Unlike the other airlines and terminals, Terminal 5 gates are "Common Use" gates, meaning first come, first serve. Also international airliners generally clog the Terminal between noon and 5pm. Thats why its so bad for Southwest. Consider that ALL international flights except prevlesrrance Air Canada flights arrive at Terminal 5. Even the United and American Airlines international flights. While their international flights depart from the domestic terminals, not so for international arrivals. To complicate matters, when the Terminal 5 expansion is complete. Delta is slated to move from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5. It's expected that they will maintain slotted space. We will see what happens when the satellite concourses are built . Once they open, Terminal 2 will be demolished and rebuilt as a United and American ( and their alliance partners) international terminal. Deltas move to Terminal 5 aligns them with their alliance partner AIR France and KLM.
Know the real reason it’s so “bad” for Southwest is because they don’t have to pay the pilots why they’re taxiing, it’s that simple. It’s a problem of their own making it was their choice, They are not a victim
As an FYI Delta has already moved to T5 as of Oct 12th, they have the west side of the concorse and they handle themselve regarding gates but the T5 tower controls the ramp Space still. For the rest of T5 while it is Common use and the idea of it being first come first serve is not compelty correct. We still gate out the day with a schedule and we do that a week ahead of the current week. The only real time it is "first come first serve" is when theres majory weather events or issues resulting in major delays for mutiliply airlines and multiply planes are waiting for a gate. With that in mind AIR France and KLM are not gurantee to be gated near Delta, they are gated to where best suites the day for the most smooth operation possible.
@@mrAhollandjr Oh they have M2-M11, M1 is reserved for EAS which is not under Delta. One of the gates still MIA untill the bagbarn os removed and the jetway is added in.
Your observations really apply to all of O'Hare in general. If you like delays on any airline...O'Hare is always your best choice. I used to fly Southwest out of Midway and a colleague preferred to go out of O'Hare on an another airline. Same destination and departure times....and I would always end up waiting for him at the other end. O'Hare is congested, taxi times are LONG....and ground delays to take off are also long.
My experience flying Southwest into terminal 5 was much worse than the dozens of flights I've taken over the years from terminals 1 and 3. Terminal 5 is a unique form a torture and since I live in Chicago I get to help pay for the privilege.
Great video, but I actually like that Southwest has finally gotten into O’Hare. I love seeing the airlines expand and since I prefer ORD over MDW (I am only 1 hr from Chicago) I am actually quite happy for Southwest to finally exist here. Just like I can’t wait to see what the JetBlue-Spirit merger will allow!
@@ASAviation Yeah, it is bad timing. Very few gates to uphold so many routes. They shouldn't have people waiting on the plane for an hour. At least a good experience with the airline and in the air itself!
I'll bet you won't be so happy once you try actually it. 🙂 If you have to fly Southwest I'd recommend taking the extra travel time to get to Midway. You may save time overall. It's really that awful.
I flew Southwest round trip from Phoenix to O’Hare in August. I was fortunate to not have any issues, but the situation at Terminal 5 is a total mess. Long lines, not enough space and the walk to the baggage carousel is wild. I’m sure when renovations are finished sometime next year, it’ll be way better, but maybe Southwest should have waited until then.
It's really not that big of a deal getting to Midway. The Tri-State is 4 sometimes 5 lanes in both directions....at least most of the time you're wheels are spinning. I'd much rather be in my car and in control than sitting in a hot plane crammed into a seat with sick people coughing while waiting to taxi. To me sitting in a plane after push back or landing is one of the most frustrating things in life. It sometimes defeats the purpose of flying the route period.
I'm fortunate to live in the west suburbs so Midway and O'Hare are pretty much equidistant for me, but I vastly prefer Midway over O'Hare in just about every category I can think of. O'Hare just sucks! Whether travelling in or out or just picking someone up, Midway is faster to get in and out of and if there is traffic there are lots of surface streets to get there on. Planes land at Midway, and then they're at the gate in just seconds; none of that taxiing for 40 minutes after landing nonsense like at O'Hare. And finally at long last, the new security area at MDW has opened and the bad old days of lines all the way out to the CTA terminal are over.
I love SW, but the whole Ohare thing is a total debacle. The wait to get a gate is a real thing, security in terminal 5 is awful. TSA runs the Precheck line together with general security line. They might as well not even have a Precheck line. There are very minimal food choices in terminal 5 as well. It’s such an awful experience. That being said I have heard that SW is moving to the newly remodeled east end of terminal 5. Hopefully this will at least alleviate the gate problems. For now, I will gladly pay more to fly out of Milwaukee on SW. Milwaukee has a great airport and much better parking.
Good video. SWA is great. Terminal 5 is a work in progress and O'Hare is always busy - the experience reflects that and it isnt just SWA. Midway is so much nicer and tbh *if* it was *only* 30 minutes from ORD to MDW area, Id be going to MDW without a blink - but its much more of a pain to get to MDW from anywhere near or north of ORD.
0:51 I think you should’ve pointed out that Dallas Love Field is not only the secondary airport, but is also the home base of Southwest. I really don’t like big airports, so I think I would choose Midway over O’ Hare.
If nothing else,you got a good view of a BA 380! It would seem logical that if one of the int'l airlines' gate is empty for some hours, Southwest could quickly pop in and out rather than wait for a company gate--with your inbound flight arriving early but lack of an open gate and block time being an hour late, no telling how tardy the outbound flight was! Your referencing 'through' flights--I have uploaded on my channel a SWA itinerary TUS-LAS-IAH this past June, the landing at IAH still needs to be uploaded--nowhere near the ground chaos you experienced--seriously considering the Chicago Auto Show next February--a mere overnight journey from Houston and back and if SWA is considered, I WILL fly to MDW! Looking forward to your Amtrak trip home--where did you overnight?
