My O'Hare experiences for our Sailor who left for A-School (PIR 1/24/14)

[A's_momma_Erin]

My O'Hare experience (Disclaimer, we have very little current experience in airports, so this was new to all of us, but we are very experienced in the winter driving conditions.)  Please take this information, use it, share it, ignore it, whatever is best for you.  This is just one view of the experience and I hope it helps someone enjoy the last hours with their Sailor!

My Sailor left for the airport at 12:30 AM. We left The Navy Lodge about 1:30 am.  When we left, there were a few inches of fresh snow, freezing mist at points and strong gusts of wind. The weather was awful (even for our standards because of the little sleep we were running on).

ALL groups of sailors we saw (even the later arriving ones) gathered by the United 2A door. We got there about 2 AM and this had given our group of Sailors enough time to get in, set down their seabags, and figure out a few things.  Ours called us (they might borrow a cell from someone who's family is there or they probably have minutes left on their calling card) to let us know where he was just as we were pulling into the economy, outside per hour, for 5+ hour lot.  Some people say get there before they do, but it was fine for us that we didn't.  We found him easily, gave him all his personal stuff.  He was able to fit a small nylon backpack in his Navy issued backpack, a standard bed pillow and a full set of twin sheets in his garment bag.  Then we went down to the lower level by baggage claim to the small Starbucks to get a drink.  Sometime during the wait before they get their boarding passes have them exchange cell #'s if they haven't already!  It would have been helpful to have lots of numbers of Sailors in your flight group to check in with.

At 3 AM he needed to leave to check in with the group so we waited in line.  He called us and said "Come Now!".  Thankfully we hadn't ordered yet!  The entire group left the building and walked a very short way to the "other" United ticket booth that was open to check their bags and get their boarding passes.   Our Sailor checked his seabag, garment bag, and backpack so all he needed to carry was his manilla envelope with his orders and his boarding pass.  This was so much easier than lugging his backpack around, even though they could carry it on to the plane.

He was under the impression we had to go back to where they first gathered and wait for that ticket booth to open and get our visitor boarding passes when it opened at 5 am. We walked back and hung out by the baggage claim and finally got our drinks. Do NOT do this.  There are hardly any seats to wait and Starbucks was the ONLY option for food/drinks we saw. He was told (later of course) you can go to any ticket booth to get the Visitor passes!  Lots of Sailors got their families visitor passes and went through security into the main airport after the group was completely checked in.  We had split from the group by then, so didn't know this.  Also, the USO's waiting area was off limits to family due to the sheer volume of Sailors.  I'm sure it is this way every weekend, but worth checking in.  The USO is in the upper level just above the TSA check in near where they all get dropped off.

We got through security about 5:30 am with no issues and had much better seating, areas to charge our cell phones and plenty of food choices.  He needed to check in with his group at his gate at 7am for the 8am flight to make sure all were accounted for.  We stayed until they boarded then left the airport since the younger ones had had enough by now. By this time it was about 8:30 am when we headed back to the hotel.  On the drive we saw about 14 vehicles in the ditch/side of the road, due to the icy roads and wind gusts, but it was no biggie (to us) to just slow down and take our time. 

We had considered using Sarges $90 round trip taxi to O'Hare, but glad we didn't.  It cost us only $1.50 in tolls to the airport, $17 in outdoor parking for 7 hours, and $1.90 in tolls back to the Navy Lodge, for a grand total of $24.40. Each leg of the trip only took about 35-40 minutes.  If you are NOT used to winter driving and the weather is at all sketchy, you may want to consider a shuttle or taxi.  Your nerves will thank you, even if the wallet does not.

[mamacita3]

Your sailor left from O'Hare?  Ours left from Midway, flying Southwest.  Didn't realize they didn't all leave from Midway.  

We rented a car from Advantage Car rental which is off-site from O'Hare (where we flew in and out of) for $10/day.  We had considered Sarge's too but renting was so cheap. Our sailor got dropped off at Midway around midnight-12:30 a.m. and we met him there around 4:00 a.m. at which time we were able to give him his cell phone and other toiletries (contacts and solution, etc.).  Connected to the world again!  There was a special security gate for us to go through since we were not flying as long as we were with our sailor so he met us outside of the gates and escorted us back through.  If memory served, he called us from the USO lounge to let us know where to meet him.  

[A's_momma_Erin]

Depends on many factors I have no clue about.  I'm guessing it is determined by how many are going where for A school.  We had 2 groups with different times leaving for Charleston SC, and some went to Meridian MS today.  Not sure if there were other groups heading out, but those were the ones I knew about.

[SW]

Great information Erin. Our sailor left at 3:30. We used the short term parking. The sailors are dropped off at Terminal 2 but the sailors in this group all were on United so they marched outside in the bitter cold to terminal 3. We did get a visitor's pass and was allowed to go through special security. I wish we would have met our sailor at the Terminal she was leaving from. It was a lot of walking especially when so tired.
We also had the horrible road conditions but we are used to it, but it still was intense.
The meet and Greet at Sarge's was great!!!
I have heard the weather for the next PIR may be as bitter as ours. Ear muffs, face shied, scarves, layers are all in order for next weeks PIR.