Umrah Packages from Chicago
Flight-inclusive Umrah for pilgrims from the Chicagoland area, departing via ORD & MDW.
Umrah from Chicago made simple
O'Hare is one of the five airports our fares are built from, so a Chicagoland pilgrim starts close to home rather than on a feeder flight to another city. Typically you change planes once, at a European, Turkish or Gulf hub, and the next landing is Jeddah. The details that deserve your attention are on the ground: reaching ORD at an awkward hour, getting to the right terminal, and coping with an eight or nine hour jump on the clock. If Midway is the closer airport for you, there's a note on that below. None of this is complicated. It just goes better when it's planned early, before the week of departure fills up with everything else.
Departures
ORD & MDW
Routing
O'Hare is one of our five priced gateways, so Chicago trips leave from ORD and usually change planes once at a European, Turkish or Gulf hub before Jeddah.
Community
More than 70 member organizations, from mosques to Islamic schools and community groups, belong to the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. The federation has been at work for over 31 years and increasingly reaches the rest of Illinois. In Bridgeview, the Mosque Foundation holds all five daily prayers, seven days a week, all year. It also runs weekend classes for young people and lists the Al-Siddiq School, counseling, a food pantry and funeral services among its work, so it's a community center as much as a masjid.
Getting to Makkah from Chicago
Work backwards from the departure time on your ticket. Leave proper room for check-in and security at O'Hare, because an international flight is not the one to arrive for at the last minute. The first flight is a long one, to your hub in Europe, Turkey or the Gulf. At the hub you change planes. Keep that connection comfortable rather than tight, since a first leg that lands late eats a short layover fast, and with a family and cabin bags you won't sprint anywhere. The second flight lands in Jeddah, and the assisted transfer included in your package takes you on to Makkah. Door to gate, allow roughly 15 to 19 hours depending on the hub and the length of the layover. Write your hub and your connecting flight number on paper as well as in your phone, so a flat battery doesn't leave you guessing at a transfer desk. Keep medication, documents, a charger and a change of clothes in your cabin bag. Checked luggage and connections don't always arrive together.
Midway or O'Hare?
Our Chicago fares are priced from O'Hare, not Midway. If Midway is much easier for your family to reach, tell the team before you book and they'll confirm whether starting there changes the airfare. The train ride differs too. The CTA says the Orange Line gets you between Midway and downtown in about 20 to 25 minutes but doesn't run overnight, when the N62 Archer bus stands in. The Blue Line to O'Hare runs 24 hours a day and takes about 40 to 45 minutes. For a pre-dawn check-in, that alone can settle it.
The eight or nine hour jump
Makkah keeps Arabia Standard Time, UTC+3, and doesn't change its clocks. Chicago does, so the gap moves: eight hours between March and early November, nine hours through the winter. A 7 p.m. departure from O'Hare in July is already 3 a.m. the next morning in Makkah. Your body will notice. Sleep on the long leg if you can and drink plenty of water. If your group's schedule leaves any room, rest before you begin the Umrah rather than starting it on no sleep at all.
Coming home through customs
On the way back you land at O'Hare and clear US Customs and Border Protection before you're officially home. O'Hare's own guidance says the immigration and customs process rarely takes more than two hours, though it varies. Give whoever is collecting you that range, not just the scheduled landing time, and have them wait somewhere comfortable. One exception: if your last flight left from an airport abroad with US preclearance, you've already done this step, and O'Hare says you may head straight to domestic baggage claim.
Three ways to go from Chicago
Seven nights, flights included. The tier decides how close your hotels are.
- AffordableVoco Makkah (IHG)5-7 minutes by shuttle, or about 15 minutes' walkShaza Regency PlazaAbout 3 minutes' walk$1,590per person, quad
- PremiumRotana Jabal Omar MakkahUnder 2 minutes' walkPullman Zamzam MadinahUnder 1 minute's walk$1,790per person, quad
- LuxurySwissotel Makkah, Clock TowerFacing the HaramAnwar Al Madinah MövenpickFacing Masjid an-Nabawi$1,890per person, quad
Umrah from Chicago: questions
Yes. The Blue Line runs 24 hours a day, and its O'Hare station is on the lower level, connected directly to Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Terminal 5 isn't on that walkway. Make your way into Terminal 2 or 3 and ride the Airport Transit System, the free airport train linking Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 5, across to Terminal 5. It also runs around the clock, every three to five minutes at peak times. With suitcases, give that transfer some extra time.
The Chicago Passport Agency is at 101 Ida B. Wells Drive, on the 9th floor, and the closest L station is LaSalle Street. It sees people by appointment only, for international travel within 14 calendar days or a foreign visa needed within 28. Book through the State Department's online appointment system, or call 877-487-2778 if you've already applied. Bring printed proof of your trip, your form, citizenship evidence and a photo. Booking is free, and the State Department says to treat any appointment fee as fraud.
Our 7-night flight-inclusive packages run from $1,590 to $1,890 per person on quad occupancy, with airfare, the e-visa, medical insurance, both hotels and the Haramain train inside that figure.