Nearing the entrance to the processing area, passengers are greeted by an electronic sign alerting them in 17 different languages to have their passports and other documents ready.
The Federal Inspection Service facilities, one for each arrivals wing but joined by a corridor, are 20 feet below the aircraft parking grade but receive natural light from five skylights and angled windows. An added touch: Ivy hangs from the partition that separates the two immigration areas.
Additional electronic signs and multilingual personnel, including two reps from the U.S. Travel & Tourism Administration, direct and assist foreign passengers to one of 34 U.S. Immigration positions.
Many arrivals, especially those on American, United and Northwest, are quickly directed to designated blue lanes. These lanes are an element of a relatively new program called APIS (for Accelerated Passenger Inspection System), whereby passengers’ passports are initially processed by the airline at the point of departure. From there a special computer transmits the passengers’ names and personal data to the U.S. Immigration screening center in Virginia. The information is then sent by computer to-in this case-O’Hare. Immigration inspectors need only look at the passport and the passenger to grant entry, unless, of course, the passenger is flagged because of some problem.
FIS and airport authorities say their goal is to have people processed and on their way in 20 minutes. One day in August, about 800 people descended on immigration in a matter of minutes and-it seemed-were cleared just as quickly. Between 2 and 4 p.m. that day, a peak period, Terminal 5 received 22 flights with 4,751 passengers.
While arriving passengers walk the long corridor, ground handlers off-load baggage containers-as many as 16 on a Boeing 747, fewer on the Boeing 767s and MD 11s-that are lowered onto dollies pulled by electric tugs into the 110,000-square-foot state-of-the-art baggage-handling facility at apron level.
On average, 15 minutes after the plane is parked at the gate, the first of the off-loaded bags reach one of nine carousels in the FIS area. Conveyor belts transport luggage down to one of the carousels. Each carousel has double screens that show the carrier’s logo, flight number and city of origin. (Luggage checked by outbound passengers or those making connecting flights carry bar-coded destination tags. Laser scanners read the the tags and direct the bags to the appropriate destination pier for loading. The baggage facility, with 31 loading piers, is laced with three miles of steel conveyor belts.)
As passengers exit immigration, separated by a glass wall from the carousels and customs, they find no-charge luggage carts-800 of them-for their carry-on stuff and suitcases.
The FIS facility handles not only immigration procedures but also those of the U.S. Customs Service, Department of Agriculture, Public Health Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. When fully staffed, immigration staffers can process 4,000 passengers an hour, while customs officials handle as many as 50 flights a day.
A structure clad with one-way mirrors in the hall near the carousels houses the Roving Command Center, from which more than 200 strategically located cameras can monitor passengers as well as the runways and from which the multilingual signs are controlled.
As passengers wait at the carousels for their luggage, U.S. Customs officers talk to passengers and look at their customs declarations. On this day, Michelle McCoy, a U.S. Customs K-9 officer, patrols the carousels with one of three dogs-this day Emmie, a golden retriever. The leashed dog wends its way around passengers, sniffing for narcotics. When she gets the right scent, she sits down beside the suspect. Then the U.S. Customs officers take over.
The U.S. Agriculture Department similarly uses its Beagle Brigade to sniff out passengers who may be carrying fresh fruit, sausages, hams, plants and other items banned from entry because they could harbor fruit flies or other disease-bearing pests.
Most passengers, however, pass through the federal gantlet speedily and without incident. About 20 percent have their baggage X-rayed or opened at a secondary inspection area near the exits. Outside the FIS facility, passengers connecting to another city recheck their baggage and continue on to Terminal 1, 2 or 3 on the ATS that’s an escalator or elevator ride up from the meeters-greeters lobby.
In this lobby, waiting relatives and friends-some with flowers, some with signs bearing words of welcome or only a single name-watch monitors that show arrival times. They also keep an eye on two 35-inch television monitors that show arriving passengers as they exit from the customs area and baggage recheck areas and proceed to the lobby.
Food and other services in the lobby include McDonald’s, Windy City Frozen Yogurt, Independence Bank Foreign Currency Services, Chicago News/Gifts and Signature’s Sports Bar & Grill. The focal point, however, is the Visitor Information Center, where staffers like Amir S. Oraha, Erich E. Kohn, Anna M. Muniak, Jan Yones-all clad in red jackets and sporting “Ask me” buttons-answer questions in many languages, assist passengers, witness tearful reunions and in general welcome travelers and put Chicago’s best foot forward.
Above the meeters-greeters lobby is the ATS station, where passengers in transit can ride in a matter of minutes to their connecting flights in Terminal 1, 2 or 3. Also here is an enclosed pedestrian bridge to the Terminal 5’s short-term parking lot.
For outgoing passengers, Terminal 5’s International Departures area, dedicated Sept. 30, is on the upper level. Outbound passengers enter the spacious ticketing pavilion through one of six doors. Airline signs on the entrance overhang designate the proper door to lessen the walking distance to the 156 ticketing and baggage-checking positions allotted to the international carriers.
After checking in, travelers funnel through a concessions court on the way to the security area. The food court, with a definite Chicago flavor, features McDonald’s, Pizzeria Uno, Lou Mitchell’s and Gold Coast Hot Dogs. There’s also a 5,600-square-foot Duty Free Store, which can sell only to ticketed passengers, that offers watches, jewelry, perfume, scarves, ties, exotic foods and other merchandise found in similar airport emporiums operated by Duty Free International.
Beyond the six security positions are the departure lounges that overlook the runways (and 14 VIP lounges for the airlines’ preferred customers). In this area, served by two other duty-free shops as well as snack bars, passengers wait to board their planes bound for destinations all over the world.
To them, as to their incoming counterparts, welcome, at long last to O’Hare’s International Terminal 5.
