely noticed the same long lines for immigration, and the sorry state of the facilities. Can't recall an arrival in the recent past that didn't have long lines for the regular immigration process.

I am sure the ongoing remodeling work will improve the look of things a bit, but having gone through some of the "New" sections, it is not a radical difference. Still a (usually) long walk thru a tunnel.

Still, can't believe it would be better to arrival at a different airport then endure a separate flight to Chicago.

aisleorwindow

It really is embarrassing. The other challenge is that the set up is different every time I go through there.
In December they had all non-GE/MPC in one line, regardless of citizenship. What's up with that?
We arrived right after a LO flight from Poland and the pushing and shoving was impressive. Thankfully we used MPC.

In May, it was a totally different set-up. Both on the GE side and the main area. Some signs were in direct conflict with each other.

Like US Citizens --->
and then a 100 yards later it would be
US Citizens <----



CLT on the other hand, was a pleasure. Well organized. Helpful staff. Clear signage.

GUWonder

It’s not always that bad, but it repeatedly continues to be bad at times.

For years now — including before the pandemic — ORD immigration/customs has at times been terribly backlogged like this for those not using GE. [For a while, it was GE + MPC that would speed things up for me at ORD.] Things became much worse at ORD when ORD got APC kiosks. Then things got better for a while after they removed the APC kiosks. But as CBP increasingly went to Simplified (Biometric) Arrival at ORD, things became increasingly worse with predictability and speed to clear CBP and get landside at ORD.

BearX220

Yes, nearly two hours from airplane seat to T5 curbside. It is hard to believe T5 wins multiple (IMO way premature) design awards. It's woefully primitive and underprovisioned.

aj411

and don't count on GE helping at many times. I have it and have waited for 30-45 mintues in line to even get to the few Kiosks that seemed to be working and then the manual face verification. The last time after the kiosks we were sent through with everyone else regardless of GE or nonGE status for that manual check (though those of us who sadi GE to agent were waived through fast once we got to the front of the line. The crew was standing in the same long line and not happy about it.

The only guarantee at ORD T5 is it will be different the next time you come through.

I avoid ORD if possible for an international arrival but when I have to, I leave a long long layover

cheltzel

+1

The only reason I fly in and out of ORD is I live nearby. Having flown in and out of ORD both international and domestic departures, I would never recommend using ORD for most I-D connections. An exception would be an international arrival to one of the three domestic terminals (basically either AA or UA) from a preclearance airport and on a single ticket. So, in reality, a domestic connection (and where your bags are checked through).

I've been flying in and out of T5 since it was built. International arrivals at ORD have always been an afterthought. And the facilities were never properly designed or funded IMO.

GUWonder

I have been lucky so far with GE at ORD, but CBP has managed to make even that worse than it used to be. The CBP mess at ORD has meant DL/SkyTeam and MSP gains from me on some trips — business that would have otherwise gone to UA/Star Alliance or AA/Oneworld at ORD.

JimInOhio

How much of the chaos and frustration, would you say, is due to all of the construction in immigration and how much is a "new normal" for going forward? Thanks.

BearX220

That, as the kids say, is what I'm talkin' about. We have no SkyTeam status but I think it would be less stressful to make landfall at DTW and transfer to DTW-ORD/MDW. If we can get into MDW, maybe even faster to get home, too.

GUWonder

This provides insight into my thoughts on what is driving this situation:

I can only hope that one day sooner than later there is a “new normal” with ORD international arrivals that isn’t a repeat of what CBP has already done to muck up arrivals even when and where construction is not reasonably available as an excuse.

GUWonder

I wouldn’t call today a new normal for ORD international arrivals, but got the hand-baggage-only travel party to go from plane door opening at T5 to T3 departure gate within less than 20 minutes. All without even using GE, as GE appeared to be taking longer/moving slower than the non-GE, Simplified (Biometric) Arrivals line for the bulk of the unwashed masses of US citizens when we pulled into the area. The CBP was using orange slips of paper today for this at least and sort of filling out traveler declarations onto it based on traveler’s verbal answers/statements and things like passenger count and so on.

There was a bit of a shock that they could even do a food pickup stop at the main T3 food court given this was a self-connection situation using separately booked tickets to do what airlines’ MCT wouldn’t allow.

ords

This thread has been an interesting read and yes, this is all about construction since the decision to totally redo the FIS hall once it was found out none of the current FIS facilities met the current CBP standards within the US. Yes, it's bad at times even the CDA knows it and so does CBP. Ideally CBP should be staffing up to 40 booths for this summer, but the Southern border issue still is pulling away many that otherwise should be working booths. Total completion is aiming for the end of the year through massive micro phasing of projects.

Queuing does change often as it pertaining to the work taking place on the harden border setup. It's only when the east side of the FIS gets to completion that additional GE kiosks are added. CBP works with the agents doing queue management but signage is one item that just falls through the cracks.

GUWonder

I’m still in semi-shock over having the international arrival to domestic self-connect at ORD take us under 20 minutes yesterday from plane door opening to getting to T3 gate as hand baggage only travelers. That too when using the regular US citizens line with the FRT+orange paper customs slips process, taking the ATS train and using the PreCheck line at T3. Instead of worrying about missing the separately booked onward flight until the very last minute, we even managed to order food in-person at the T3 food court to takeaway and ended up eating it in the terminal before boarding cutoff. I feel like I need to keep the arriving and departing boarding pass printouts, flight history printouts, and a restaurant receipt and frame them together for the occasion and see if I’ll ever be able to beat this record again at ORD.