Dude, take the connecting flight. Anything else is complete lunacy. Yeah, you can drive from O’Hare to Downtown Milwaukee in about 90 minutes, though it’ll be perhaps twice that in rush hour, but the hassle far outweighs the reward.
You can sit for 3 hours in O’Hare and read a book, listen to music and enjoy some junk food. Actually you’ll sit for closer to 2 hours since you’ll board early and probably get off the plane late and have to walk between the terminals. You won’t need to go through any security though.
Or, you can get off the plane, navigate the terminal to the ground transportation kiosks to arrange a rental car. Probably 45 minutes with lines and paperwork. Then take the rental companies shuttle bus to the remote parking lot and locate your car. Probably another 30 minutes minimum. Then you get the pleasure of navigating the unfamiliar and chaotic freeway around the airport and fight traffic into Chicago and away from your destination since there’s no direct route northeast towards Milwaukee. Say 20 minutes without traffic, 40 with it. Then drive north through Chicago rush hour and into Milwaukee rush hour. Another hour minimum.
Factor in rental car costs, gas costs and toll costs and the simple hassle of navigating Chicago traffic and O’Hare outside of the gates area there’s no equation where not flying a connection is advantageous.
The train isn’t a great option for getting from ORD to Milwaukee, however. The “Hiawatha” originates from Union Station downtown Chicago, which would likely mean he’d have to take a cab or the L (subway) from ORD to downtown Chicago, and then hop on Amtrak.
Alternately, I see that the train does stop in Glenview, which, while it’s not next to ORD, isn’t as far away. So, he could take a cab to the Glenview station, which would probably be easier.
I’m very :dubious: about the idea that rush hour in Chicago will only add an extra 30 minutes onto the drive. I can recall taking two or three hours *just to get through Chicago itself *at particularly bad times of day.
Yes, the train isn’t terribly convenient for getting to or from ORD. (On the Milwaukee end, however, there’s an MKE stop. I’ve always been a little surprised that they didn’t run a line to O’Hare, too, but I haven’t looked at a map, either, so I’m sure it’s just not geographically convenient.)
I did another quick check and on a random midweek 1 night turnaround (June 15-16):
Fastest direct flight to ORD is 3hrs 48min for $619
Cheapest direct flight to ORD is $359 and takes 4hrs 10min
Fastest to MKE w/1 stop is 5hrs 5min for $315
Cheapest to MKE w/1 stop is $259 and takes 5hrs 24 min.
Both of these have a short stop of about an hour in MSP.
Simply comparing the cheapest options, the point to consider is whether or not an extra 75 minutes of flying/layover is worth $100 plus 90 minutes driving.
Of course, the one factor these don’t take into consideration is the time of your anticipated interview, which might make booking the fastest or cheapest flight impossible anyway.
Another thing to consider might be the price of rental cars in MKE vs ORD.
Personally, I’d take the Midwest flights through MSP to MKE and enjoy the big seats and cookies.
Unfortunately, Midwest has gone downhill over the years. They still have some of the wide-seated planes, but it’s not guaranteed anymore. AFAIK, they still all serve the cookies, though.
Actually, the deciding factor really should be – do not fly in/out of Chicago. Any combination of fly/drive/train/walk/hitchhike that requires going through ORD is lunacy. Avoid Chicago at all cost.
This is probably your best option. There used to be cheap (<$100) shuttle flights from Madison to Milwaukee if you didn’t want to drive, but the drive is pretty easy.
All right - I’ll buy everything about renting a car at Ohare being a hassle, but you seriously can’t expect anyone to believe it would take 20-40 minutes to get onto frigging 294 from Ohare! It’s right there, and is the quickest most direct route…
:dubious: all you want. For a couple of years I used to drive from Roosevelt and 355 to downtown Milwaukee at least twice a month. Had to get to Milw by 9 a.m., and my work ended anytime from 2-5 pm. For a while I used to try to do all kinds of things to get done as early as possible, fearing the rushes. But eventually I started timing exactly how much the rushes added, and I stoped worrying. It’s probably even faster now that they removed the Deefield toll booth.
I don’t see why ORD is reviled so much. I never have a problem getting to my connecting flight. I would choose a flight to MKE based on price alone, and if you change in ORD, so be it.
Well, considering that you’d likely start by stopping at the rental desk in the terminal, then waiting for the shuttle bus, then taking the shuttle bus out to the remote lot…it might not be too far off.
Once you’re at the rental company’s remote lot, it’d be 5 minutes to get onto 294, 10 tops.
This is his full paragraph. Looks like he imagines it taking upwards of 2 hours from off plane onto 294, including 20-40 minutes once you are in your car. I don’t see it. I mean, from the main loop if you don’t take Manheim, 294 is the next exit, no?
Just remember that the stretch of I-94 between Chicago and Milwaukee is undergoing major reconstruction, complicating the drive between the two cities.
Fly into Milwaukee instead of Chicago, and that bit is avoided, at least. Mostly, anyway. A bit of construction extends around the airport spur in Milwaukee County.
That’s actually causing A LOT more problems on surface roads then the freeway. Most of the work is involving bridges so the freeways tend to have closures once a month or so for a few hours during the night as they bring beams in or take bridges out, but other then that it really hasn’t impacted free travel too much. I think the biggest impact to the freeway has been various on/off ramp closures, but if you have a GPS it shouldn’t be a problem.
They still have some of the wide-seated planes, but it’s not guaranteed anymore. AFAIK, they still all serve the cookies, though.
It’s right there, and is the quickest most direct route…