O'Hare VS Midway - Chicago's International Airports Compared 

Thanks for watching! I just posted a new video comparing Miami's airports - check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XDUvzyG4tCE.html

You said "Sears Tower" good the way it should be said.

It’s pronounced “SEARS” but spelled “WILLIS”

O'Hare is named for a Medal of Honor winner from Chicago--whose dad was a bootlegger who worked for Al Capone. That's the *Chicago* way!

I remember driving to Midway, parking my car in the main parking lot, crossing the driveway, entering the terminal, passing my ticket to an agent, and walking 50 yards onto the tarmac and up into my plane. Entire exercise from parking to seatbelt on the plane took 10 minutes.

Why am I watching this I’ve never even been to Chicago

I am a former Chicagoan. And I absolutely adore O’Hare airport as a kid growing up to watch airplanes was pure joy. I was surprised your interesting video did not include the explanation why O’Hare IATA code is ORD. Before the airport was named O’Hare it was Orchard airfield

You forgot to mention a HUGE part of O’Hares history as it was once known as Orchard Field during WWII to make airplanes. And in 1947 the name was O’Hare field. The only reminder of Orchard Field is in O’Hare’s airport code which is KORD

O'Hare really is a beast. O'Hare is one of 5 stand alone towers that are ranked level 12 (FAA's highest). The others being LAX, DEN, ATL and DFW.

I’m a native Chicagoan and I live right next to midway...like right next to it planes fly over the house at low altitude at least 100 times a day

What you don't talk about is how Midway was pretty much abandoned in the late 70's. In 1980 I moved from Chicago to NYC to start a business. However, I kept my condo in Chicago and still had business there. A new airline started flying out of Midway, Midway Airlines. The fare from Chicago to NYC was unbelievably low, so I would take my flights between the two cities from Midway. Midway was such an unused airport that I would park my car at the curb at Midway and when I would return two weeks later, it would still be there! You bought your tickets on the airplane!.. 10 one ways for like $90 each. Midway Airlines started to become successful so parking at the curb no longer was an option. You had to then park in a parking lot which was about 100 yards from the terminal. Then Midway Airlines added a valet service. Drop your car off at the valet parking in front of the terminal and then when you returned you would tell the flight attendant to have your car brought around and when you would go out the terminal, it would be there waiting for you! A little later, Midway Airlines went to an all business class seating arrangement. Fantastic. Of course, all good things must come to an end and as Midway Airlines over extended (particularly to Philadelphia) it eventually went bankrupt. But what great times while they were around.

I've flown into both airports and personally I love the way Midway blends into the surrounding neighborhoods. I went to visit a friend once that lived within walking distance and it was a nice experience to walk out of the place and have his house just a couple blocks away. MDW is also so small, you don't have to walk kms to get to your gate.

Every chicagoan must love this vídeo

Just found your channel. As a former GIS major living in Chicago, there are so many interesting geography topics to cover in the city! looking forward to seeing more.

I live super close to midway and I see planes everyday

My dad says that Midway is better because it has more modern technology and it’s not as old or as crowded as O’Hare. I’ve always found O’hare a lot cooler because of the big planes that fly in there. Hopefully one day I can fly out of O’Hare. I’ll have to once I travel out of the country. Great video! 👍

This was a very good review of the two airports. A bit of Trivia O’Hare’s Airport and luggage code is ORD because the first airport at that location was an Orchard. It’s impossible to talk sensibly about Chicago’s air industry without talking about Meigs Field, Chicago’s small Lakefront Airport, for small planes. One reason for high CTA use is the huge travel time and economic saving found going to and from O’Hare and Midway via CTA. A few things of note: the Crash of Flight 191 at O’Hare killed 274 people including 2 on the ground. Amount the dead were my 19-year old fiancé (of 5 days) and her grandmother who she was named after. Doing a study of arriving and departing passengers at O’Hare that I was the project manager for found differences in arriving and departing air travelers by time of day. In general people in Chicago left for the airports from work and came back to home destinations at night. More details can be found in this paper Summary below which I presented at an Airport committee session at an annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington DC. That was in the period during which I and others started using Arc View to create desire line maps and using GIS for a lot of data work. If you do a google scholar search of P.J. Foote and CTA you can find a number of different papers on research in those early years. Abstract; Increasing rail transit access to airports in Chicago Peter J Foote, Sarah J LaBelle, Darwin G Stuart Transportation research record 1600 (1), 1-9, 1997 The results of two surveys of arriving and departing air travelers at O'Hare and Midway airports in Chicago concerning their choice of ground access and egress modes are reported. The purpose of the surveys was to better understand the travelers' trip purpose, trip frequency, origin and destination location, and perception of rail rapid transit as an access mode, so that promotional programs can be developed to increase this transit use. For both airports, about 15 percent of all air travelers whose ground trip-ends fell within the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA’s) service area used rail transit for access and egress. Rail access has been provided to O'Hare (Northwest Corridor, Blue Line) since 1984 and to Midway (Southwest Corridor, Orange Line) since 1993. The CTA has undertaken targeted promotional campaigns to increase the overall diversion of automobile travelers in both corridors to rapid transit. Such improved access to the airport increases the potential for greater market penetration. Passenger characteristics and survey methods are summarized, and the two ground access surveys are compared. The importance of express transit service as a significant consideration for managers and designers of major airports is highlighted.