Great video! So sorry you had to endure such long information on the ground when you land. Must have been very frustrating- now you helped us flyers to best decide where to fly southwest from Chicago
If O'hare is your home airport it is one of the best airports. You can get almost anywhere nonstop. I live in the area too and I like it, but for people who have to change planes there, it might be more of a problem like any hub.
Great report. I was so excited that Southwest had started flying to O'Hare since Midway is not convenient at all for me. Unfortunately I'd already bought my ticket when I watched your trip report. I thought since your flight was two months ago things may have improved but unfortunately it's still an awful experience. The price to BWI was lower than American or United so I had been thrilled about being able to take advantage of flying SWA out of O'Hare. Well, it certainly wasn't worth the money I saved by flying SWA rather than UAL or AA. The new terminal is a complete s**t show. The distance from check-in to the gate is quite long without any moving sidewalks. The only concession anywhere near my gate was a small kiosk selling snacks and drinks. No charging stations or outlets near the gate in brand new terminal! On top of all that, the loudspeakers are so loud I had to pause my phone call every time there was an announcement. Coming back, while I didn't have the long wait for a gate on my return like you did, we did have to park for 10 or 15 minutes while we waited for a gate to open. Then baggage claim is a complete nightmare. You have to pass through the chaotic international arrivals area to get to it. Worse there is ZERO signage directing you to the baggage carrousels. I had to track down a guard to ask her where it was. Then we had to wait a good 10 minutes on the bags to arrive even after a very long walk from the gate. I flew in on a Saturday evening. I can't imagine how much worse the experience would have been on busy summer weekday or god forbid Thanksgiving weekend. I thought that terminals 1 and 3 were awful but they are shining beacons of efficiency and convenience compared to the new terminal 5. What a crushing disappointment. I'll never fly any domestic flights from there again. I can't believe I'm saying this but you'll probably get a better experience flying out of O'Hare on American or United over Southwest or Delta. Never thought I'd say that!
You are insanely patient, sooooo much more than I would have been. Obviously Southwest puts dollars ahead of customers. I use to fly AirTran whenever I could. Then it was bought by Southwest and that ended. I could select my own seat on AirTran, upgrade to Business Class for a nominal fee and I personally was fortunate to never experience the problems you did on Southwest. Seems the airline continues to live up to the stories shown on the old show Airline. Enjoyed your vid.
I was also an AirTran passenger, but Southwest service out of Midway is good! I have never flown Southwest out of O’Hare and don’t plan to. I live roughly in-between ORD and MDW so MDW is just fine for me.
Great trip report! Although Southwest’s presence at O’Hare maybe not as what they have hoped for, they still do a fantastic job in terms of their customers service.
Great report. I recently took Air France from T5 at O'Hare and felt bad for the SW pax who had to pass through the packed security lines. Not fun. Does anyone know if Delta Airlines has a dedicated set of security lines in T5?
Better Chicago Airport, O'hare, never...guess you haven't been to, or thru Midway, O'hare, is for you wacko jacko's from the North Side, Midway Southside, compare Apples to Apples...
I use T5 a couple times a year coming into/going to MEX, and the most disappointing thing is that after spending tens of millions of dollars the experience still kind of blows
I'm a Ramp agent for southwest at O'Hare. Any questions, just ask. But from watching this video and actually working for them, I see that you REALLY don't know what the issues are. I can help you out with that so you can really understand what's the problem. It isn't a southwest problem btw. But like I said before, any questions just ask. Thankyou for flying with us tho.
Yeah generally At Ohare Nowadays ever since they built all these Parallel Runways Ohare Uses East Flow which Mainly where traffic lines up is around chicago Dupage Airport whereas the West Flow the Traffic Lines Up Over the Lakefront and Ohare Rarely ever used the Diaganol Runways These Days and Runway 4R Is Used Sparingly
It's not the airlines (I don't like Southwest) But, O'hare is terrible. And never, ever fly into O'hare on an international flight. You will be in customs AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN for over 2 hours.
I flew Southwest in 2000 from Manchester New Hampshire to Houston Hobby on the same plane(737-300 i think) with stops in Nashville, Birmingham, and New Orleans before we got to Houston that was a long day
It is disappointing that Southwest Air is deviating from its Enterprise Car Rental principle of avoiding expensive and congested venues like O'Hare! Chicago has an efficient transit system so that the extra 30 minutes penalty of travel to Midway is far better than the typical one to two- hour delays of O'Hare!
Not sure why you claim O'hare is the "better" airport in Chicago. MDW is a much quicker 'L' ride to the loop than ORD, it's smaller, the security is usually quicker, and much less congestion
I’m not a big fan of SW. The boarding process and open seating are my primary reasons. But I also find the FAs trying to be cute and entertaining to be mostly childish and annoying. It’s like a preschool. It’s just so cheesy.
Dumb video! Where is the coverage of the long long walk to the other side of term 5 to get bags? Where is the coverage of no Uber pickup at Terminal 5?
Real Talk Southwest expanding to Ohare was a bad buisness decision and it can hurt them in the long haul in a Already Crowded Ohare Terminals and taxi ways will always be a long wait in the Penalty Box
awesome video bro! well done like always. i very much agree w/southwest being a mess at ord...... i've had my personal experience and it was not well. nonetheless great content and keep it up bro!
The only real problems I have with O'Hare and Southwest is it's such a long hike to their terminals from the Blue Line stop, and that they don't have nonstop service out of O'Hare. I'd rather fly out of Midway, but come back in on O'Hare because if I get a late flight into Midway, it's easily a nearly two-hour trip before I'm back home in Uptown Chicago. O'Hare's easier to get to and from, even despite this crazy arrangement where no trains leave O'Hare after midnight. I am definitely NOT a fan of Midway if I have a late flight.
