CHICAGO: ORD & MDW discussion - Page 67

ardecila · #**1321** Posted **Mar 21, 2013, 6:46 PM**

As you mention, Rosemont is not an option for the Cubs. Without a charming, old-timey stadium surrounded by a walkable neighborhood full of convenient bars, there's really no reason to go to a Cubs game. I'd still be a fan, but the legions of wealthy young suburbanites that traipse down to Wrigleyville would evaporate. That's not to mention that Rosemont is already a traffic nightmare. It has the Blue Line, but there aren't any nearby sites for a stadium, and it doesn't really have the pedestrian infrastructure of sidewalks and paths (ever tried to walk to the convention center?)

A longstanding dream of mine is to reconfigure the I-190/River Road interchange with a pedestrian bridge. It would seriously help city residents access the stuff that's out there. Some median refuge islands and crosswalk signals (sans button) would go a long way as well.

Kngkyle · #**1322** Posted **Mar 26, 2013, 4:29 AM**

The summer of inaugural flights has begun.

March 23rd - Air Berlin (Berlin)
April 10th - Qatar Airways (Doha)
April 11th - American Airlines (Dusseldorf)
May 17th - Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
September 3rd - Hainan Airlines (Beijing)

denizen467 · #**1323** Posted **Mar 26, 2013, 9:49 AM**

^ That's awesome - do they do that for every new carrier?

Dedicated page on QR website:

http://www.qatarairways.com/us/en/of...icagosale.page
INTRODUCING 5-STAR FLIGHTS FROM CHICAGO
Starting April 10, 2013 you will be able to fly from the Windy City to the Qatar Airways network of over 120 destinations. Enjoy 5-star flights to India, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, and many other worldwide locations. Enjoy the great amenities that make Qatar Airways the World's Best Airline: with international cuisine, spacious seating, World-class entertainment options, and complimentary beer & wine, fly to your next international destination in luxury and comfort. Please keep checking this page to take advantage of great specials on flights from Chicago.

F1 Tommy · #**1324** Posted **Mar 26, 2013, 6:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

The summer of inaugural flights has begun.

March 23rd - Air Berlin (Berlin)
April 10th - Qatar Airways (Doha)
April 11th - American Airlines (Dusseldorf)
May 17th - Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
September 3rd - Hainan Airlines (Beijing)

Im suprised the airplane didn't need a deice after that since it was so cold!! I hear that really happened at BWI once, they did the fire truck salute and the UA 777 needed a deice afterwards

spyguy · #**1325** Posted **Apr 3, 2013, 1:19 AM**

T5 renovation updates

New Restrooms at T5 by flyt5, on Flickr

New Swatch Shop at T5 by flyt5, on Flickr

New Dufry Shop at T5 by flyt5, on Flickr

Hudson News Shop at T5 by flyt5, on Flickr

denizen467 · #**1326** Posted **Apr 5, 2013, 5:05 AM**

FINALLY world-class (-looking) terminal amenities in Chicago, that don't look like some parochial union hack job that will dilapidate in a half decade. I look forward to seeing them (and closely checking the build quality).

kbud · #**1327** Posted **Apr 11, 2013, 4:37 PM**

Any pics of Qatar's 773 at the terminal at ORD yesterday for their launch? Why don't any of ORD's terminal 5 gates have double jet-bridges? I travel abroad about once a month and every airport across the world seems to have double jet-bridges boarding the 777s, 747s, 332s, and 333s.

N830MH · #**1328** Posted **Apr 11, 2013, 10:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbud

Any pics of Qatar's 773 at the terminal at ORD yesterday for their launch? Why don't any of ORD's terminal 5 gates have double jet-bridges? I travel abroad about once a month and every airport across the world seems to have double jet-bridges boarding the 777s, 747s, 332s, and 333s.

Because the entire terminal 5 does not have double dual jetbridge. Only a single airbridge.

kbud · #**1329** Posted **Apr 12, 2013, 1:55 AM**

That's not a reason. Why doesn't it have any then?

denizen467 · #**1330** Posted **Apr 12, 2013, 6:58 AM**

^ In a lot of cases, a 2nd jetbridge is used for boarding premium cabins (including premium economy), so maybe sometimes airlines (or airports) mainly view a 2nd jetbridge as an amenity to ease boarding frustration for high-paying customers, rather than as a necessity? Obviously far from ideal when you get up to 400-passenger aircraft, but I believe jumbo jets don't usually need quick turnaround times like a 737 would (seeing as longhaul aircraft often make just one or maybe two roundtrips a day).

Not that this is excusable for ORD. Was T5 designed without ability to do dual jetbridges (are the gates too close together?), or are they just balking at the costs?