I don't know why, I've always liked Ohare. Just passing customs, was more often than not a painful experience.. merry Christmas

I’m a Chicago native too lol

I've been to the O'Hare airport once in the middle of a connection flight. That was an exhausting experience. It took me half an hour to speed walk from one end of the airport to the other. The first plane I was as far away as it could be from the next plane.

I got a tour of the control room in my senior year of high school at midway I loved it

My only time being in Chicago was on a layover at midway when I was five years old back in 2008. Cool to learn more about these two airports.

Great vid! I flew out of O'Hare a couple days ago and loved it. I think airports are really fascinating

As a person who lived right next to midway for many years, I approve this message

@Chicago Geographer, I feel like Gary Chicago International Airport is also worth talking about given that it's an International Airport with a customs facility but no scheduled flights.

you said "Sears Tower"

This is fantastic! Thank you for making this video

Very nice history lesson. I have only taken 3 geography courses, but I like the topic of the channel.

Very informative! Good work

Great video! Keep it up, channels like yours deserve the chance to earn much more views and subs.

this video is really good and you have a good voice for stuff and it’s well edited good job

Great memories flying out of both airports. I used to live on NE River Rd right under the Sunday flight path. Every sunday the planes would fly so close to my building I thought they were landing on my roof!! lol

I like how the map in 0:58 makes it look like Chicago just reached out and gobbled O'Hare airport. There's just a tiny piece of land connecting O'Hare and the rest of Chicago.

Surprised that you didn’t mention that Midway likes to extend their runway out into the street every few years.

Interesting about the LEED stuff. Back in the '60s, O'Hare was quite proud of having its own co-generation power plant that generated electricity to power the airport, and steam for heat in the winter and hot water year-round. The plant was housed in a Mies van der Rohe style building that was visible from the I-190 entrance road. Sadly I can't find any historical information on the old power plant, but did know an engineer who worked on the steam system years ago some years ago.

Spent many hours in Midway, Grandma lives in Peoria. I remember always being fascinated by the WW2 plane art installations.

The WW2 mueseum in midway is really cool. If its still there. I was at midway for a layover about 5 years ago and I didn’t notice it was in the city. Of course I saw the skyline but that’s hard to miss anyway! But i was there at night so

I've traveled to O'Hare twice now....once as a connection to my honeymoon in Montreal, Canada (we got delayed both ways!) and then again in 2006 for a business trip to Chicago proper. Haven't flown in to Midway yet but I suppose I will someday.

I was born and raised in Decatur and didn’t move out of Illinois until I was 30. Quite a few flights through O’Hare, never one through Midway. My parents are buried in a small cemetery near O’Hare that’s right under a major runway’s flight path... I guess it’s convenient is I want to visit the graves...

What I miss the most at ORD are the roof top observation decks with the big binoculars to see far away planes.

ORD Ohare airport code is named after Orchard fields I would have included that in this video

idk how i got here but i love shit like this. and glad i'm not alone because i could never make videos and this stuff is fascinating so glad others enjoy it AND have the technical prowess so simpletons like me can enjoy

Thanks!

When I lived in Chicago proper, my home line was the orange line, so it and Midway hold a special place in my heart

Sears Tower. Thank you

I have only flown out of O'hare myself, just because the ticket prices have always been cheaper, but to be fair I think I default search O'hare because I'm more familiar with it. I only recently drove my Midway while doing an errand. I live right between the two, takes about the same time to get to both airports. This was incredibly interesting, thank you!