Nice vid! Just wanted to say all pilots including Southwest are paid block out (pushback) to block in (brakes set) including taxi so that isn't the reason they taxi fast.
In my opinion Midway is a nicer airport for a layover than O'Hare i went through both this year although i can only speak for the part of O'hare that American flies out of
Can’t wait to see the an 800/MAX 8 at O’Hare. Probably a different experience if you are flying late night to O’Hare. Maybe with Delta moving to Terminal 5, Southwest could move to Terminal 2.
@@golem45sara they will very soon. My flight in January to O’Hare from Phoenix will be on a MAX. Guess Southwest is finally replacing some of their 700s with MAX 8s
Very interesting it seems like they had only 700 flying out of O'Hare I thought it might have been a gate size issue meaning that the aircraft were maybe it dropped too long for the M Gates
I flew on United to O'Hare (direct flight from VA to Chicago) no problems. But my friend was flying on SWA to O'Hare from Vegas. SWA uses Terminal 5 OMG! I felt sorry for her. But I love SWA in all honesty. Just flew from VA to Miami and we had a good time on that flight.
A. I have sat on American flights, waiting for a gate to open at ORD. Friends of mine have done the same on United. If a few flights are delayed departing ORD, and inbound flights arrive early, it can cause planes sitting in the penalty box. B. It used to be common for a flight to be multi-segment, before hub and spoke became the norm. Hughes Air West operated one flight that started at LAX and flew to LAS, SLC, TWF, BOI, GEG, and SEA.
I used to fly Southwest back and forth to Chicago into MDW (non-stop) from California, and I tell you this: I NEVER had a delay on the Chicago end. The CA end was another story, because whether it was San Francisco (SFO) or Oakland (OAK) I was departing from, there was ALWAYS some kind of delay. I like Southwest, it's a decent airline, BUT, when Virgin America (back before Alaska Airlines took them over) started flying into ORD from SFO, I started flying them regularly instead. I was a VERY devoted VA flyer, because overall, it was the BEST domestic airline product we had at the time (I thought so anyway), even more so than Southwest. The downside though, was dealing with O'Hare instead of Midway. I was now flying a MUCH better airline, but it was into a MUCH worse airport. And, VA only had ONE gate at O'Hare (in Terminal 3, Concourse L), so we'd often have to wait on the tarmac until another flight (usually the departing VA flight for LAX) had left the gate. 🙄 Comparatively speaking, dealing with Midway was HIGHLY preferential to dealing with O'Hare. Now I was dealing with delays on BOTH ends (Bay Area & Chicago) the majority of the time, and the ORD delays were just horrendous. MDW is just much better in a number of ways than ORD is, it's closer to the city, it's much smaller, and MUCH LESS congested, so even though I preferred flying on Vrigin America, I STILL went back to flying Southwest into MDW.
After you get through security you are at gate seven. My Southwest flight left from gate 35. All the gates are on one side so that was 28 gates I had to walk. Also included shops etc. It took me about 25 minutes as I have a bum knee. Glad I had plenty of time. It is beautiful the planning a little exercise
First time ever flying a few months ago from BWI to MID. Smooth trip, pretty cool. From MID back to BWI!?! Interesting to say the least. Got to airport at 4:30...got through checkpoint at 4:45. Flight was supposed to board at 5:30...leave a like 6:15. There was a storm in the way so we didn't get on the plane until 6:45 and didn't takeoff until 12:30 am... horrible experience traveling back. But I actually heard that O'Hare is the forbidden airport lol...like taboo...stay away. At least that's what I heard. I was told that MID is less hassle.
IT IS A MESS. I missed my flight because it was combined with the international departures and was stuck behind tons of people waiting on an Air India check-in
Fun fact… I randomly got recommended this video and that 380 that was pushed out? Yeah that was me with the pushback reversing after pushing out the plane😂 BA294 off to London 🤘
I love your video and caption descriptions of each plane. Beautiful job! But what is that smartphone app you are using showing the taxiing aircraft? I want that!
This is like a hit piece on Southwest at O’Hare. Like most others have observed, this is a problem at ORD in general. You landed 33 minutes early, so really, you had about a 30 minute actual wait for the gate. It’s funny how you put “Kind of a Mess” on the thumbnail, and then in the video everything was perfect except O’Hare. What should really happen is Southwest should get awarded more gates there to start making that airport run as well as their other bases and focus cities. On a nice day like that one, Midway runs like a top, so is it really Southwest that’s the problem?
I have never been to Dallas Love Field Airport which I hear is very similar to Chicago Midway Airport. I prefer their big brother airports of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport respectively.
As a former longtime Employee of Southwest i can came to learn a long long time ago that in Network Planning for Southwest they factor everything in a perfect world scenario. No such things as Weather Delays, Maintenance Issues & Delays, Flights just do not show up early or late, etc. One Speed Bump and your'e off to the races. A Total Hot Mess . I'm happy that they are at ORD as most folks are but i just do not see any downsizing in the cards. With the 4 gates they now have i can eventually see Southwest go up to 40 to 50 flights per day and it will all be in a Perfect World Scenario for The Beancounters & Decision Makers @ The Glass Palace in Dallas AKA Southwest Headquarters.
Low cost aviation is nvere succesful in the US due to gate availabilty restraints cuased by an overall lack of remote gates. No idea why US airports just refuse to have remote gates unlike literally everywhere else
Part 2. To be a Southwest customer you have to understand the "cult". Once you figure it out you'll be fine. Just check-in EXACTLY 24 hrs.ahead and you'll wind up in B or maybe a high A. Good luck and never get upset with Southwest.