Rohey16 · #**1331** Posted **Apr 25, 2013, 12:49 AM**

New to this so be nice

but here is the Inaugural Airberlin Flight and also the new American Airlines 777 livery landing at O'Hare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xftr6hdSmE0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-DlmBdPkos

Kngkyle · #**1332** Posted **May 19, 2013, 8:48 PM**

Austrian Airlines started their flights to Chicago the other day. They seemed to put on a bit of a show for it in Vienna.

From their facebook:

Hopefully it's a success.

N830MH · #**1333** Posted **May 20, 2013, 12:30 AM**

Wow! Very nice. Hope those route will be done very well. Didn't they flew ORD-VIE back in early 2000 or so.

Ch.G, Ch.G · #**1334** Posted **May 20, 2013, 2:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Austrian Airlines started their flights to Chicago the other day. They seemed to put on a bit of a show for it in Vienna.

From their facebook:

Chicago: Al Capone. Blues Brothers. Michael Jordan. Amirite?

denizen467 · #**1335** Posted **May 20, 2013, 3:14 AM**

^ We've done a lousy job of branding ourselves. This bothers me a lot. It's hard because we have the national media working against us generally -- they love propagating stereotypes. When the Feb 2011 snowstorm closed Lake Shore Drive, the NY Times put a photo on the front page, emphasizing the trope that Chicago sits on the edge of the Canadian tundra. When weather disasters happen in NY, like the tornado that ripped through Brooklyn a couple years back or Sandy last fall, the stories are always about how the city residents bond together and help each other out. Let's also conveniently ignore that NY is poorly-sited and faces a bleak future with global warming, while Chicago will generally benefit from warmer winters. (I use NY as an example because most of the national media is based there.)

Anyway, I think Al Capone has been superseded for the most part by MJ and a few pop culture images like Blues Brothers and ER, et cetera. If Obama returns for good in 2017 it could help too.

The Blues Brothers thing above is fantastic; I didn't realize there was such awareness, and admiration, of this slice of pop culture over in haute-couture Vienna.

ardecila · #**1336** Posted **May 20, 2013, 7:03 AM**

Yeah, I'm surprised too, although I don't necessarily see why the Blues Brothers are a bad image for the city. Yes, the movie shows bits of 70s urban blight, but it mostly shows a large, diverse city with a rich musical tradition, the New Orleans of the North. This doesn't sync up with the glamorous global city Chicago that we're used to, but it also doesn't sweep the entire South Side and the city's massive black/latino populations under the rug. The Blues Brothers are a pretty harmless icon for Chicago IMO.

denizen467 · #**1337** Posted **May 20, 2013, 11:05 AM**

^ I should clarify, I was lamenting in agreement with ChG's general comment, and was not lamenting about the usage of the Blues Brothers. I'm happy with them using this imagery; it's leaps and bounds better than Al Capone. One thing, though, is that I imagine much of the world hasn't actually seen the movie, so when they think of the Blues Brothers they immediately see either one of two things -- quasi-benign, old-timey gangsters (a step backwards for us), or cool, suave blues players representing Chicago's music scene. It would probably serve us well if there were some kind of effort to emphasize the latter association, which would help foreclose the former. Always try to have at least one of the suit-and-shades guys holding a saxophone or something. It wouldn't hurt if there were some social event with a foreign leader or something where Obama copped the outfit and played a quick riff either - here's to hoping.

kbud · #**1338** Posted **May 20, 2013, 3:23 PM**

Yes they did fly to Chicago in the past. I wish them well, I'm not sure what will be differerent this time around with establishing this new route with Europe's recession.

Are they using terminal 5 for departures?

the urban politician · #**1339** Posted **May 20, 2013, 3:26 PM**

^ I actually think Chicago's branding is not as bad as people make it out to be.

People in suits and hats wearing shades is not a bad image to have. Kind of intriguing, and most people are intelligent enough to know that there is much, much more to a major city than just a few stereotypes.

kbud · #**1340** Posted **May 20, 2013, 3:54 PM**

- Do we know if this last phase will happen with the completion of a new terminal 4? It seems like with the new carriers coming now the space at T-5 is limited. Most talk about the gate space, but going through passport contral and customs is becoming a huge bottleneck inside between 1 pm and 7 pm now.
- Will the idea of having One World partners be co-located at a new Terminal 4 and Star Alliance partners be co-located at a new Terminal 2 ever see the light of day? Even though T-2 is getting some updates, it is an embarassment to the airport with how they route so many passengers to walk outside and around planes when they arrive on many United Express flights.
- Are there any gates being prepped to handle the 380? If so which ones? Who could potentially bring it to ORD? Korean or Lufthansa? I read that Lufthansa was going to bring the 747-8 to ORD, but I have not seen that scheduled. I'm still surprised that the 380 is going to ATL, MIA, Dulles, SFO with nothing on the horizon to ORD.