O'hare vs. Midway vs. Milwaukee vs. Rockford (Chicago, Albany: college, to live)

[4122]

Originally Posted by JTW2013

True but because O'Hare is so much bigger than Midway, you are more likely to have a long walk to your gate at ORD than at MDW.

Also if you are flying UA, your flight will probably go in and out of the C concourse which is a hike.

I fly United sometimes and have had to walk very far due to going in and out of Concourse C. When I flew to Boston in October, my gate was originally at the very end, then my gate got moved all the way to the beginning. I finally arrived at the new gate after a long walk from the other gate and I made it just in time for boarding.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by 4122

I fly United sometimes and have had to walk very far due to going in and out of Concourse C. When I flew to Boston in October, my gate was originally at the very end, then my gate got moved all the way to the beginning. I finally arrived at the new gate after a long walk from the other gate and I made it just in time for boarding.

Airplane placement relies on the airport layout sometimes really. Like at the AA terminal at O'Hare, the middle of it curves in a way that can't accommodate larger airplanes, so you'll see some regional jets (but not the really small ones) or smaller airliners in the middle area which just happens to be near security. The larger airplanes may be placed further out.

Other times it has to do with scheduling and delays. Consider a flight out to Miami which is being delayed because of bad weather in Miami. The plane that was originally supposed to come into that gate afterwards, which may be your flight, now has to go to another gate when they told that Miami flight to sit at the gate instead of push away.


I think air travel is one of the things that people take hugely for granted and expect things to go smoothly. When you really think about it, the entire process can be super complicated. It is said that ATC has one of the most stressful jobs on the planet. Just think about the fuel lines freezing at O'Hare - all of a sudden everyone is stuck at the gate and tons of incoming flights are going to be delayed as things get even more backed up.

As far as which airports are better - even more factors in that. Midway may offer less complexity in how things work, but if something gets delayed there's pretty much tiers of airports. I had 3 flights in one day canceled from EWR to ORD (Halloween when it was very windy in Chicago). I looked at the flights on pretty much every airline from EWR to both ORD and MDW, and they were all either very delayed or cancelled entirely. However, I was able to get on a flight out of LGA and other flights were not canceled because LGA is actually given more precedence than EWR as they have larger flights and transport more people on average.

[JTW2013]

As I wrote earlier, I always prefer SWA and MDW but I think delays are about the same at both airports. The key to avoiding delays is to take the first flight out for the day.

Weather impacts both airports equally. SWA pads their flight times so it makes them seem to have less delays. SWA also boards much faster than other airlines.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by 4122

I fly from O'hare whenever I need to head out of town, but it seems like O'hare is getting more and more expensive to fly out of. I live around 30 miles from Midway and 50 miles from the Milwaukee airport. I have another house around 30 miles from the Rockford airport, but it's a shorter drive than from my house in the Chicago suburbs to Midway because of traffic. Would the other airports be cheaper to fly out of, including parking at an airport?

Also, I went to Boston in late August and in mid October and my flight got delayed each time there and back. Is this because of the airport or is it because of American and United (airlines I flew from)?

First, Rockford is nearly never an option. There are few commercial passenger flights out of the airport and most are down to the west coast of Florida and Mesa, AZ. There are also a lot of charters. One advantage of the airport is that parking is free.

Milwaukee is a great airport to use in that it has a good number of flights and parking is significantly less - $6 per day for economy. It is very convenient for the N. Suburbs but less so for the NW suburbs. They have some great fares on Frontier Airlines.

I prefer using MDW as I can get from the gate to Midway Park and Ride ($9 per day) in 30-40 minutes whereas O'Hare usually takes well over an hour. That makes up the 10-15 extra miles it took to get to Midway.

As for me, my new home airports are TUS, PHX, and AZA, all of which are easier to navigate then the Chicago airports.

[DougStark]

Don't overlook Rockford airport if you're extremely budget minded. Allegiant Airlines flies out of there and has rock-bottom prices. I've never flown them, but I plan to this year (even though their aircraft are older.)

[Ace Rothstein]

Midway is a much nicer airport than O'Hare. Rockford and Milwaukee are just too far to be worth traveling to.

[4122]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I fly AA every week - unless it's a mechanical reason, it's not the airline's fault. It's air traffic control, which isn't affiliated with any airlines. The last delays I had out of O'Hare were when it was really cold last month and the fuel lines froze, but most airlines felt delays as a result. Usually delays have to do with air traffic and that is on ATC.

This reminds me of a converstion I had with a friend who was visiting Chicago the other week. I told him the same thing and he just said "Whatever, I've never been delayed with United out of O'Hare." 1 hour later I got a text with him that said "My United flight is delayed " I had to laugh because I know from flying every week that delays are usually on air traffic and not the airlines themselves.

Also, many times the delays you experience have nothing to do with the airport you're flying out of. An example would be a flight I had from EWR-ORD in September when there was a massive thunderstorm extending from Ottawa to northern Texas. It was so big and disruptive that O'Hare got backed up and delayed tons of flights coming in from all over the place. In fact, it was so backed up that I had coworkers on the earlier flight that actually flew to Kansas City, turned around in mid air and flew back to Chicago just to buy O'Hare more time to get the flight in. At the surface, it may have looked like EWR sucked, but it was actually because of ORD.

My delays were actually mostly mechanical. Only 1 delay was because of air traffic.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by 4122

My delays were actually mostly mechanical. Only 1 delay was because of air traffic.

Just goes to show you how much of a crapshoot it is. In the last 6-7 months I'd estimate I've been on over 50 total flights from AA, and only one of them had a mechanical problem which was caused by cold weather freezing all the fuel lines at O'Hare which affected all airlines. And the fuel line wasn't even on the airplane - they just couldn't fuel it because of that.

[4122]

Originally Posted by DougStark

Don't overlook Rockford airport if you're extremely budget minded. Allegiant Airlines flies out of there and has rock-bottom prices. I've never flown them, but I plan to this year (even though their aircraft are older.)

Wow I can't believe how low the prices are! It doesn't fly to and from Boston though; my daughter goes to college there, so I fly out there quite a bit. However, it's perfect for going on a vacation not outside the country. It would be hard to get my daughter to come, but I found flights not cheap, but cheaper than flying from Chicago in general.

[4122]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Just goes to show you how much of a crapshoot it is. In the last 6-7 months I'd estimate I've been on over 50 total flights from AA, and only one of them had a mechanical problem which was caused by cold weather freezing all the fuel lines at O'Hare which affected all airlines. And the fuel line wasn't even on the airplane - they just couldn't fuel it because of that.

Half of my flights to and from Boston were AA and half were United. All of the mechanical problems were because of engine issues and 1 was an issue with the door.