Since I fly for work constantly SW is the main choice. I’m 6ft6 and always go for leg room at the emergency exits. Currently A List but hopefully to get A List Preferred by the end of the year. Price wise I would say SW and United all the way. Also I love how I get easily recognized at Airports now since how often I fly out of certain airports across the US.
I fly Southwest a lot and have been into O’Hare twice on them. It was early on when they started service so we had no issues getting a gate. The experience inside the terminal was awful… long lines to security, construction, long walk to baggage claim, and the gate which was not designed for boarding passengers… very few seats and barely any place to even stand.
I love flying Southwest and have ever since my children were small. We were kind of forced into it a while back when they absorbed AirTran and our main carrier here in MKE became SWA almost overnight. Most of my flights end in BWI, Orlando/Tampa, SF, or LA areas so they are convenient. I only fly 3-4 round trips with them a year, but I do not think I've ever even been late, let alone had a bad flight. However, I'm preparing to look at SWA through a fresh lens. In 2 days I'll be flying SWA to LGA out of ORD for the first time. We don't have great inexpensive access in MKE to the New England airports other than getti g lucky with a regional (something I thought would get fixed with Jetblue and Spirit moving in this year but i haven't seen it yet) so it's generally cheaper and more convenient to go down to ORD when flying to NYC or BOS. I got a good price on SWA so why the heck not try it out. Plus I wanted to see the Terminal 5 renovation anyway. Both leaving and returning are scheduled before noon so here's hoping everything goes smoothly in the early am...but this video is making me a bit nervous!
Excellent video, man. Got fed up with SW years ago with their weird and annoying boarding process plus they are partly responsible for the two 737 Max crashes.
Like everyone in the comments, I agree their entry into O'hare is messy. That being said, I've been flying with them my entire life and have never had an issue with the actual airline themselves. They even give you free alcoholic drink vouchers if you're nice to them on Twitter. It's a good plan but bad execution.
This happened to me at Midway, I flew from NOLA to Chicago once at Midway my lay over was 2 and a half hours. This pushed my 3:00 pm arrival in Portland Oregon from 5:00 pm pacific time talk about wait time never again. There was suppose to be 30 min layover at best. Thanks southwest for helping me choose Delta when flying to Chicago.
they should let you get off the old style. Just park the plane and go down the stairs and on the tarmack. Why keep the passengers on the plane that long? People could be waiting for them for a ride.
I've had the same thing happen with American, more than once. Not quite that long of a wait, but still... Using MDW on SWA definitely is a better choice.
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Thank you for sharing your flight here. I just thought that Southwest wanted to stay and lead Midway Airport. O'Hare International is crowed with the other legacy airlines, internationals other low cost, corporate business jets and charters. This feels like the Los Angeles Airports with the example of John Wayne Airport lead by Southwest with the legacy airlines with two or three gates only and then LAX with Southwest. We will just see how the airlines in general continue to grow.
Unlike the other airlines and terminals, Terminal 5 gates are "Common Use" gates, meaning first come, first serve. Also international airliners generally clog the Terminal between noon and 5pm. Thats why its so bad for Southwest. Consider that ALL international flights except prevlesrrance Air Canada flights arrive at Terminal 5. Even the United and American Airlines international flights. While their international flights depart from the domestic terminals, not so for international arrivals.
To complicate matters, when the Terminal 5 expansion is complete. Delta is slated to move from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5. It's expected that they will maintain slotted space. We will see what happens when the satellite concourses are built . Once they open, Terminal 2 will be demolished and rebuilt as a United and American ( and their alliance partners) international terminal. Deltas move to Terminal 5 aligns them with their alliance partner AIR France and KLM.
Could help Southwest once AA and UA are running international at T2 since they won’t be arriving into T5 - but that will take time.
Know the real reason it’s so “bad” for Southwest is because they don’t have to pay the pilots why they’re taxiing, it’s that simple. It’s a problem of their own making it was their choice, They are not a victim
As an FYI Delta has already moved to T5 as of Oct 12th, they have the west side of the concorse and they handle themselve regarding gates but the T5 tower controls the ramp Space still. For the rest of T5 while it is Common use and the idea of it being first come first serve is not compelty correct. We still gate out the day with a schedule and we do that a week ahead of the current week. The only real time it is "first come first serve" is when theres majory weather events or issues resulting in major delays for mutiliply airlines and multiply planes are waiting for a gate. With that in mind AIR France and KLM are not gurantee to be gated near Delta, they are gated to where best suites the day for the most smooth operation possible.
@@stupidman911 thanks. How many gates does Delta operate? U assume they gave at least M1 through M5. Naybe more?
@@mrAhollandjr Oh they have M2-M11, M1 is reserved for EAS which is not under Delta. One of the gates still MIA untill the bagbarn os removed and the jetway is added in.
Your observations really apply to all of O'Hare in general. If you like delays on any airline...O'Hare is always your best choice. I used to fly Southwest out of Midway and a colleague preferred to go out of O'Hare on an another airline. Same destination and departure times....and I would always end up waiting for him at the other end. O'Hare is congested, taxi times are LONG....and ground delays to take off are also long.
My experience flying Southwest into terminal 5 was much worse than the dozens of flights I've taken over the years from terminals 1 and 3. Terminal 5 is a unique form a torture and since I live in Chicago I get to help pay for the privilege.
