layover at O'Hare... where to meet a friend?
 

I will have an hour layover at O'Hare airport between a flight from DC and a flight to Paris. Is it feasible to meet a friend who lives in Chicago for coffee (at the airport, of course)? If so, does anyone know the terminal well enough to suggest a meeting place? I'll also have the same layover on the way back, but I'm assuming most of my time will be spent clearing customs. Can any of you frequent flyers out there help? My trip is on Feb 2nd... Thanks!

With a 1 hr layover I would not recommend you exit out of the secure area. Boarding for the Paris flight will begin at least 30min before departure. By the time you account for the walk from your arrival gate outside security (5-10min), and the re-entry back through security, back to your departure gate (5-15min), that'll burn most of the 1hr. layover.

Non-travellers are not allowed beyond security either, so your friend can't meet you (legally) at your arrival gate.

An hour layover between flights is not enough time because you won't really have the entire 60 minutes. Assuming you have your boarding pass for your Paris flight and your flight from DC lands on time you'll find O'Hare is notarious for long taxi times. Let's also assume your plane has a short taxi and reaches the gate 10 minutes after the scheduled landing time it will probably take you another 10 minutes to deplane. You'll probably have to make your way from your arrival gate which will be in one terminal to the departure gate which will be in another terminal - figure that will take you at least 10 minutes and as much as 20 minutes. Now your flight to Paris will begin boarding about 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure. That only gives you somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes for your "lunch". Add to that the fact that your friend cannot pass the security checkpoint without a boarding pass which means you'd have to go into the main terminal to meet your friend. Obviously you won't have enough time to re-clear through security and get to your gate. Really, you'll only have enough time between flights for a bathroom break, a quick snack and maybe to read a chapter in a good book. Forget about meeting your friend. On your return flight your hour layoer is cutting it very close because you'll spend virtually all that time clearing immigration, waiting for your luggage, clearing customs, rechecking your bags and boarding your flight back to DC.

Thank you both for your insight... I was really hoping to see my friend, but you've convinced me it won't be this trip. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to plan a trip to Chicago! (Or a longer layover next Paris trip)