Understanding the Chicago O'Hare Airport

In part one of this article, the general simplicities of O'Hare's history and my first observations of working there were laid out. The best way to understand O'Hare in it's entirety is not only to explain it, but to tell the stories and tell the impressions left by the events. It's in all of this that will tell everyone the story of getting along in Chicago O'Hare. I have a method in which I'm going to do this, and start doing it now.

As mentioned in part one, O'Hare started with three terminals. Once in the airport, getting around became easy because the pedway has always connected the three terminals. As it has always been, terminal one has always had the largest amount of passenger traffic coming into and leaving from the pedway. It is this passenger load that has caused a nicely persistent breakdown of the "moving walkway" at the terminal one end of the pedway. One great complaint has always been that in the extreme weather, passengers and employees alike have always had to leave the safe surroundings of the terminals to go from one terminal to another.

The above mentioned problem was no more beginning in or around the mid-nineties. Relief from this major inconvenience came in the form of the "ATS" - Airport Transit System. ATS is an unmanned train that works on electromagnetic theory exactly as a monorail does. ATS brought relief from more than just having to weave in and out of inclement weather, it brought relief to those who could not for whatever reason make it through the terminals by foot. ATs also links the far away parking lots E and F with the entire airport via a stop at the new terminal five. Terminal four was used as the international terminal for many years until the nineties when it was transformed into the "Shuttle Transportation center". Terminal five was designed to be a luxurious place with as many amenities as it could hold, such as a food court, gift shop, duty free shop, and of course the various airline clubs for the first class passengers.

The food court in terminal five has always been the best for cost purposes. In this author's opinion, this is likely because of the cost spent on international travel by consumers. If you go into the rotunda building that links terminal 3 with terminal 2 and the "G" concourse you will find the food cost much higher for food that is filling but in the opinion of many....substandard. Terminal five contains the various levels of security / law enforcement in the form of U.S. Customs and Immigration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Bureau, a Chicago Police Desk, AED boxes for fast first response, and all other measures. As is well known, TSA operates the checkpoint here as it does all the checkpoints.

One other noticeable difference about terminal five that stands out from life in the other terminals is the level of service. You are more apt to be treated several degrees better than anywhere else in the airport. Even the aviation service company responsible for assisting in handicap access provides a higher level of on - time, courteous service. As it is in the other terminals though, don't expect many of these individuals to speak English very well. The company I refer to is Prospect Airport Services. Prospect has not made such a great name for themselves at O'Hare because of their lack of effort to solve language barrier problems by providing ESL training to their employees. One big trend that has been consistent with these companies is that their employees are paid a substandard wage with expectations that do not match their level of training nor responsibilities. Because of the shotty relations in this context, the bad attitude gets transferred to the passengers as if the passenger is a bother.

Call it indifference. I've watched these employees who were at one point my co-workers just leave their assigned passengers cooling their heels. Special service companies are also responsible for what most airlines call their "Unattended Minor" program. For those not familiar with this concept....a minor of a certain age up to their early adult age are called unattended minors. They are flying under the supervision of the flight crew with special insurance purchased by the parents who also have to sign special consent forms. From one lay - over to the next until the child reaches their final destination, they are handled by these companies. For most companies, it is in their contract that the airline is supposed to provide a certain level of supervision. What I've seen happen time and time again has been disastrous to the child and family in the emotional and financial sense.

Both the special service companies and the airlines have been responsible for all sorts of mishaps such as a child getting on the wrong flight, lost children, children not supervised properly, and children not being fed. I've even seen kids go without their medical routines being adhered to. I've seen wheelchair passengers allowed to travel when their medical condition required special care beyond just a simple wheelchair escort which has resulted in injuries to the passenger and the employees. Other incidents have dealt with careless employees who have allowed situations to occur in which wheelchair accidents have injured people.

To be fair, I have to say that these incidents should not be understood to be widespread regardless of the service company. Over fourteen years you see a lot. You see so much that it becomes impossible to keep count of everything good and bad. I'll leave other details pertaining to special service companies alone for now because I want to deal with getting around the airport. The aviation service companies just came into mention for this brief time because they are an integral part of O'Hare's functioning.

Arrival at the airport and giving yourself time to get around has not changed, same rules as always. I have to say this because no one ever seems to listen to it: GET TO THE AIRPORT AT LEAST AN HOUR AND A HALF AHEAD OF TIME! Everyone knows the lines once you get there and everyone knows that you need to account for extra time to fight traffic if you are driving, or give enough time for the CTA to mess everything up like always if you're on the Blue Line.

More in part three