Great video, but I actually like that Southwest has finally gotten into O’Hare. I love seeing the airlines expand and since I prefer ORD over MDW (I am only 1 hr from Chicago) I am actually quite happy for Southwest to finally exist here. Just like I can’t wait to see what the JetBlue-Spirit merger will allow!
right midway is good they just need better restaurants
I agree with that 100%, the only issue was when they actually started flying from ORD. They just chose a wrong time to fly here.
@@ASAviation Yeah, it is bad timing. Very few gates to uphold so many routes. They shouldn't have people waiting on the plane for an hour. At least a good experience with the airline and in the air itself!
@@marcuswaterbury7371 totally agree! They used to be good- really miss potbelly’s
I'll bet you won't be so happy once you try actually it. 🙂 If you have to fly Southwest I'd recommend taking the extra travel time to get to Midway. You may save time overall. It's really that awful.
I flew Southwest round trip from Phoenix to O’Hare in August. I was fortunate to not have any issues, but the situation at Terminal 5 is a total mess. Long lines, not enough space and the walk to the baggage carousel is wild. I’m sure when renovations are finished sometime next year, it’ll be way better, but maybe Southwest should have waited until then.
Well it's 7mo from your comment. Still sucks at Term 5.
It's really not that big of a deal getting to Midway. The Tri-State is 4 sometimes 5 lanes in both directions....at least most of the time you're wheels are spinning. I'd much rather be in my car and in control than sitting in a hot plane crammed into a seat with sick people coughing while waiting to taxi. To me sitting in a plane after push back or landing is one of the most frustrating things in life. It sometimes defeats the purpose of flying the route period.
It’s not 30 minute drive from ORD to MDW , there’s always lots of traffic on 294
30 minutes excluding traffic haha. Very true.
You must not be from Chicago lol it’s definitely 30 mins Chicago driving haha
I'm fortunate to live in the west suburbs so Midway and O'Hare are pretty much equidistant for me, but I vastly prefer Midway over O'Hare in just about every category I can think of. O'Hare just sucks! Whether travelling in or out or just picking someone up, Midway is faster to get in and out of and if there is traffic there are lots of surface streets to get there on. Planes land at Midway, and then they're at the gate in just seconds; none of that taxiing for 40 minutes after landing nonsense like at O'Hare. And finally at long last, the new security area at MDW has opened and the bad old days of lines all the way out to the CTA terminal are over.
I love SW, but the whole Ohare thing is a total debacle. The wait to get a gate is a real thing, security in terminal 5 is awful. TSA runs the Precheck line together with general security line. They might as well not even have a Precheck line. There are very minimal food choices in terminal 5 as well. It’s such an awful experience. That being said I have heard that SW is moving to the newly remodeled east end of terminal 5. Hopefully this will at least alleviate the gate problems.
For now, I will gladly pay more to fly out of Milwaukee on SW. Milwaukee has a great airport and much better parking.
While southwest has room for improvement their staff really goes above and behind to try and help
On Feb 14, that was almost next to my birthday on Feb 13.
Good video. SWA is great. Terminal 5 is a work in progress and O'Hare is always busy - the experience reflects that and it isnt just SWA. Midway is so much nicer and tbh *if* it was *only* 30 minutes from ORD to MDW area, Id be going to MDW without a blink - but its much more of a pain to get to MDW from anywhere near or north of ORD.
I been to both ORD and MDW and the airport that I like more is MDW and it is easier airport to get around in then ORD
Southwest airlines are like Walmart.
sounded like a hard landing
0:51 I think you should’ve pointed out that Dallas Love Field is not only the secondary airport, but is also the home base of Southwest.
I really don’t like big airports, so I think I would choose Midway over O’ Hare.
And to make things worse, DL moved into terminal 5 today. Crazy.
Exactly...what brilliant timing. Although Delta actually has gate spaces that they leased. Southwest does not.
If nothing else,you got a good view of a BA 380! It would seem logical that if one of the int'l airlines' gate is empty for some hours, Southwest could quickly pop in and out rather than wait for a company gate--with your inbound flight arriving early but lack of an open gate and block time being an hour late, no telling how tardy the outbound flight was! Your referencing 'through' flights--I have uploaded on my channel a SWA itinerary TUS-LAS-IAH this past June, the landing at IAH still needs to be uploaded--nowhere near the ground chaos you experienced--seriously considering the Chicago Auto Show next February--a mere overnight journey from Houston and back and if SWA is considered, I WILL fly to MDW! Looking forward to your Amtrak trip home--where did you overnight?
Thanks for the comment and definitely agree. I was traveling with one of my friends so we were able to overnight at one of his relatives' places.
15:00 Once ORD21 is complete, I imagine that these sorts of waits won't be as common.
Great video! So sorry you had to endure such long information on the ground when you land. Must have been very frustrating- now you helped us flyers to best decide where to fly southwest from Chicago
The single worst Southwest experience I ever had was flying into O'hare with them. The baggage claim situation in particular was awful.
Agreed. Its a maze getting your bags. Huge SWA fan but I cant imagine anyone being less than frustrated picking up checked baggage at ORD.
I so agree!
@@Tayyyyyyylore JetBlue isn't really an option for those of us on the west coast.
I always fly out of O'Hare and it isn't that bad like everyone says. Also it's weird seeing southwest now at O'Hare
If O'hare is your home airport it is one of the best airports. You can get almost anywhere nonstop. I live in the area too and I like it, but for people who have to change planes there, it might be more of a problem like any hub.
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Great report. I was so excited that Southwest had started flying to O'Hare since Midway is not convenient at all for me. Unfortunately I'd already bought my ticket when I watched your trip report. I thought since your flight was two months ago things may have improved but unfortunately it's still an awful experience. The price to BWI was lower than American or United so I had been thrilled about being able to take advantage of flying SWA out of O'Hare. Well, it certainly wasn't worth the money I saved by flying SWA rather than UAL or AA. The new terminal is a complete s**t show.
