No doubt. I need more comfortable shoes.

One time, my trip ended with an international arrival into M38. A 737 flight to my home, BNA, was delayed at C17 so I went through imegration and took the train to T1 as quickly as I could to see if I could catch it. When I arrived at C17, the agent had just come up the jetway from closing the flight out.

Next flight was an Am.Eagle at G20 so I headed over that way. It was a CRJ700 operated by Skywest. Airplane was there and I was given a seat assignment as soon as I checked in for the jumpseat (good sign). There was a young Skywest F/O also commuting home on the flight and we stood around talking while waiting to board. Boarding time came and went with no announcements. He looked it up on his phone and saw our crew was inbound and hadn't arrived yet. They were in the north holding pad waiting for their gate to open up--G20!

I figured I might as well head over to F6 and try for the UX E175. The Skywest F/O followed me. All that was left was the jumpseat and he got it because it was his company's airplane. I headed back to G20. AA had found another parking spot for the inboud crew and we were eventually on our way.

Like I said, I need more comfortable shoes!

Is MPC open at ORD with GE closed, and does anyone know if I can drop off a bag at the transit desk (airside) in T5 checked for AC?

I think I remember some UA reps there, but don't remember if there's a thru check for all airlines, or just UA and AA. Thanks

As long as your bag is checked through to final destination, it can be dropped off at the T5 baggage drop after customs and before exit to landside (including AC).

I have this PNR as a reward redemption except with MUCH tighter timing.

HND-ORD - NH112 arriving 08:20
ORD-YYZ - AC502 departing 09:50

I am for sure going to miss my connection right? Considering taking only carry on baggage for my trip.

T5 arrivals should be very quiet that time of morning ... there's a JAL flight around the same time but I believe other than that the next earlier non-preclearance international arrival is UA from GRU way back at 7am and the next is KE from ICN at 9:40am. Likewise the morning rush for TSA at T2 will likely have subsided (assuming current TSA woes are over by the time of your trip). So it's certainly not impossible, though I would not lollygag.

How is international connection security at ORD right now? I have a LHR-IAH-MSY next week and I'm thinking of changing it to LHR-ORD-IAH-MSY so I can avoid the IAH TSA meltdown

You would be going through normal security for anyone departing from ORD, which is reported to have long lines like many places.

If possible, adding a connection in DUB or YYZ/YUL, where you would preclear both US customs/immigration and security, would be your safest bet at the moment.

Though if things get bad enough the issues may be over by next week, who knows.