My wife and her mother have 3h 45m at ORD between flights on a Wednesday, arr 120pm dpt 505pm on United. I'm thinking they have time to ride the El to the Loop, spend a half hour or so, and get back in time for their flight. My wife is somewhat familiar with CTA and ORD. They can check their rollaboards at the ORD Hilton, perhaps. What do the Chicago experts think?

Sounds dicey to me, especially if this is soon, while we're still in spring/t-storm season. Also, is it worth the hour and a half-2 hours on the L for 30 minutes in the loop?

Yeah, it's in 2-3 weeks. My mother-in-law doesn't get to travel much, has never seen Chicago, and I thought it might beat sitting in the terminal for 3-4 hours. And actually, to an out-of-towner, the L is an experience in itself, IMO. They are transiting MSP-ORD-LAX.

I will certainly defer to the local experts on this one, though. Just a trial balloon. Thanks for the advice. ^

If they're interested, my suggestion would be to standby to an earlier MSP-ORD flight to give themselves more time. You're about right at 30 minutes given that transit, though it could shrink if they get unlucky with the L, like just miss the train leaving ORD, wait 10 for the next one. If they got on a 10 or 11am out of MSP, they'd stretch their time to 1-1/2 hours or 2-1/2 hours. If they did 10, they'd be hitting the loop just in time for lunch. Time to either go up the Sears or catch a quick cab over to Michigan Ave for a little shopping.

I would say be heading to the L station about 2:00 before the flight to be safe (:05 to walk there and get downstairs, :45 for the ride, :10 in case just missed a train, gets you back to ORD about 1:00 early, plenty of time to get back over to T1 and clear security). Though if they miss their 5:05, there are more flights to LAX, so they could cut it closer if they really wanted to.

as one who used to ride the el blue line (same line that ORD is on) from Rosemont (last stop before ORD) to the Clark St. Station (Loop) on a very regular basis. The ride would consistently take 50-60 minutes. Plan accordingly.

3H45Min is not enough for transit on EL both ways and quality time spent in the loop, considering all the possible delay opportunities.

I'd say cab it (wed at noon, traffic shouldn't be too bad) from ORD to loop, spend and plan your steps of action when you are in the loop, and possibly catch the EL back to ORD and plan on spend 50min (which would be much more predictable than cab if you are going to leave loop 330-400PM and to ORD) on it.

Still a rush though every steps of the way......catching an earlier standby from MSP to ORD would be recommended.

The carry-ons may be a bigger issue to worry about. Does the Hilton actually let you check them?

I've usually been able to get form O'hare to Downtown in about 45 minutes. (I once made it from Hyde Park to the O'hare in an hour, with a bus from Hyde Park to the loop...) If it's just a quick exploration of Chicago, getting off at Clark & Lake would be a good idea - closest loop stop to O'hare. If time is really short, you may even want to take a quick look at Wicker Park.

CTA has been posting some drive times on the walk down to the L. If you are rushed and see that the drive time is short, then a cab may be worthwhile (though somewhere in the $30-$40 range.) However, I have seen hour+ drive times on Wednesday afternoons.

As long as some craziness doesn't happen, secuirty lines should be fairly short that time of day, so you may make it back in time even if cutting it close.

It's a bit tight, plan 1 hour each way on the El, plus the security and walk from the gates, etc.....I agree, if they can standby for an earlier flight and have 5-8 hours in Chi-town, that would be cool.....good luck