GargleBlaster,
The biggest reason you experience things such as you did at ORD is the airport layout. Have a look at the
ORD layout and then have a look at the
ATL layout or the
LAX layout
Some airports are just more difficult to control than others. Putting 982,000 aircraft movements per year into ORD must be extremely difficult for ATC. There is even talk about reducing the flights allowed into ORD.
http://www.faa.gov/news/reduce_delay...HareNotice.htm