Chicagoans are used to being able to ride the CTA to and from the airport without much trouble. In fact, the Blue and Orange Lines are more reliable routes to O'Hare and Midway than the expressways—a trait that Chicago shares with only two other cities in the country.
According to a report from FiveThirtyEight, the average wait on public transit between Chicago's O'Hare Airport is 45 minutes. The average drive time is one hour. There is a similar difference when going to and from Midway, which has an average CTA time of 35 minutes and a drive time of 40 minutes.
Only Minneapolis and Honolulu share this distinction, and other major American cities pale in comparison. A trip between Manhattan and JFK Airport in New York takes more than an hour by way of the MTA. The same applies for a bus and rail trip between downtown Los Angeles and LAX.
So the next time you find yourself complaining about a trek on the Orange Line to Midway, be happy that you're not in New York.