What facilities does O'Hare have?

Free Wi-Fi and a Mother’s Room are in all four O’Hare terminals. The extras sit in particular terminals: a yoga room in Terminal 3, the Family Lounge in Terminal 2 and spas in Terminals 1 and 3. The airport lists no luggage storage.

Terminals 1, 2 and 3 connect on foot after security, so a Terminal 3 flight can still use the Terminal 2 Family Lounge. Terminal 5 doesn’t have a walkway to the others on the secure side, so anything outside Concourse M means the Airport Transit System or, with a same-day boarding pass, the Terminal Transfer Bus. Our walking guide says who can walk where, and the terminal train guide gives the end-to-end ride time.

Wi-Fi and power stations cost nothing

Wi-Fi is free and unlimited in all four terminals, before and after security. You’ll watch an ad to get on, and our Wi-Fi guide walks through the steps, including the non-https page you have to load first.

Power stations are seated workstations with outlets and counter space, free to use. Each has four to eight seats and one wheelchair-accessible position, and they stand at gates in Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 5. The charging guide lists the gates. Some airlines also fit outlets into the seats at their own gates.

Water refill stations are on the Departures level and at baggage claim in every terminal, with no hours listed. What you can carry through security is in our food, water and drinks guide.

Where do parents and nursing mothers go?

Each Mother’s Room is open 24 hours, and the Multi-Modal Facility has one too. They have seating, a sink, outlets and a changing surface. Lactation pods are free-standing units in Terminals 1, 2 and 3, and the airport doesn’t list any in Terminal 5, or any pod hours. The nursing rooms guide has every gate, including the pods where the airport’s own pages disagree.

Terminal 2 puts the Family Lounge and the Travelers Aid Chicago office around Gate F1, with a lactation pod near the lounge at Gate F1 on the airport’s Mother’s Room page and Gate F3 on its accessibility page and map. The Family Lounge is a play space with colorful seating, device charging and stroller parking, past security in the Main Hall. The Travelers Aid office across from it keeps limited baby supplies. Diaper vending machines are in the terminals, and Hudson stores sell travel necessities. Our families and kids page lists the all-gender single-user restrooms by gate.

Most places to rest are past security

At both spas, the airport’s map describes nail services, chair massage, hand, leg and foot massage, and full body Swedish and deep tissue massage. It gives no treatment prices, so check at the spa itself. The hours come from the airport’s map and its Yoga Room and Interfaith Room pages. The spa and yoga guide covers the room’s house rules.

The Chapel has prayer books, rugs, rosaries and facilities for Juma ablution, and the Chapel Office lists (773) 686-2636. The Interfaith Room has open floor space, a Qibla compass and shoe storage. For a longer wait, quiet places without a lounge lists the calmer corners, and every lounge sets out who can get into each club.

The Hilton is the one hotel the airport itself lists. It stands directly across from Terminals 1, 2 and 3, and it has underground walkways to the domestic terminals and an indoor walkway to the CTA Blue Line. Our Hilton guide covers the walk.

Who handles cash, questions and lost property?

Seaway Bank runs currency exchange counters in all four terminals, and their hours differ by counter. ATMs are in every terminal and the Multi-Modal Facility, and the airport’s map prints 24-hour hours for most of them. The currency exchange and ATM guide gives each counter’s gate and hours.

Information desks in every terminal are staffed by Travelers Aid Chicago volunteers. The Multi-Modal Facility desk near Door 4 is staffed 24 hours, and the other desks keep shorter hours, which our information desks page lists. Ask there for a sensory bag, a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard or a video link to an American Sign Language interpreter.

Lost property goes to whoever runs the space where you left it:

• The airline, for a ticket counter, a gate or an aircraft.
• The Transportation Security Administration, for a checkpoint.
• Chicago Police, for a public area of a terminal.

Who to call when you lose something has the numbers. Baggage claim levels have Smarte Carte baggage carts and self-service repair stations, which carry an air compressor, a tool kit and a wheelchair charging unit.

For a message to someone in the terminal, the airport says to contact the airline, because airlines do the paging. For a fax, copy or parcel, the airport’s business centers page names the Hilton’s business center on its lower arcade level.

What help is there for access, emergencies and animals?

For a wheelchair, arrange assistance with your airline before you travel. The wheelchair guide says where to go in each terminal. The Companion Plus Restroom in Terminal 2, across from the Family Lounge, is a private accessible room for travelers who need a companion’s help, and the accessible restrooms guide covers its ceiling lift and adult-sized changing table.

Sensory bags are free at the information desks, and the autism-friendly guide covers the airport’s sensory maps and social stories. Every defibrillator station also holds a Stop the Bleed kit and naloxone, and the first aid guide lists where they are.

Service animal relief areas are accessible at all times, on both sides of security, and the pet relief guide lists the outdoor and indoor areas by terminal. Marked smoking areas in Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are all before security, so leaving one means clearing a checkpoint again. Terminal 5 doesn’t have any marked, as the smoking guide explains. The USO has centers in Terminals 2 and 3 for serving personnel and their dependents, and our USO guide has the hours and phone numbers.

The airport lists no luggage storage and no general-use showers

O’Hare’s pages and terminal map list no lockers and no left-luggage counter, and Travelers Aid says its staff can’t store bags. The luggage guide covers who to ask instead.

The only shower room the airport describes is the Companion Plus Restroom, which has two. The airport’s map also lists “showers” as a keyword on the United Polaris Lounge in Terminal 1, but it lists no shower room for general use.

Sources

• Our pages: Airport amenities, Wi-Fi, Charging and power, Nursing rooms, Families and kids, Spa and yoga, Chapel, Information desks, Currency exchange, Luggage storage, Accessibility services, Terminals
• Chicago Department of Aviation: Services page, Amenities page, Technology page, Mother’s Room page, Family Lounge page, Yoga Room page, Chapel page, Interfaith Room page, USO page, Business Centers page, Passenger Paging page, terminal map