ORDAirport Guide

Can you reserve parking at O'Hare?

Yes. O'Hare holds a covered space for $10 per space per day on top of parking, on Level 2 of the Terminal 5 garage or Level 4 of the Main Garage or Lot F.

The coffered concrete ceiling and white columns with red bands of a covered level of the Main Garage at O'Hare.
Main Garage, Level 4

Yes. You pay $10 per space per day on top of the normal parking charge, and the airport holds a covered space for you. It says the space is guaranteed even when the garage is full.

Where the reserved spaces are

The airport’s reserved parking page names three places. Each one has a single reserved level.

Where Reserved level Gets you to Parking for 24 hours With the $10 fee Seven days
Terminal 5 garage Level 2 Terminal 5, over an enclosed pedestrian bridge $43 $53 $371
Main Garage Level 4 Terminals 1, 2 and 3, beside the garage $43 $53 $371
Economy Lot F Level 4 Every terminal, on the free Airport Transit System $30 $40 $280

The airport’s rate tables stop at 24 hours, so each seven-day figure is the daily total times seven. Lot F sits on floors 4 and 5 of the Multi-Modal Facility.

How you book

You book on the airport’s website or a mobile device. The booking comes with point-to-point directions to your space.

How the fee adds up

The $10 is per space and per day, so a week adds $70. The airport’s rate tables say they include all taxes. Its reserved page says the $10 does not include applicable taxes, fees or the cost of parking, and it doesn’t say what those taxes and fees come to. Treat the totals above as the minimum.

Reserve, or drive in and look

The fee buys one thing, which is certainty that a space exists when you pull in. The airport’s parking page also points to a real-time status module, so you can look before you go.

The Main Garage costs the same as the Terminal 5 garage per day. The airport’s Main Garage page says its daily rates run higher than the economy lots and doesn’t recommend it for extended overnight stays. A reserved week there is $91 more than Lot F, and Lot F is the cheaper way to hold a space when you don’t need to be beside the terminal.

Premier Parking can’t be reserved. The airport says it takes no advance booking, and its covered spaces go first come, first served.

What the reserved page doesn’t say

Some terms that matter to a reader are missing from the page:

  • How long the space is held after your booked arrival time, and what happens if you run late.
  • Whether you can cancel or change a booking.
  • Whether you get a numbered space or a spot somewhere on the reserved level.
  • How the parking charge is collected. The general parking page says payments go to the cashier when you leave.
  • Whether a reserved space sits near a charger. The airport lists chargers on Level 2 of the Terminal 5 garage (10) and on Level 4 of Lot F (24, in Rows G to J), the same levels.

The terms may sit on the booking page the airport links to, so read them before you pay. The Parking Garage Office at (773) 686-7530 is the number the airport gives for parking questions.

Check your vehicle’s height first

Clearance differs by place. The airport gives the Main Garage 6 feet 6 inches, the Terminal 5 garage 8 feet 6 inches and Lot F 8 feet 4 inches. The airport’s accessibility page gives Lot F a height restriction of 8 feet 2 inches, so a vehicle near 8 feet should plan on the lower number. A vehicle taller than the Main Garage allows belongs in one of the other two.

Sources