Monday, August 11, 2008

Chicago's O'hare Airport is close to Hell

On my journey here, I had to board 4 planes.
1st, KLIA to Changi Airport (Singapore)
2nd, Changi to Narita Airport (Tokyo)
Note : There was a baby beside me through the 7 hour flight
3rd, Narita to O'hare (Chicago)
Note : Another baby beside me... for 12 hours
4th, O'hare to Des Moines
Note : Yet another baby passenger travelling beside me

3 out of 4 flights with crying babies~joy
but that's just the tip of the iceberg...

Hell began when I touched down to Chicago at 4:20pm local time.
Upon reaching customs, I was greeted with a line comparable to the great wall of china x10
Gotta line up either ways. My stomach was aching, the line kept growing. Can't turn back to head for the toilet now.....
1 hour later..... I'm finally half way there........ Biatch, another 1 hour and it's finally my turn... BUT, the inspector is slow, always leaving his posts. ARGHH!!!
2 hours and 30 mins prior to landing it's finally my turn only to be told rudely by the inspector (I guess all the inspectors are rude.... indirectly saying "GET OUT IMMIGRANTS!!!") to refill my form.
Well, if they had made the form more user friendly I wouldn't be refilling it. Especially the part where it says "For government official ONLY" (they wanted me to fill that side as well)
Finally I've gotten through customs, looking back, the line was still as long as when I first reached. Always thought that they could've gotten more staff to keep things moving along faster... but no..... people were moving at about 5 people per 2 minutes.... and there's about 300 over people in line. I would've taken a picture of the scene if cameras wasn't prohibited in the area. I'm just glad I'm off and away.... people were getting impatient. Many were trying to cut in. A fight almost broke out. Tensions were high. Many mothers were on the brink of fainting while carrying their babies...

So, my 4 hour break in O'hare has been reduced to 3.5 hour of panicking in line hoping I could make it for my connecting flight. Efficiency at its best brought to you by Chicago O'hare International Airport.


Well it's about 7pm... my connecting flight departs at 8.08pm and boarding begins at 7.38pm
Like many before and after me, we're running looking for our bags which was supposed to be collected about 3 hours ago. Upon collecting the bags, I had to run from one end of the terminal to the other.... From my past experience... there was gonna be another long line through security check. I was expecting the worst; I'd might have to board another plane probably the next day...
Lucky for me, the line wasn't as long as I expected and made it in time.

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