ACR LGT UNAUTH TAXI.

Narrative

NO OTHER WDB WAS IN SIGHT AROUND US SO WE THOUGHT GND CTL WAS TALKING ABOUT THAT WDB AND WE COMPLETED THE TURN TOWARDS T-1. PART OF THE TAXI INSTRUCTIONS DID NOT MAKE A LOT OF SENSE; BUT SINCE THE NORMAL FLOW AND OUR INSTRUCTIONS WERE BOTH IN THE SAME DIRECTION; I PROCEEDED TO T3 AND THEN HAD THE F/O CALL GND CTL AGAIN TO FIND OUT IF HE WANTED US TO GO OUT T3 (WHICH WOULD BE THE NORMAL WAY TO GET TO T1/32L). GND REPLIED; 'WHERE ARE YOU COMPANY XYZ?' THE F/O TOLD HIM OUR LOCATION AND GND CAME BACK WITH; 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING; TAXIING ON YOUR OWN? I DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY OF YOUR PAPERWORK.' GND SAID THE CLRNC WAS FOR ACR QXYZ AND NOT FOR US; AND THEN TOLD US TO USE T3 TO THE PARALLEL TO GET TO T1 AND SWITCH TO TWR. WE MADE THE TURN TO TAXI OUT TO THE PARALLEL; AND AS WE WERE APCHING THE RWY 32L PARALLEL; GND CTL SAID; 'XYZ; TURN LEFT AND CONTACT TWR.' I RESPONDED; 'WHICH XYZ?' GND CTL THEN MADE ANOTHER XMISSION TO ANOTHER ACFT AND THEN CAME BACK TO US AND SAID; 'COMPANY XYZ; TURN LEFT AND CONTACT TWR.' AFTER SWITCHING TO TWR; AND CLRED INTO POS ON RWY 32L AT T1; THERE WAS SOME CONFUSION ABOUT XYZ SWITCHING BACK TO GND CTLR. THE CONFUSION WAS RESOLVED WHEN TWR CLRED COMPANY XYZ FOR TKOF. COMPANY XZY WAS NOT A HVY. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT THIS FLT HAS BEEN CALLED A HVY BECAUSE NOT TOO LONG AGO THIS FLT XYZ WAS A WIDE BODY. SOMETIMES THE CTLRS GET INTO THE HABIT OF CALLING CERTAIN FLTS HVY BECAUSE OF PAST SCHEDULING. IT HAPPENS FREQUENTLY. CTLRS ARE GETTING BETTER; BUT THERE STILL ARE A LOT OF FLT NUMBERS BEING CALLED OUT W/O THE COMPANY PREFIX. I SHOULD HAVE PICKED UP ON THIS; BUT THE GND CTLRS AT O'HARE ARE ALWAYS BUSY AND I FALSELY ASSUMED THAT HE WAS TALKING TO US. I HAVE A FEELING ALSO THAT HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN PASSED THE WRONG PAPERWORK AFTER WE HAD BEEN CLRED TO GND CTL. I WILL NEVER ASSUME THAT A CTLR IS TALKING TO ME AGAIN W/O HEARING THE WHOLE IDENT. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 87501: I WAS STILL TRYING TO FIGURE HOW WE WERE GOING TO USE THE 27 PARALLEL TO GET TO T1 AND WHERE WE WERE GOING TO TURN ONTO THE OUTER TO USE THE 27 PARALLEL. AIRPLANES WERE VISIBLE TAXIING TOWARDS US ON THE OUTER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF T1 INTXN. IT WAS CONCEIVABLE FOR US TO TAXI ALONG THE INNER AND FALL IN LINE BEHIND THE OPP DIRECTION ACFT SOMEWHERE FURTHER DOWN TRANSITIONING FROM THE INNER TO THE 27 AND 32 PARALLELS.