TRIP REPORT: Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare – Springtime Transatlantic Adventures

Springtime Transatlantic Adventures
Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare

In this Adventure

• So, 80 more Tier Points. Always demanding more, British Airways…
• To the joy of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 with FlixBus
• British Airways Galleries South Lounge and T5B Lounge
• British Airways BA295 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare in World Traveller Plus
• Into the USA and the avid Hotel, Des Plaines
• The Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• A Simple Burger Night at Chilli’s
• Deep Dish Pizza Special at Pequods
• A Monday Morning Adventure around Chicago
• Back to O’Hare, The American Airlines Flagship Lounge
• AA90 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow in Main Cabin Extra
• Luggage Trolley Drifting – Rushing to the bus
• The Other Shoe Drops. Was it worth it?

It’s a Monday again (at the time of publication), so it must be time for some more Airplane Art. 

If you’re a regular reader of Economy Class and Beyond, you’ll know that we have a weekly feature called “Airplane Art”, where I debut some of my photography of aircraft.

I tend to rotate photos in this section a lot through the blog, but it’s time for a “Special” from one of my favourite spotting locations – at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. 

Why here?

It’s right on the Approach/Departure paths for Chicago O’Hare. This screenshot should say it all:

As the room was facing the car park, I had partial views of one approach path. Which was annoying, but workable to a point. 

It’s important to ensure you get a room in the main hotel block, where there are balconies (these are typically double-queen rooms). Not in the turret rooms, and certainly not in the international block, where there are no balconies, and thus, an extra layer of glass between you and your desired photo

It does make a big difference in your ability to take photos or watch aircraft.

A lot of your traffic will be dependent on what Air Traffic Control decides to send via the approach paths, whilst the other dependency will be wind, which will convert a landing runway into a departure runway.

And remember, winds can change during the day.

One of the most important tools you can have is FlightRadar24 (and considering how much the Silver membership a year is at £12.99 upwards, I’d pay up – even if to avoid the adverts that are in the free version.

For this shoot, I’ve gone with my default shooting equipment – a Canon EOS R, with an RF to EF adaptor – with a classic EF 100-400mm f5.6-f6.3 L Series Zoom lens. The kit is a little older, with the lens having seen better days (and I’m still eyeing the new RF lenses from afar). There are also some from the Canon EF70-300 DO IS Series f4.5-f5.6 lens. 

I thought I had two sessions of photos at this hotel, but after going through the archive and the SD card, I am down to a single session only.

Oh well. One set of photos from a rather cloudy and wet O’Hare on a Sunday.

Etihad Airways Airbus A350-1000 heading out of O’Hare

The winds changed during this, and thus traffic started flowing in.

Qatar Airways Boeing777-300ER

Emirates Boeing 777-300ER (with the new livery)

UnitedExpress Embraer E175

Korean Air Boeing 777F

Frontier Airlines Airbus A321neo

Kalitta Boeing747-400BCSF

United Airlines Airbus A321neo

United Airlines Airbus A319

American Airlines Boeing 737-800

United Express CRJ-550 

China Eastern Cargo Boeing 777F

Overall

Whilst there are other places to spot aircraft at Chicago O’Hare, they’re either too near secure areas or need a little creativity to get the right spot. And neither have a bed, a seat or a toilet next to them that you can quickly access.

Providing you get the right view, you can be rewarded with some good airplane watching and spotting facilities.

And keep your fingers crossed that the winds are in your favour.

Next:

Simple food is needed. Time to head to Chili’s

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