The distance from check-in to the gate is quite long without any moving sidewalks. The only concession anywhere near my gate was a small kiosk selling snacks and drinks. No charging stations or outlets near the gate in brand new terminal! On top of all that, the loudspeakers are so loud I had to pause my phone call every time there was an announcement.
Coming back, while I didn't have the long wait for a gate on my return like you did, we did have to park for 10 or 15 minutes while we waited for a gate to open. Then baggage claim is a complete nightmare. You have to pass through the chaotic international arrivals area to get to it. Worse there is ZERO signage directing you to the baggage carrousels. I had to track down a guard to ask her where it was. Then we had to wait a good 10 minutes on the bags to arrive even after a very long walk from the gate. I flew in on a Saturday evening. I can't imagine how much worse the experience would have been on busy summer weekday or god forbid Thanksgiving weekend.
I thought that terminals 1 and 3 were awful but they are shining beacons of efficiency and convenience compared to the new terminal 5. What a crushing disappointment. I'll never fly any domestic flights from there again. I can't believe I'm saying this but you'll probably get a better experience flying out of O'Hare on American or United over Southwest or Delta. Never thought I'd say that!
You are insanely patient, sooooo much more than I would have been. Obviously Southwest puts dollars ahead of customers. I use to fly AirTran whenever I could. Then it was bought by Southwest and that ended. I could select my own seat on AirTran, upgrade to Business Class for a nominal fee and I personally was fortunate to never experience the problems you did on Southwest. Seems the airline continues to live up to the stories shown on the old show Airline. Enjoyed your vid.
I was also an AirTran passenger, but Southwest service out of Midway is good! I have never flown Southwest out of O’Hare and don’t plan to. I live roughly in-between ORD and MDW so MDW is just fine for me.
Oh hell no..
Great trip report!
Although Southwest’s presence at O’Hare maybe not as what they have hoped for, they still do a fantastic job in terms of their customers service.
Thank you, and definitely agreed.
Great report. I recently took Air France from T5 at O'Hare and felt bad for the SW pax who had to pass through the packed security lines. Not fun. Does anyone know if Delta Airlines has a dedicated set of security lines in T5?
Better Chicago Airport, O'hare, never...guess you haven't been to, or thru Midway, O'hare, is for you wacko jacko's from the North Side, Midway Southside, compare Apples to Apples...
I use T5 a couple times a year coming into/going to MEX, and the most disappointing thing is that after spending tens of millions of dollars the experience still kind of blows
I'm a Ramp agent for southwest at O'Hare. Any questions, just ask. But from watching this video and actually working for them, I see that you REALLY don't know what the issues are. I can help you out with that so you can really understand what's the problem. It isn't a southwest problem btw. But like I said before, any questions just ask. Thankyou for flying with us tho.
Yeah generally At Ohare Nowadays ever since they built all these Parallel Runways Ohare Uses East Flow which Mainly where traffic lines up is around chicago Dupage Airport whereas the West Flow the Traffic Lines Up Over the Lakefront and Ohare Rarely ever used the Diaganol Runways These Days and Runway 4R Is Used Sparingly
It's not the airlines (I don't like Southwest) But, O'hare is terrible. And never, ever fly into O'hare on an international flight. You will be in customs AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN for over 2 hours.
BTW the drive from Ohare to Midway ...30 mins? if you go middle of the night....otherwise can be over an hour, easily..
I flew Southwest in 2000 from Manchester New Hampshire to Houston Hobby on the same plane(737-300 i think) with stops in Nashville, Birmingham, and New Orleans before we got to Houston that was a long day
It is disappointing that Southwest Air is deviating from its Enterprise Car Rental principle of avoiding expensive and congested venues like O'Hare! Chicago has an efficient transit system so that the extra 30 minutes penalty of travel to Midway is far better than the typical one to two- hour delays of O'Hare!
Not sure why you claim O'hare is the "better" airport in Chicago. MDW is a much quicker 'L' ride to the loop than ORD, it's smaller, the security is usually quicker, and much less congestion
I’m not a big fan of SW. The boarding process and open seating are my primary reasons. But I also find the FAs trying to be cute and entertaining to be mostly childish and annoying. It’s like a preschool. It’s just so cheesy.
Dumb video! Where is the coverage of the long long walk to the other side of term 5 to get bags? Where is the coverage of no Uber pickup at Terminal 5?
Every low cost carrier does this....with Flights going to multiple places using one flight number
Never had a problem,20 years. You get what you paid for,in todays economy. P.S. waiting an hour to get off you’re right.
I think that you just got unlucky since I have flown out of ORD with Southwest a few times and had no delays or issues.
Dude, you missed the British Airways A380 when you first landed and were taxiing.
Southwest is an either you love it or you hate it kind of experience. Personally, I hate it. But I know many people who swear by it.
Real Talk Southwest expanding to Ohare was a bad buisness decision and it can hurt them in the long haul in a Already Crowded Ohare Terminals and taxi ways will always be a long wait in the Penalty Box
Similar for SWA at CLT. Im based at BWI, so fly SWA often, but the gates at CLT for SW are SO far away, I use AA.
The worst is actually picking up your luggage…do a video on that!! Awful
Lots of whining here. They think ORD is bad go to LHR. Then tell me which one is bad?
Southwest in Boston used to depart from there international terminal, probably this will be moved too.
Well showing up to a busy airport... 35 minutes early causes issues just like this
I'm not sure what the bigger "Don't" is? Flying SW or going to Chicago?
