Help Navigating O'hare Airport for Teen Son

Honestly, at 15 he should be able to do this but if he is shy and at all hesitant, I would not attempt this maneuver at O'Hare. I get confused at O'Hare and I'm a very seasoned traveler. Can you fly him into Midway instead?

I would call the airport ###-###-#### and explain that you have a 15 year-old traveling alone and ask for detailed instructions to make this connection.

If you want him to travel under the official capacity of "unaccompanied minor" there is usually a fee charged for that, but then an airline employee will accompany him from one plane to the next and make sure he makes his connection.

My step kids traveled as unaccompanied minors several times. One time we had left the airport, their flight was delayed, and an flight attendant took them to McDonald for dinner while they waited!

W., there is a "train" that takes him in between the terminals. He needs to follow the signs to American Airlines. You need to find out about how his luggage is being handled. If he's only carrying on a smaller suitcase and a backpack, it will be easier.

Those train shuttles come every few minutes and announce in English which terminal they are stopping at. Tell him not play any cell phone games or gameboy so that he isn't distracted. (Believe me, my college boy had to learn THAT lesson the hard way! He ended up spending the night in the airport because of it, LOL! He'll never make that mistake again!) When you take him to the airport, take him early, show him the departures board, and teach him how to find his own flight with American on the board. Show him how to read his ticket so he knows what the coding means, including the boarding time. It's important that you tell him that he can't just go off to the bathroom around boarding time and think that there is no hurry - they shut the door and then he's missed his flight. You should know by talking to the United desk if he needs to get a boarding pass from American. That takes more time.

He'll have to go through security again, I'm pretty sure. (Hope he has plenty of layover time.)

If he has a cell phone, have him call you as soon as the plane lands so you know he's there. Have him call you again when he gets to American's counter - if he has any trouble, he can pass the phone off to them and you can talk to the agent for him.

Above all, this is my most important advice. Have American's phone number and his flight information at your fingertips in case there is a problem. If he were to miss his connecting flight through his own fault, without getting it handled before the plane's door closes, you could be on the hook for the ticket and have to pay for an additional ticket to get him home. If there are a bunch of people in line at the American counter and he can't get to the front, that could potentially happen. So if he's going to miss the flight, he can't just "not tell you" - he has to tell you instantly and you call them on their 800 number and work it out on the phone. When he gets up to the counter, the new flight would be in the computer and they'd just print him out a new ticket.

It takes you two working together to mitigate problems. Hopefully, there won't be any and he'll easily make it to the American counter. Just watch the time, especially with the time changes due to time zones.

Next time you book a flight, try not to change airlines. I guess they didn't tell you, or you didn't understand when you did it? Or you did it online and missed it somehow? You aren't the only one it has happened to, believe me. It happened to me, and my husband didn't bother to tell me that he had done it. Here I was wandering around the place trying to find the counter, ended up having to ask which terminal to go to, and I'm an adult!!

If you choose to do unaccompanied minor status, the airline will probably charge you money. Hopefully BOTH airlines won't demand payment. I don't know about that. The last time I did it (one airline), it cost me $50.

I'm sure things will be fine. O'hare isn't that hard. I'm only telling you about worst case scenario because forewarned is forearmed.

Dawn

Ditto Sue W.

You NEED to call the airlines, tell them your son is an unaccompanied Minor... and he will need assistance and/or a person to accompany him etc.
Don't leave it to chance.
Make it happen and get all your bases covered and all the information you need and keep asking them questions until you feel satisfied.
You are a Mom, your 15 year old is traveling alone, he is shy... so do what you can and initiate phone calls and questions and make sure there is someone there to accompany him or help him. He is a Minor. Airports can help.

Its strange that the notice says it leaves from a different airport but yet it is still O'Hare. Maybe a different terminal. Each Airlines, has their own terminal etc.

Tell him to get off the plane and ask. Better yet ask someone on the first plane.

Although we don't have airlines that use both we have two very separate terminals here in St Louis. If there were connecting flights between the two our airport would provide shuttles, I am sure O'Hare does that as well.

I have been to a fair few airports that have transfers in what feels like different time zones, there has always been shuttles.

I would pay the price to have him accompanied. O'hare is huge and confusing, especially at his age! I can get lost easily there, as in once I ended up in some long dark hallway with no people whatsoever and construction going on. What the heck? I have no idea how I did that! At O'hare you can easily find yourself in the twilight zone. Also, it is often not that easy to just find someone to ask. You can sit for hours with no one at desks in the terminals and have them suddenly appear just when a flight boards. I have found most people at the counters and terminals to be not friendly as well. There will be lines at all the counters, too, so if he has a time crunch he might not make it. I also remember there are computers at the terminals, which I jumped on once when a flight was cancelled to book the next one out immediately, which saved a ton of trouble but I had to do it at lightning speed to get it. My son traveled at 15 and was quiet and shy like yours, and I paid the cost to have him accompanied because there are just so many things that can go wrong and you'd have the peace of mind knowing they would take care of him at all times.

Everyone else has great advice. I just wanted to add that you talk to him about his shyness and traveling. It's not the time to be too shy to ask for directions. My mom always said, you'll NEVER see these people again anyways. Make sure he talks to his neighbors on the United flight, because there's a good chance someone will also be transferring to the AA flight and even if he doesn't know them from a hole in the ground, two heads are better than one. :P Best of luck :)

Doesn't look too difficult. Does he have an internet enabled device with him?

http://www.ohare.com/PassengerInformation/AirportMaps.aspx

There are two airports in Chicago, so get on the phone with the airline and make sure that he doesn't have to go from one airport to another. Rebook if he does.