ORD Terminal 4 is technically still in existence. It was located in the lowest level of the existing main parking garage. T4 was created to serve as a temporary International Terminal while a new one was built. The original demolished terminal 1 (Now United) also served smaller airlines such as Alaska and Piedmont in addition to being an International Terminal for ORD. The new Terminal 5 was so named to avoid confusion in naming the new terminal as 4 also, or so I heard. The December 1972 United 553 crash near Midway killed passenger Mrs. Howard Hunt and Illinois Congressman George Collins. Mrs. Hunt was found to be carrying $10,000 in cash in a briefcase. It was thus named "The Watergate Crash" as it originated in DC and raised many questions when the cash was found in the wreck. Howard Hunt, of course, was one of Nixon's cronies.

Excellent. . need to update with expansion plans Thank

You might have to make a part 2 there redoing a few terminals and adding more runways soon

For some reason there is a cta bus terminal at midway but not O'Hare which bothers me so much although it is nice to see that the pace bus has bus terminals at both midway and O'Hare so thats noice

I've been through both many times. In ohare there's always a ton of walk between connecting flights, and I really wish the airport train was behind security instead of having to get out and go through security again.

As someone that grew up in Chicagoland, had a Dad that worked at United (not a pilot, worked in Software Procurement at the United HQ) for 20+ years, and is from an aviation & history obsessed family, even we learned a bunch! Aunts, uncles, friend's parents. All worked for United. Thanks for this! Thanks for not giving away the "secret" (ie less used) roads that go to O'hare from the suburbs! lol

3:08 Make that eight runways now.

O'Hare has eight runways now

I love this video

I'm surprised you didn't mention why O'Hare is designated as ORD. It's original name was Orchard Field and was renamed in 1949 to O'Hare as you pointed out. The airport designation remained the same after the change.

One fact about O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is that it's one of the world's most connectable airports that links hundreds of locations. I mean only world class airports can handle more than just hundreds of flights and O'Hare is indeed a world class airport.

As a Chicagoan myself I am a huge fan of United. I've flown in and out of O'Hare many times and I've been a frequent flyer with United since 2012. I perfer the window seat since I love watching planes takeoff and land and other times when my flight approaches O'Hare sometimes we'll fly over the Chicago Wolves den aka Allstate Arena if we land on either Runway 22 R or sometimes Runway 27 R. I also think it's awesome that Southwest has merged into O'Hare and more importantly O'Hare has 8 runways. Maybe Southwest can have Terminal 4 since Terminals 1,2,3 and the International Terminal 5 have been taken.

It takes a extremely Experienced And competent flight crew to navigate midway there is 0 room for error at midway that applies to all airports but Midway requires a extra special supreme maturity of a captain & their crew I would always choose Ohare over midway or Gary or Mitchell Rockford is a excellent choice over OHare & Midway

Terminal 4 is for the trolls!

Midway International Airport is Chicago's 1st airport made for regional travel. O'Hare International Airport is Chicago's 2nd airport made for multiple flights and is well centralized in the Midwest for long distance flights for multiple continents.

From which airport that P-8 Poseidon flies? 6:31

Here's a long but fun journey, take the El from one to the other!

I've taken flights from both. Midway was nice. O'hare was huge.

Don't forget the Southwest 737 that skidded Off The Runway on Landing and hit a local gas station

I love midway. It's just so much better. less packed, you fly southwest, and the places around are nice.

Would like to know more about the building and expanding of the airports over the years.

@ around 6:50, not sure Qantas has ever flown 737 into Chicago. They were planning to start a Brisbane - ORD service with B787 in April 2020, but that got "rona'd"

I've flown in through midway for over 10 years, more and more stores are being added where moving walkways used to be. I won't be surprised when there are no moving walkways left in the airport.

At Midway you could literally walk into a surrounding neighborhood without having to negotiate traffic or otherwise needing to be in a vehicle to leave the premises.

Don't forget Checkerboard field which was instrumental as an Airmail stop in the 20's.

Love that Chicago Midway landing 🥴 but seeing how I love southwest and live in NW Indiana there’s no reason for me to fly out of, and deal with all of the traffic, O’Hare

Next to O'Hare, Midway looks about the size of a square city block. Also, I wish it were as easy to get to LaGuardia as it is to get to either Chicago airport.

Now that restrictions are being lifted and summer is here, I see a lot of planes now mostly American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest and a few LOT and Emirates planes here and there

Been to ORD many times. But I must say the overhaul of terminal 5 Is way needed. Departed on KL612 In 2018 last time.

