Lucia111

Hi All!
My relatives are coming in from New Haven into Chicago and then have to make a connection to go into Los Angeles, I don't know what the proper connection time would be. O'Hare is a beautiful airport though. Please help.

Dukey1

I don't know what the proper connection time would be.

Neither does anyone here because you have neglected to say exactly how long they actually have to connect or did I miss something in your post?

emalloy

OHare is a big airport so look at the arrival gate and see how close it is to the departure gate. I would want at least 45 minutes between flights maybe more.

ComeSailWithME

O'Hare flights run notoriously late. I would go with 2 hour layover to be safe.

J62

I have made 45min connections in Chicago many times, and I've missed 2hr connections. If flights are on schedule, as the majority are, then 45min is plenty if both are with the same airline.

If the incoming flight is late then all bets are off.

RoamsAround

Time of year could also affect connection times - if in winter and it's snowing both inbound and outbound flights could experience significant delays.

As everyone else has pointed out we need more info from you -

What airline(s)?

What time of day?

What day of week?

What time of year?

My rule of thumb - better to error on the side of a longer connection time. You can arrive early and the only downside is a longer wait between flights. Conversely, if you are 1 minute late for your connecting flight YOU'VE MISSED IT!

Remember too, Murphy's Law of Airports always comes into play. It states the shorter your connecting time the more likely your inbound flight will be delayed, the longer it will take for you to deplane and the departure gate for you connecting flight will be at the opposite end of the airport. On the other hand, if you have a longer connecting time, your inbound flight will arrive early, you'll be seated near the front of the plane and will be one of the first passengers to disembark, you connecting flight will be departing from the adjacent gate and the flight will be delayed making your wait time even longer.

sharona

If they are arriving from New Haven they are likely on a small plane. Usually airports stick the small planes at the end of a long terminal and it takes a long time to reach the main terminal area. I don't know that this is specifically true for O'Hare but it is for most large airports. I never schedule connections through ORD for less than 1.5 hours.

charsuzan

The majority of flights may be on time, but my experience with O'Hare has been on flights that were never on time. A 45 minute connection is very tight and could result in needing to basically run from one gate to another to make a connection. I would want more time allowed. I also learned to never make a connection involving the last plane out at night at O'Hare.

nytraveler

At O'Hare I wouldn't feel safe with less than 2 hours - esp coming in from a very small airport.

If in winter - with snow a possible delaying factor I wold leave more.

Was stuck there one night and luckily got the last shuttle to an airport hotel when all fights after 5 pm were cancelled due to snow coming from the west.

J62

The other thing that matters is what time of day. Small feeder planes that ply the crowded airspace of the northeast make many many flight legs each day, and any delay in the morning will just cascade through the rest of the day for that aircraft. For that reason I like to take early morning flights. If the aircraft has been on the ground overnight I have more confidence it'll depart on time in the morning.

One thing I do like about UA's phone app and website is that you can trace an incoming plane all the way back through the day to see if it's on time & make your own assessment of when to go to the airport.

AAFrequentFlyer

45 minutes for domestic-domestic
1:15 for international-domestic or vice-versa

It worked for me on over 6 dozen connections through O'Hare. I may have missed few but it was less than a handful.
That's part of travel.

Coming from a 2M plus miles flyer.

suze

Are these two flights on the same ticket or two separate tickets?

I always allow 2 hours to transfer at any international airport. But I don't like to stress out.

nytraveler

Well - I'm risk averse - and to me missing a flight is NOT part of travel. Have done it only once - and I was SO pissed about it. But it was part of one ticket and paid for by a third party - I would have taken a later connecting flight.

and don;t know my mileage - but hundreds and hundreds of flights.