Returning from Athens through ORD or PHL?

I’d do PHL. You’ll have to go through security either way, but ORD would require a train from the international arrivals terminal to the domestic departure area.

What month are you traveling? I don't know Athens airport. Do they have any kind of Preclearance for travel to the US? I think that is a quite limited program, so probably not. So, will you be required to go through immigration/customs when entering either ORD or PHL before connecting?

ORD is my local airport. I've made several trips through immigration and customs in the last couple months. If you have Global Entry, the process is very, very, quick. I have been off the plane and waiting for a taxi within 30 minutes of landing as recently as last week.

However, if you don't have Global Entry, depending on when you are traveling, I would advise checking on PHL's typical immigration times. The line for immigration last week at ORD was horrendous. My taxi driver said he had picked up someone a few days before my return who had taken 7 hours to get through and was in tears. That sounds extreme to me, but given the size of the line that I observed, 2 - 3 hours to get through wouldn't surprise me. On another return, weekday in March, the lines were long, but I would have guessed an hour to 90 minutes. Still another return in January, no lines to speak of.

ORD's facilities are certainly "basic" for the incoming foreign traveler! And, you do have to transfer to a domestic terminal, as noted.

Not particularly helpful link (!) https://www.flychicago.com/ohare/myflight/international/pages/default.aspx

I've been through both, though I have been through PHL many times. I would also consider total travel times and departure/arrival times. I'm not going to leave Athens two hours earlier just because I think one of the connection airports is better than the other.I'll bet the total travel time is longer for one connection vs. the other.

I'd probably also check to see whether there are additional direct flights from ORD or PHL to your destination if you were to miss your connection. If one city has no direct flights on to your destination but the other does (this is AA, right?), that might be deciding factor, too.

If all else were equal, I'd probably choose PHL since ORD is known to be a busier airport, and I am very comfortable with PHL.

It is interesting who likes which airports. We have had two bad experience --- lines, timing, TSA -- at PHL so it is permanently off our list. And then we find ORD easy to use. We would pick ORD without question.

Andrew's advice to check on later flights to your final destination in case of a missed connection is one I would be following!

The flight is Friday May 24, 2024. We are flying on to DFW. And ORD and PHL both have one more flight to DFW later in the day. Both these flights are mid day departures from Athens but they appealed to us because it let us avoid going through Heathrow which we did this year and was not fun although it worked. But maybe a longer layover at LHR would be safer. Part of you thinks well they wouldn’t offer this schedule if it wasn’t doable but then to read some of these comments gives one second thoughts.

My husband has global entry, I don’t but I’m starting my application today so hopefully by May 2024 I’ll have it too. Hopefully 9-10 months will be enough to get it done.

I second Andrew’s advice. We were supposed to fly ATH-PHL-CLE earlier this summer but then our PHL-CLE segment was stopped a few weeks before our trip so our options were to spend the night in PHL or reroute ATH-FRA-EWR-CLE to get home same day. We chose option #2, and did get home the same day but FRA was a nightmare. (First time to or from Europe with two stops, hopefully never again.)

If you both have Global Entry, I wouldn't hesitate to say ORD is fine as long as you don't mind a brief train ride to a domestic terminal.

As an aside, I am just back from Europe. I refused to travel with my companion unless the person got Global Entry before we left. Done - and both of us out the door with barely a pause between leaving the jetway and arriving at taxi waiting area for a summer travel time. (no checked luggage - we would have beaten it.)

May travel isn't quite as bad - but it can be unpredictable as to how many flights will land at the same time as yours so I always appreciate the Global Entry.

Frank:

It is interesting who likes which airports. We have had two bad experience --- lines, timing, TSA -- at PHL so it is permanently off our list. And then we find ORD easy to use. We would pick ORD without question.

Funny - I have flown into and out of PHL dozens of times over the years including several times this year, with both international and domestic flights, plus I have connected there a few times, and most of my experiences have been excellent. I have rarely experienced any significant delays.

Then again, the few times I've flown through ORD the last few years have been fine too, but 2-3 times is not enough large enough of a sample size to make a judgement about an airport. I think my PHL sample size is large enough to do that.