As a black Chicagoan I’ve gotta say midway is more smaller which makes it easier to find your way around o’hare is more bigger which means ( For the people who don’t like walking) a lot of walking is required. Plus you have to be inside ORD ( O’hare) to use the blue line. At MDW ( Midway) you can just walk outside the airport of midway airport and go near the pickup and drop off the orange line is right behind the that part of the building

It was always a trip growing up in Bensenville (5min from Ohare) but commuting all the way to Midway, just because my mom prefers Southwest.

Ohare is organized chaos while Midway is simple in and out.

Midway & O'Hare is like comparing Detroit Metro to Flint Bishop Airport. One is busy, congested and a pain to walk around in and the other is like parking across the street, going in side and walking to your gate like going to class.

let's not forget that in the 80's and 90's, and even into the 00's, O'Hare was a complete nightmare in regards to delays

flew to O'hare from Narita First time i had ever been to the US and first time seeing intersecting runways

I flew into terminal 5 domestically at O’Hare, which was weird because I then found it it was the international terminal.

As a Chicago Native and a big aviation nerd, this one hit home. Excellent work on this and keep it up!

one other interesting note about o'hare many people in near by Milwaukee Wi would rather fly in and out of o'hare then Milwaukee's Gen Mitchel airport only 70 miles away reason : more flights options

I'm going to flying in and out of both airports in September.

liked as soon as you said sears

ORD stands for Orchard, recalling original use of unincorporated orchard place once part of several Suburban townships including Leyden. A portion of O'Hare land just north of Irving Park Avenue continued to be worked as an orchard producing Street trees for the city of Chicago. Until operations dismantled and the original plots 1800s farm Home demolished. Along with major expansion project phase land clearing, included final take over and removal of original early 1800s cemetery where area settlers and last remaining Indian residents had been laid to rest. Since much of the expansive land had been open prairie grasslands, flooded sloughs and planes wetlands. Early construction of lake O'Hare water retention pond, along with network of manmade creeks. Was needed to help control flooding within natural silver Creek floodplain. Silver Creek still Flowd west to east through O'Hare airport's most northern portion of land. And even though rerouted during several major improvement projects over the years, with the most recent covering over extended portion with a cement tunnel. This Creek system still drains Eastward through town of Rosemont, into Des plaines River valley. During the 1990s it was still possible to travel down Creek running alongside several active runways. Until greatly increased security measures have since then denied access after historical 9/11 event. Any last surviving wild remnant groves of trees along with any last surviving untouched acreage. Had now been cleared to make way for O'Hare airports new Western entrance. With its last wild surviving tree, an Eastern cottonwood. Unceremoniously failed to make way for relocation of railroad thoroughfare along western border of airport. O'Hare original powerhouse with its familiar checkered red and white painted smoke stacks. And last structure from original airport construction. Has now also been demolished. Several era control towers still remain today. Including the fields oldest used as an operational observation deck, only recently closed to the public when concerns of security voiced after 9/11 event.

can you do SFO vs OAK or do you only do stuff about Chicago?

Whenever I hear O’Hare I keep thinking of the Lorax

I'd use Midway more if it wasn't such a nightmare getting home from it if you have a late flight. I thought that now that Southwest is flying out of O'Hare as well, that'd solve the problem, but unfortunately I have yet to see a non-stop flight to LAX from there, plus the fares are nowhere near as good as Midway's.

But I can agree that Chicago o hare is a decent size hub for united :D

From Pittsburgh I have had stops in O'Hare several times but never Midway.

I prefer Midway, I hadn't been to Ohare in twenty years until last night when I had to drop off my son. What a nightmare! It's so old and dilapidated and even more confusing than it was 20+ years ago. And the drive back home on I-294 is a terrible, the roads are rough, theres tons of construction. I have to pick him up in a week, not looking forward to the drive there.

O'Hare was originally called Old Orchard Field hence it's airport code ORD.

Are there any flights between Midway and O'Hare? J/K

I'm watching this while waiting for my flight in ORD

Do a vid on Meigs Field

You know this guy is from Chicago when he called it Sears Towers 😆

Great video! I have a question: how did you get those images you used? Like I'm trying to make some content like this, but you have to pay for them. Are there any sites that lets you use images that aren't copyrighted for free? Or do I just have to suck it up and pay for them? thanks!

Play Tic Tac Toe on Midway & San Francisco Runway layouts