threeoh

The "TTB" bus (airside between T1, T3, T5) returns March 1:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34926532-post352.html

Pickups are at B1 in T1 and M13 in T5, plus some pickups in T3.

Sounds like you can go both directions, so if arriving domestic or pre-clearance in T5 you could hop right on, or if arriving int'l you could choose to re-clear TSA in T5 and take the TTB instead of taking ATS (landside train) and clearing TSA in T1/T2/T3.

Hours are 11:30-21:30.

zak_aviation

How doable is a connection of 1h in ORD coming from DEN to Europe all with United? To my understanding, the DEN flight arrives in concourse B and the flight to EU departs from concourse C (looking at historical flights). If I lose it (in case of delays or not), do you think UA will rebook me to a different nearby airport with a flight leaving the same day (because I'll miss train connections, etc). Thanks!

GUWonder

One hour connections for UA to UA is generally easily do-able for me even with having to go between B, C, F. I have also done AA and DL to UA/LH at ORD with scheduled one hour “self transfers” using separate bookings, but those could have gone wrong more easily if check-in for the ORD-Europe flights wouldn’t have been possible online.

If the UA-UA connection is on the same ticketed booking, then if you miss the connection, UA can rebook you for free to a different flight to get you to or close to your originally ticketed destination, but to get a change of destination may be more of a push and would be less certain. If UA says they can’t rebook you to catch up with your train, what I would ask them to do is to book me to the city I desired and put a long/overnight transit at the different city but then adding continuing flights to the originally ticketed destination.

At the EU airports, even for transfer luggage, airlines should not be transporting unaccompanied passenger checked-in luggage unless it’s the result of an involuntary separation. While they don’t ordinarily deliver such bags landside when a passenger no-shows for the onward flight, they can be asked to do so and perhaps eventually the bag makes it to the baggage belts or baggage office.

jsloan

UA employees aren't stupid. They're extremely unlikely to agree to that -- and the chance is zero unless "the city you desired" Is a *A hub or otherwise makes sense in some way.

Of course, your return flight will have been canceled, but…

GUWonder

“Extremely unlikely” has not been how I would characterize this given my experience with doing this at ORD. It would be the exception for me if they were not to agree to do this very thing that I’ve had UA@ORD do for me and my travel party members on multiple occasions even when UA premium check-in was about to have its last staff member close up for the night — which has often been at least an hour or more before the last Star Alliance flights leave ORD for Europe.

I travel with mostly one way tickets when flying UA to/from ORD for my regular European jaunts. But good point for those on round trip tickets.

zak_aviation

I appreciate the insights! Very helpful. The idea is that upon arrival in Europe, I would get a train to go to a different city, but since let's say I missed the ORD-Europe flight, I could ask for to be rebooked on a flight to the city I was supposed to arrive by train (which happens to be a *A hub btw). I can see this being up to the agents, as you said. I can see the issue with the checked bags arriving in the original destination airport in Europe and me on my way to a different one eventually

However I didn't quite get the following:

GUWonder

Let’s say I was booked DEN-ORD-FRA-CPH in order to catch a particular train to get somewhere beyond CPH. The UA flight arrives late enough into ORD that I miss the gate close cut-off for ORD-FRA. If UA were to say they can’t book me to an airport closer to my European destination in line with not wrecking the rest of my travel plan with the trains, I would do what I have done before and ask UA to book me ORD-FRA-ARN-CPH with an overnight layover at ARN with an early morning ARN-CPH flight the day after arrival in Europe.

JimInOhio

Airside transfer bus to/from T5 officially announced today for resumption March 1. Frequency is every 15 minutes.

https://www.flychicago.com/business/...px?newsid=1749

JimInOhio

How long is your layover at ORD? The airside bus doesn’t start running until late morning and the ET flight is also in the morning so you’ll need to go landside, take the train, and reclear security at T5.

susiesan

Right now my layover at ORD is shown as 57 minutes. UA 677 arrives 9:18 am and ET 575 departs 10:15am. But the flight time for UA 677 MCI-ORD keeps changing so I could end up with more time at the airport.

Is 57 minutes going to be enough time to make the ET flight to ADD? Today UA 677 arrived at gate B9. How long is that walk, B9 to Terminal 5? If it is really that tight of a connection, should I carry on my luggage? With less than an hour would the bags make it? We are going o na sari in Botswana and we will be off in a remote area not able to get the luggage if it has to be delivered the next day.

JimInOhio

In the context of the thread, you won't have any chance at all of visiting the Polaris Lounge.

More important, I don't think you even have a legal connection. Isn't D->I 1:15? Regardless, 57 minutes is cutting it close and if you're on time or early coming into T1, you very likely make it but I wouldn't stop for anything before you get to the ET boarding area. Maybe call UA and ask if you still have a legal connection and, if not, can they get you into ORD earlier.

jsloan

MCT from UA to ET at ORD is 1h40m at the moment, although when they restart the airside bus they may reduce it.

fumje

Given that the airside bus will not run at all hours the airport operates, can they really reduce MCT? Are there time-of-day dependent MCTs set?

jsloan

They could do it by flight number if they so chose. I don't know that there's a way to set MCT by time of day. That said, the reason I called it out is that the 1h40m MCT was effective as of November 2020, so it occurred to me that it might have had something to do with the changing logistics at T5.

Regardless, a 57 minute D-I connection at ORD isn't a great idea even if it were within a single terminal, let alone involving a T1-T5 transfer.

fumje

Ah, I see, makes sense. Just curious about how the MCT might be adjusted. For this, I agree, 57 minutes isn't advisable. The airside bus would help if it could be used — I believe starts at 11a, so won't work here — but even then it would be too tight for comfort.