Chicago O'Hare Airport

Customer Reviews

3 star Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 345 reviews
3/10
3 star Skytrax Rating
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1/10

"lazy, rude, and disgruntled"

(United States)

Not Verified | The first thing I noticed was that employees in every area were lazy, rude, and disgruntled. They leaned against walls and chatted about their social plans while ignoring travelers. I believe the employees may purposely misdirected you if you ask for help. They tell you to go in the opposite direction. The airport must be managed by the same types who run Chicago. Masses of travelers bottleneck at crucial checkpoints where clearly it needs to be staffed by several employees, only one or two employees check documents when hundreds of travelers are trying to move to connecting flights. I don’t recommend that you ask anyone for help because they will lie or treat you with terrible rudeness. The entire airport is filthy, covered in food debris and dirt. It’s a little piece of Hell.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJuly 2018
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"avoid this mess"

(United States)

Trip Verified | Typical ORD experience late in by an hour delayed out twice so far, travelers have experienced two gate changes and I suspect the final act of uncaring rudeness will be a cancelation. Take my advise - and I know this is hard too do - avoid this mess. Yes it's worth driving to alternative airports, yes it's worth timing headaches. Do not fly through this aeronautical gyer.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJune 2018
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"disorganized, unhelpful disgrace"

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | I sincerely hope I never have to travel via this airport again. It is the most disorganized, unhelpful disgrace I've ever encountered and I've travelled extensively including 3rd world airports which function far better than this place does. I had the misfortune of transiting through O,Hare on my way back from LAX, which isnt much better. On arrival in T1, I looked for the "In Transit" signs or directions to any sort of "Transit" desk or information. There was none. I walked for what seemed miles, looking for some sort of information or advice on how to proceed. The flight information board didn't show my connecting flight either so I had no way of knowing where to go or which terminal I should be looking for. The information desk was unmanned. Eventually I found a young lady who was on a security checkpoint. She advised me that I should make my way via shuttle bus to Terminal 5. Having done so, I then stood for 11/2 hours at security before I reached the gates only to find that there were no flights form my carrier (United). Again, I spent ages trying to find someone to speak to for information. Eventually I found a woman pushing a trolly. She advised me that I should be at T1 as that's where United fly from. By now my 3hr transit window had all but gone. I returned to the shuttle bus and the Queue was over 200 people deep. I approached an official with a yellow jacket on who was supposedly in charge of the queue and explained I have an extrememly short connection, he refused to allow me on the bus and told me to join the end of the queue. I had no option but to barge through or I woould miss my flight. Eventually I made it back to T1 and through security AGAIN and eventually to my gate with 5 minutes to spare. Frustrated, harassed and sweating. An absolute disgrace! No information and some very unhelpful staff. I don't blame the young lady I spoke to at T1, it was not her job and she made an honest mistake but the rest of the staff where totally uninterested and rude.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitJune 2018
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"unorganized, chaotic, and hectic"

(United States)

Trip Verified | This airport is the most unorganized, chaotic, and hectic airport I have ever been to. I have flown through Chicago twice - the first time my flight was delayed for 6 hours and I didn't get to DFW until 4am the next morning, and this time my flight was delayed 5 hours and then canceled. I slept on the airport floor and my flight was rebooked to next day making it a 21 hour layover when I was only supposed to have a 3 hour layover. Now we are sitting in the airplane waiting for departure but now we cannot take off from the gate until the gate agents tell us we can. We are currently 30 minutes past our departure time. I have never been more frustrated with an airline, an airport, or the customer service received. This airport needs some serious help with organization and efficiency.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJune 2018
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"can’t cater for passengers after 8pm"

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | Arrived at O’Hare Terminal 5 on Monday evening around 8pm after a long trip to get there. We were hoping to get through security and then sit and have a drink and a meal as our flight wasn’t till 11:40pm. By 8:30pm nearly all the shops, bars and restaurants were closing or closed and we couldn't find nowhere serving food. The one Hudson shop open had queues snaking around the shop continually and was the only place available to get any kind of food. The services were completely inadequate for a large airport! If you can’t cater for passengers after 8pm - don’t have any flights from this time.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJune 2018
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"an unnecessarily cumbersome system"

(United States)

