A near miss at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport

Ba-bye ORD!

Just had the closest call while travelling, ever!

I left Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in my rental car at 05:45 on a Saturday morning, knowing I had a four hour drive ahead of me to meet my 12.10pm flight from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

I knew I’d be cutting it close, but getting up any earlier would have wrecked me for the very long day ahead of me which included arriving in Atlanta – somewhere unknown to me – and navigating my way to my hotel downtown.

The drive passed easily enough, with no major traffic issues but, after arriving at the car rental return, everything ground to a halt, eating into my time buffer.

Finally, divested of car and money then taking the shuttle to the airport, I arrived at Terminal 5 at 10:45 to discover that there was only one entry into Security. Now it’s a big terminal and I counted four other potential entry points… all closed on a busy Saturday in September. One wonders which genius came up with that strategy?

After joining the one line leading to a 90º right turn, the corridor opened up to reveal that this one line split into five lanes: TSA assistance; and four lanes of regular schmoes. These lanes stretched into the distance and turned again 90º to the left, so there was no visible on how long it actually was.

This was my first flight with Frontier Airlines and I was travelling carry-on only, so I was ahead of the luggage game. The kicker was that I had actually paid extra to board first to ensure that I had room for my bag onboard. However, the reality of my making it through security and getting to my gate on time was closely turning into a fantasy.

The line was very slowly inching forward and I guessed that it was probably about 500m (1640ft) long, but still four lanes deep.

Now you might wonder why I was so concerned, I could have gotten another flight, surely? Nope, my itinerary was so tightly planned, on this trip through ten states in five weeks, that any delay or deviation was destined to screw up the next three weeks of travel through eight more states.

Calling out to the TSA Agent in the assistance lane, I asked what I could do and he said, “Ask permission of those ahead.” So that’s what I did.

I started walking through the gap, excusing myself and continuing, stating that “TSA told me to do it,” if anyone got shirty. Very quickly a woman and her son followed in my wake and eventually took the lead, which was fine by me, she can field the nasty looks and comments.

Getting to the front of the line, I discovered that only one of the three security booths and scanning conveyor belts were operating – which completely explained the lines – but then again I ask why?

After explaining to the guard at the closed security booth in front of me how short of time I was, things moved very quickly. All of a sudden I had my very own passport control and conveyor belt – wherein I forgot to get my toiletries out but it went through anyway! – and I was through into the sweet freedom of the concourse. That this portal to freedom was subsequently shut down once we passed through baffles the mind. I pity those poor sheep people still waiting in line. I have a feeling that we were some of the only people getting to our flights that morning.

My elation lasted about a nano-second when I realised that I had burst out into the concourse at Gate M1 and my flight was leaving from Gate M40… yep the VERY LAST GATE! If there had been a shortcut between M1 and M40, things would have been very different. Ah, well, as Doris Day sang, “Que sera, sera.”

Thank goodness for the wheels on my Samsonite Upscape Carry-On, which I swear had smoke coming from them after my madcap dash throughout the entire circumference of the terminal (see map below, which shows it’s not a small distance). Even after stopping briefly to fill my water bottle – 1st Rule of Travel: “Do it when you see it.” – I arrived at the gate in time to be the first person to board!

Yes, I was a hot, sweaty mess and I’m sure that my epic run through the terminal entertained those monitoring the security cameras, but damn it, I made it! Definitely, the most stressful 30 minutes of my life!

Moral of the story:

Always give yourself more time than you think you’ll need to check-in for a flight or be ready to rumble and run!

Fun Fact: The bathroom on board the Frontier Airbus (A321Neo) was as wide as a cubit – my forearm from elbow to fingers – plus about two inches! Narrowest ever!