O'Hare at Thanksgiving and Christmas

Neither the airport’s pages nor TSA’s travel tips forecast the holiday weeks, name a busiest day or promise a wait for Thanksgiving or Christmas. They do publish the hours each checkpoint opens and closes, what each lot charges for a day, and which holiday items can’t ride in a carry-on.

Busiest days and waits: ask your airline and TSA

The airport says its checkpoints are “generally open as stated” and that the hours “may be affected by day-to-day airport activities.” It sends you to your air carrier for “operations on the date of your flight.” TSA tells travelers to “give themselves plenty of time for all steps of their journey” and to check their airlines for boarding and checked-bag cutoff times. Neither gives an amount of time.

TSA’s travel tips page lists three places to ask: AskTSA, a phone line and TSA Cares. AskTSA answers by text at 275-872 (send the word Travel), on X, on Facebook Messenger and in Apple Business Chat, and says live assistance runs from 8 am to 6 pm Eastern, 365 days a year. The phone line, whose number is on that page, is for questions about preparing for screening, and live agents are available from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET weekends and holidays. TSA Cares, at (855) 787-2227, is the contact for support at the checkpoint for travelers with disabilities or medical conditions.

For your own flight, the airport’s flight search shows arrivals and departures by terminal. It says its data comes from a third party and tells you to check with your carrier for the latest.

If you’re waiting past security in Terminal 2, the Family Lounge in the main hall near Gate F1 is a play space for children with colorful seating, device charging and stroller parking. The airport says musicians, caricature artists and other live entertainment appear there at times through the year, mostly around the holidays.

Checkpoint hours by terminal

Your terminal narrows your choice of checkpoint, and the airport lists these hours:

Before 3:30 a.m., only Checkpoints 5 and 10 are listed open. After 8:30 p.m., only Checkpoints 1, 5, 7A and 10 are open, plus the PreCheck lane at Checkpoint 7. PreCheck and CLEAR lanes keep their own hours, which our security page lists checkpoint by checkpoint.

The Terminal 2 PreCheck lane closes three hours before Checkpoint 5 does. The Terminal 5 lane closes at 8:30 p.m. at a checkpoint that is open 24 hours. Our checkpoint guide pairs each terminal with its checkpoints and lanes.

Parking: reserve a space or pick a lot by price

A reservation is the one option that promises a space. The airport’s reserved parking page lists “guaranteed spaces, even when garage is full.” The reserved spaces are on Level 2 of the Terminal 5 garage, Level 4 of the Main Garage and Level 4 of Economy Lot F. A reservation adds $10 per space per day to the parking charge, and you book online before you leave home. Our guide to reserving covers the terms the airport’s page leaves out.

Without a reservation, the airport’s parking page points to a real-time parking status module and lists no holiday rate or closure. Here is what a day costs where you’d park:

Premier takes no bookings, so it’s first come, first served. The airport’s pages disagree on whether Lot H takes cash, so bring a card. The Lot G and H shuttles come every 5 to 10 minutes around the clock, which matters for a flight out before sunrise. Our week-away guide totals a full week by lot.

For a pickup, wait in the free cell phone lot until your passenger has landed and collected their bags. Waiting at the curb isn’t allowed, and unattended vehicles are ticketed and towed. If you’ll be away more than 30 days, the airport asks you to call the Parking Garage Office at (773) 686-7530 first. Otherwise a car “will be considered abandoned and may be towed at owner’s expense.”

Trains and buses: what runs every day

Of the five ways in below, only the CTA Blue Line and the Airport Transit System run 24 hours a day. The airport lists service days for the rest, not a holiday timetable.

Food and ID at the checkpoint

TSA counts sauces, jam, preserves and wine as liquids or gels, and over 3.4 ounces (100 mL) they belong in a checked bag. Its test is short: “If you can spill it, spread it, spray it, pump it or pour it,” and it’s larger than 3.4 ounces, check it. TSA’s What Can I Bring page answers a specific item.

For gifts, TSA encourages gift bags or boxes with lids that come off, so officers can inspect a present without opening wrapping. It says snow globes belong in a checked bag because of the liquid inside them.

Adults 18 and older need acceptable ID at the checkpoint. TSA no longer accepts state driver’s licenses and IDs that aren’t REAL ID compliant. If you aren’t sure yours is, check with your state’s DMV, or travel with another acceptable ID, such as a passport. TSA doesn’t require children under 18 to show ID for travel within the United States. TSA accepts expired ID up to two years after expiration, for the forms on its acceptable ID list. It says that list can change without notice, so check it again before you fly. A traveler with no acceptable ID can pay $45 for TSA ConfirmID, and TSA says to pay on its ConfirmID page before heading to the airport.

If the day goes wrong, our canceled flight guide has the next steps, and our winter snow guide plans around delays and the drive in.

Sources

• Security checkpoints, Parking, Flights, Reserved Parking, Cell Phone Lot, Economy Lot G, reserving parking, which checkpoint, a week away, flight canceled and winter snow
• Chicago Department of Aviation: TSA information, general parking information, reserved parking and flight search pages
• TSA: travel tips, acceptable identification and What Can I Bring pages