Trip Verified | My husband and I arrived at the International terminal with baggage having been checked in Great Britain. We were connecting to another US flight. We had to pick up our bags and then turn them in again (all we did was carry them over, no checks occurred along the way, why can't the airline handle this along with any additional checks of our luggage?) Then, we were guided onto buses that took us out of the security zone, requiring another time through security. Unfortunately, some duty-free liquor we had purchased after clearing security in Britain had not been sealed as required, and we were forced to check it for an additional $100 fee and we almost missed our connecting flight. If we had known about the additional security clearance, we would have made sure the liquor was sealed as required or bought it in time to put in checked baggage. But never in international arrivals elsewhere have we had to leave security just to keep our original bags checked. This seems an unnecessarily cumbersome system that needs to be fixed. Until it is, we will never again book an international arrival into O'Hare. You have lost our business. For the sake of others, please see that airlines warn people that they will have to enter security again at O'Hare, so they need to be careful about liquids they acquire after initial security clearance.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitJune 2018
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
no
1/10

"the worst organized airport"

(United States)

Not Verified | I am a frequent traveler (bi-weekly flyer), and ORD was by far the worst organized airport I've ever experienced. From the food choices to the unorganized airlines to small terminal seat areas. Chicago O'Hare Airport is at the bottom of my list, and do not recommend this airport to anyone - experienced traveler or not. Doesn't seem like the airport staff care either. If they did, things would improve. It's extremely disappointing this is one of the Chicago airports. This has made my trip a very bad experience.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJune 2018
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"either rude or unhelpful"

(United States)

Trip Verified | We had a connecting flight here between London and LAX. It was a horrible experience from beginning to end. Good thing our flight from London was an hour early because it took us 2.5 hours and we barely made our next flight. Every employee was either rude or unhelpful, and there were no visible signs to direct us. When we arrived we opted for Mobile Pass because they recommended it on our prior flight saying it would speed the process. The airport wasn't equipped for it and employees had no idea what we were talking about. We ended up in a long line for it after having a woman yelling at us for being in the wrong line. Several loud monitors blared Olympic-like music along with a weird "American pride" video which felt like something you'd see in North Korea. Picture this with a loud woman yelling the same thing over and over in the background and combine it with sleep-deprivation after a 9-hour flight. Welcome to America. There were multiple lines throughout the following process, from customs to another security checkpoint. All were very long with unhelpful rude employees. There were no visible signs telling us where to go. We ended up lost several times and nobody would help us except for a few volunteers in yellow shirts. We were then loaded up like cattle onto a bus just to get to terminal 1 after waiting in another long hot line. We then had to cut in line at security because the line looked like Disneyland and by then (2 hours later) our flight was already boarding. When I asked a TSA agent for help, he said he couldn't help me and that our only hope was to "ask everyone in front of us if we could go ahead of them", so we had no choice but to forge our way through hundreds of very angry people. We ran to our gate and barely made it for our next flight. We will avoid this airport next time.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitMay 2018
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"Completely inadequate questioning"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | My husband and I travelled to Chicago to attend a friend’s wedding when I was 5 months pregnant. For this reason alone we were taken aside and spent 3 hrs waiting to be questioned by customs officers. After a long flight I sat on a hard bench with no food watching customs treating people like they were sub human. At one point two officers high fived after they had upset one lady! Our questioning consisted of whether we were trying to have a baby in the US (“no we are only here for 10 days for a wedding”) and then lots of questioning regarding why we weren’t trying to have a baby in the US (“because we have a house, jobs, family, the NHS and we are just on holiday!”). He couldn’t believe we had free healthcare in the UK (perhaps do some research). At no point did he ask us whether we had insurance or to see our return flights. Completely inadequate questioning! Rather than question pregnant women for hours perhaps you should look at changing your laws so that anyone who has a baby there doesn’t automatically qualify to be a resident (if what he told us is even accurate). I won’t be returning. Really poor reflection of Chicago which is a beautiful city.
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitJune 2017
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"worst airport I have ever been in"

(United States)

Not Verified | Absolutely worst airport I have ever been in. Staff and security are rude and they don't tell you when they close check points at night and expect you to know already. So you get to stay outside the terminal all night. Will not travel through here again. Not to mention floors were dirty. The custodian vacuuming went down the aisle leaving food and drinks under the seats.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitMay 2018
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no