I recently flew into o’hare and had no problem once we landed we landed at 2pm on a Monday however the actually airport was chaos
What's the app you use at 14:40? New to the channel, so apologies if this was addressed in another video.
You forgot to mention southwest is only the airline that doesn't charge for checked bags
awesome video bro! well done like always. i very much agree w/southwest being a mess at ord...... i've had my personal experience and it was not well. nonetheless great content and keep it up bro!
Thanks a lot man!
Frist time going to Orlando form o'hare we just when to midway after.
Personally, I actually flew to chicago o'hare on southwest, it was fine.
The only real problems I have with O'Hare and Southwest is it's such a long hike to their terminals from the Blue Line stop, and that they don't have nonstop service out of O'Hare. I'd rather fly out of Midway, but come back in on O'Hare because if I get a late flight into Midway, it's easily a nearly two-hour trip before I'm back home in Uptown Chicago. O'Hare's easier to get to and from, even despite this crazy arrangement where no trains leave O'Hare after midnight. I am definitely NOT a fan of Midway if I have a late flight.
Agreed, you definitely don't want to be stuck late in Midway.
I flew the same exact route and I had no problems none whatsoever
bro that landing is the average ryanair landing 💀
Yes right now they have ONLY three gates at the moment
Wow this flight was on my birthday 😊
South west and way better what you mean
I did this flight and didn’t have any issues.
Nice vid! Just wanted to say all pilots including Southwest are paid block out (pushback) to block in (brakes set) including taxi so that isn't the reason they taxi fast.
In my opinion Midway is a nicer airport for a layover than O'Hare i went through both this year although i can only speak for the part of O'hare that American flies out of
For sure, MDW is more compact and easier to navigate than O’Hare.
I wouldn't care if I flew into Midway or O'Hare, the airports are in the same city
True, MDW is closer too.
Can’t wait to see the an 800/MAX 8 at O’Hare. Probably a different experience if you are flying late night to O’Hare. Maybe with Delta moving to Terminal 5, Southwest could move to Terminal 2.
I really wonder why they don't send the 800s / max8 to O'Hare
@@golem45sara they will very soon. My flight in January to O’Hare from Phoenix will be on a MAX. Guess Southwest is finally replacing some of their 700s with MAX 8s
Very interesting it seems like they had only 700 flying out of O'Hare I thought it might have been a gate size issue meaning that the aircraft were maybe it dropped too long for the M Gates
@@golem45sara I actually wonder if Southwest might be moving to Terminal 2 now that Delta will be moving to 5
@@JustinPinedaMedia I think they're moving out of terminal 2 because they are doing renovations in 2 and it's just something temporary
I flew on United to O'Hare (direct flight from VA to Chicago) no problems. But my friend was flying on SWA to O'Hare from Vegas. SWA uses Terminal 5 OMG! I felt sorry for her. But I love SWA in all honesty. Just flew from VA to Miami and we had a good time on that flight.
The walk from T5 to Domestic Baggage Claim takes forever, hopefully this is temporary. With a bad back, this walk took forever.
A. I have sat on American flights, waiting for a gate to open at ORD. Friends of mine have done the same on United. If a few flights are delayed departing ORD, and inbound flights arrive early, it can cause planes sitting in the penalty box.
B. It used to be common for a flight to be multi-segment, before hub and spoke became the norm. Hughes Air West operated one flight that started at LAX and flew to LAS, SLC, TWF, BOI, GEG, and SEA.
This is certainly not an ideal situation. I was really enlightened by this video and enjoyed it.
You should do a comparison flight from DAL airport to MDW airport next time.Leaving roughly about the same time.See which one is better.
I used to fly Southwest back and forth to Chicago into MDW (non-stop) from California, and I tell you this: I NEVER had a delay on the Chicago end. The CA end was another story, because whether it was San Francisco (SFO) or Oakland (OAK) I was departing from, there was ALWAYS some kind of delay.
I like Southwest, it's a decent airline, BUT, when Virgin America (back before Alaska Airlines took them over) started flying into ORD from SFO, I started flying them regularly instead. I was a VERY devoted VA flyer, because overall, it was the BEST domestic airline product we had at the time (I thought so anyway), even more so than Southwest.
The downside though, was dealing with O'Hare instead of Midway. I was now flying a MUCH better airline, but it was into a MUCH worse airport. And, VA only had ONE gate at O'Hare (in Terminal 3, Concourse L), so we'd often have to wait on the tarmac until another flight (usually the departing VA flight for LAX) had left the gate. 🙄
Comparatively speaking, dealing with Midway was HIGHLY preferential to dealing with O'Hare. Now I was dealing with delays on BOTH ends (Bay Area & Chicago) the majority of the time, and the ORD delays were just horrendous.
MDW is just much better in a number of ways than ORD is, it's closer to the city, it's much smaller, and MUCH LESS congested, so even though I preferred flying on Vrigin America, I STILL went back to flying Southwest into MDW.
After you get through security you are at gate seven. My Southwest flight left from gate 35. All the gates are on one side so that was 28 gates I had to walk. Also included shops etc. It took me about 25 minutes as I have a bum knee. Glad I had plenty of time. It is beautiful the planning a little exercise
Welcome to ORD.....
First time ever flying a few months ago from BWI to MID. Smooth trip, pretty cool. From MID back to BWI!?! Interesting to say the least. Got to airport at 4:30...got through checkpoint at 4:45. Flight was supposed to board at 5:30...leave a like 6:15. There was a storm in the way so we didn't get on the plane until 6:45 and didn't takeoff until 12:30 am... horrible experience traveling back. But I actually heard that O'Hare is the forbidden airport lol...like taboo...stay away. At least that's what I heard. I was told that MID is less hassle.
