Introduction
O'Hare Airport in Chicago is one of the busiest airports in the world. Chicago is a world-class city visited by thousands of tourists and business travelers alike, and a great deal of them travel through O'Hare Airport to get to the city. Since it is such a large and busy airport, many visitors are often overwhelmed when having to navigate through O'Hare Airport. Fortunately, however, it's not as bad as it may seem. O'Hare Airport provides a great deal of ways for visitors to navigate through, and there are plenty of signs and helpful people located throughout the airport that people will also find useful. In addition, once they are ready to leave the airport and explore the city, there are a wide variety of options that people can navigate at O'Hare Airport in order to head to the city. Chicago may be known as "The Second City," but it's first class in a league of it's own when it comes to navigation, particularly at O'Hare Airport.
Step 1
Depending on how you arrive at O'Hare Airport, be aware of your surroundings. Many people arrive at O'Hare Airport via the Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Blue Line train, which drops passengers off in an underground station. If you arrived here, take the stairs, escalator, or elevator up above the platform and walk through the turnstiles. From here, you will notice signs directing you to the various terminals, as well as a moving walkway to assist you along the way. Additionally, the O'Hare Airport Hilton can be easily accessed from underground. You can take an elevator from here to the giant parking garage that O'Hare Airport offers for visitors from this underground area. You may also walk directly to the transportation center if you need to pick up a shuttle to a hotel or rental car, but why would you do that if you just got there? You have a plane to catch!
Step 2
After navigating through the underground areas and taking the elevator or escalator upstairs, you have your choice of two levels. The first one above the underground area is for baggage claim and information services. In this area, airline passengers who have arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport go to pick up their bags after deplaning. There are also bathrooms and access to the ground transportation pickup area. You may also take the elevator to the elevated tram that carries passengers to the remote parking lot. This monorail-style tram is another fun and interesting way to navigate through O'Hare Airport.
Step 3
Head upstairs to the uppermost level to navigate to the O'Hare Airport ticketing and gate area. From here, passengers can check in for flights at their respective airlines' desks, check their bags, find kiosks to check in on their own and go through security to head to the gates. Once past the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints, passengers will find a great deal of amenities at their disposal by the gates, including restaurants, bars, airline leisure clubs, bathrooms, duty free shops, newstands, gift shops, bathrooms, a chapel and so much more. Every gate and some of the bars and restaurants also offer great views of the O'Hare Airport runway, allowing passengers to watch planes take off and land before boarding their own flight.
Tips
If you have any trouble navigating O'Hare Airport, feel free to check the signs located throughout the airport. You may also speak to one of the many airport employees posted throughout this giant airport.
