Question for anyone familiar with ORD...

I'm looking to book a flight to Vegas for this fall that will give me a connection in Chicago (O'Hare). I'll be flying in on a small plane (United Express) and then transferring to a larger one to fly to LAS. My question is for anyone familiar with O'Hare airport. My connection(layover) time in Chicago is only 1 hour. Will I have enough time to get from my arrival gate to my departure gate? I realize that I don't know what gate numbers I'll have, but I suspect that all the little planes arrive in a different section than where all the larger planes depart from. I don't want to book my ticket if there will be a problem, but of course I'd rather arrive in Vegas earlier and not have a 3+ hour layover in Chicago. Also my flight in/out of Chicago is a morning flight (arriving at 9 a.m. and leaving at 10 a.m.) and from what I've read, that's a good thing since most delays happen later in the day.

Thanks in advance; Any info I get will be appreciated

I believe you will have no problem. United Airlines has its own terminal so you should not have to go too far for another gate. Good luck.

Check out flyertalk.com and post your question on one of their forums (probably the "Travelbuzz" forum). You'll have to register but there's a wealth of information on there and you should get multiple responses to your question. Good luck!

Flyertalk forums

United does have their own terminal in Chicago. A very large terminal to be exact. It is so big, it is actually two terminals. In my experience, smaller planes and shorter flights arrive and depart at one terminal and larger planes, longer flights arrive and depart at the other. The two terminals are connected by escalators that take you down to two separate people movers and back up to the other terminal. I really like this area. I enjoy the lighting and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", which is played over the PA system. It is a generous walk from one terminal to the other. I wouldn't dilly-dally, since you only have a one hour layover. As long as there are no delays on your flight into Chicago, you should be able to make your connecting flight to Las Vegas. I once flew from Pittsburgh to Chicago, with a connecting flight to Honolulu. The flight was delayed in Pittsburgh due to thunderstorms between Pittsburgh and Chicago. I had a one and a half hour layover scheduled in Chicago. Ample time to get from one terminal to the other. Because of the delay, the Pitts. to Chi. flight arrived one hour late. By the time I got from one terminal to the other, the Chi. to Hono. flight was taxiing away from the terminal. I was hauling okole the whole way. So 1/2 hour is not enough time. As long as you are in good health, can move quickly and there are no delays, you should be able to connect with your Las Vegas flight with no problem.

Assuming you are connecting from United Express to a United flight, you should be ok. Dobot11 described the terminals well and the walkway between them is pretty cool (until about the 20th time). From the time you get off of your smaller plane, it should not take you more than 7-10 minutes to get to your next gate. The escalators/underground walkways are right in the middle of the B & C concourses so you won't have to traverse the entirety of each. That being said, if your first flight is getting to or beyond 30 minutes late, you may not make it. Given that we are in the midst of a bunch of 80 degree days here in the middle of March, it will probably snow in September. LOL

1 hour is plenty if both flights are on United or one of its partners (USAir, Continental). If you miss your connection, it won't be because you're using ORD.

Thanks so much, guys, for your great responses. Since we're leaving on an early flight from our own airport, I doubt there will be any delays on this end unless weather is a factor or mechanical problems. My hubby is a little slow walking since he suffers with arthritis in his knees, but he makes it okay without a wheelchair so we won't win any races but he can move along well. I'd sure rather get on another plane immediately than to wait around for 3 hours for the next flight.

+1 to this.

The OP is flying in on United (terminal 1), If he is flying out on an airline in terminal 3 you will need the whole hour.

If you're going from C32 to L10, good luck with that.

B and C are the United terminals. You'll probably arrive at terminal C and need to go to terminal B to go to Las vegas. Reverse process when going home. At least this was the case every time I have flown from Pittsburgh to Chicago, and Chicago to Honolulu.

You should be glad it's a one hour layover. That's the fastest way to get there.