IT IS A MESS. I missed my flight because it was combined with the international departures and was stuck behind tons of people waiting on an Air India check-in
Fun fact… I randomly got recommended this video and that 380 that was pushed out?
Yeah that was me with the pushback reversing after pushing out the plane😂
BA294 off to London 🤘
I love your video and caption descriptions of each plane. Beautiful job! But what is that smartphone app you are using showing the taxiing aircraft? I want that!
I flew southwest to ORD from phx non stop it went very smooth no delays what so ever
This is like a hit piece on Southwest at O’Hare. Like most others have observed, this is a problem at ORD in general. You landed 33 minutes early, so really, you had about a 30 minute actual wait for the gate. It’s funny how you put “Kind of a Mess” on the thumbnail, and then in the video everything was perfect except O’Hare. What should really happen is Southwest should get awarded more gates there to start making that airport run as well as their other bases and focus cities. On a nice day like that one, Midway runs like a top, so is it really Southwest that’s the problem?
I have never been to Dallas Love Field Airport which I hear is very similar to Chicago Midway Airport. I prefer their big brother airports of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport respectively.
As a former longtime Employee of Southwest i can came to learn a long long time ago that in Network Planning for Southwest they factor everything in a perfect world scenario.
No such things as Weather Delays, Maintenance Issues & Delays, Flights just do not show up early or late, etc.
One Speed Bump and your'e off to the races.
A Total Hot Mess . I'm happy that they are at ORD as most folks are but i just do not see any downsizing in the cards.
With the 4 gates they now have i can eventually see Southwest go up to 40 to 50 flights per day and it will all be in a Perfect World Scenario for The Beancounters & Decision Makers @ The Glass Palace in Dallas AKA Southwest Headquarters.
Low cost aviation is nvere succesful in the US due to gate availabilty restraints cuased by an overall lack of remote gates. No idea why US airports just refuse to have remote gates unlike literally everywhere else
Part 2. To be a Southwest customer you have to understand the "cult". Once you figure it out you'll be fine. Just check-in EXACTLY 24 hrs.ahead and you'll wind up in B or maybe a high A.
Good luck and never get upset with Southwest.
Since I fly for work constantly SW is the main choice. I’m 6ft6 and always go for leg room at the emergency exits. Currently A List but hopefully to get A List Preferred by the end of the year. Price wise I would say SW and United all the way. Also I love how I get easily recognized at Airports now since how often I fly out of certain airports across the US.
I fly Southwest a lot and have been into O’Hare twice on them. It was early on when they started service so we had no issues getting a gate. The experience inside the terminal was awful… long lines to security, construction, long walk to baggage claim, and the gate which was not designed for boarding passengers… very few seats and barely any place to even stand.
I love flying Southwest and have ever since my children were small. We were kind of forced into it a while back when they absorbed AirTran and our main carrier here in MKE became SWA almost overnight. Most of my flights end in BWI, Orlando/Tampa, SF, or LA areas so they are convenient.
I only fly 3-4 round trips with them a year, but I do not think I've ever even been late, let alone had a bad flight.
However, I'm preparing to look at SWA through a fresh lens. In 2 days I'll be flying SWA to LGA out of ORD for the first time. We don't have great inexpensive access in MKE to the New England airports other than getti g lucky with a regional (something I thought would get fixed with Jetblue and Spirit moving in this year but i haven't seen it yet) so it's generally cheaper and more convenient to go down to ORD when flying to NYC or BOS. I got a good price on SWA so why the heck not try it out. Plus I wanted to see the Terminal 5 renovation anyway.
Both leaving and returning are scheduled before noon so here's hoping everything goes smoothly in the early am...but this video is making me a bit nervous!
Excellent video, man. Got fed up with SW years ago with their weird and annoying boarding process plus they are partly responsible for the two 737 Max crashes.
News is going around the DFW area that Southwest could be expanding to DFW in 2025.
Like everyone in the comments, I agree their entry into O'hare is messy. That being said, I've been flying with them my entire life and have never had an issue with the actual airline themselves. They even give you free alcoholic drink vouchers if you're nice to them on Twitter. It's a good plan but bad execution.
As a result people are filing a petition to UNO Student Government to make the University of Nebraska Omaha and Athletics responsible
This happened to me at Midway, I flew from NOLA to Chicago once at Midway my lay over was 2 and a half hours. This pushed my 3:00 pm arrival in Portland Oregon from 5:00 pm pacific time talk about wait time never again. There was suppose to be 30 min layover at best. Thanks southwest for helping me choose Delta when flying to Chicago.
they should let you get off the old style. Just park the plane and go down the stairs and on the tarmack. Why keep the passengers on the plane that long? People could be waiting for them for a ride.
During the announcement of Homecoming Royalty pictures were taken which left out a student who was black and in a wheelchair
If the intl gate wasn’t being used until the evening. Why didn’t southwest use that gate space for a majority of the day?
I've had the same thing happen with American, more than once. Not quite that long of a wait, but still... Using MDW on SWA definitely is a better choice.
People say the photographer accidentally cropped the photo or didn't have room to post on Instagram. Other students including American Multicultural Students, the person nominated and the group that nominated the disabled student say she was left out due to being black and disabled accusing the University and Athletics of racism
Where I work in St. Charles Illinois we are on the flight path. On a clear day with no clouds you can tell which airline it is.
Thank you for sharing your flight here. I just thought that Southwest wanted to stay and lead Midway Airport. O'Hare International is crowed with the other legacy airlines, internationals other low cost, corporate business jets and charters. This feels like the Los Angeles Airports with the example of John Wayne Airport lead by Southwest with the legacy airlines with two or three gates only and then LAX with Southwest. We will just see how the airlines in general continue to grow.