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Find cheap flights from Chicago to California from $45

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Chicago to California departing on 5/15. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
1 adult
0 bags
Sun 6/2
Sun 6/9

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Best California Flight Deals

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours

Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stop$88
San Francisco
San Franciscononstop$157
San Diego
San Diego1 stop$138
San Jose
San Jose2 stops$214
Palm Springs
Palm Springs1 stop$285
Fresno
Fresno1 stop$193
Reno
Reno1 stop$128

Good to know

Low season

September

High season

March

Cheapest flight

$45
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 22% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 20% increase in price.
Flight from Chicago O'Hare Airport to Los Angeles

FAQs - booking California flights

  • Is ORD accessible to all?

    You can count on having a smooth experience at ORD if you’re disabled, as this airport is accessible to all. To cater to passengers with mobility impairment, it features drop-off areas equipped with curb ranks and mandates each airline that serves flights to California to offer wheelchair assistance. It has also invested in restrooms throughout the airport with wheelchair-accessible facilities. The said restrooms are three in Terminal 1, two in Terminal two, over ten in Terminal 3, and two in Terminal 5.

  • How can I travel to ORD from Downtown Chicago?

    In case you’re set to fly from Chicago’s ORD to California, you can travel to the airport from Downtown Chicago via a Blue Line train, a Metra North Central Service train line, a CTA bus, or a taxi. Boarding a Blue Line train, a Metra North Central service train, or a CTA bus is advisable if you’re on a budget. On the other hand, boarding a taxi is advisable if you value convenience. This is because, unlike its comparisons, a taxi will pick you up at your preferred destination and transport you directly to the airport.

  • Can I breastfeed my baby before my flight to California?

    Regardless of the Chicago airport you’re set to fly out of, you can comfortably breastfeed your baby while waiting for your flight since both transit stations offer nursing rooms equipped with comfortable seats, deep sinks, changing tables, and power outlets. At MDW, the available nursing room is in Concourse C, next to the yoga room. In contrast, at ORD, the rooms are available near gates B4, B10, and C 20 in Terminal 1, between gates E5 and F9 in Terminal 2, the Rotunda and gate L6 in Terminal 3, gate M20 in Terminal 5, and on Level 1 of the Multi-Modal Facility.

  • Is it possible to rent a car at LAX?

    If you want to rent a car once you land at LAX, you’ll be able to do so with ease since the airport features counters for Alamo, Avis, Fox, Enterprise, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, Payless, Six, Zipcar, and Thrifty. The counters for these agencies are housed in the airport’s car rental center, accessible through purple Rental Car Shuttles. These shuttles are boarded on the Lower/Arrivals Level islands outside the Baggage Claim.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Chicago to California?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from Chicago to California.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Chicago to California?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to California from Chicago is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from Chicago to California?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to California with an airline and back to Chicago with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Chicago to California?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to California from Chicago up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

See more FAQs

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Morning departure is around 9% more expensive than an evening flight, on average*.
  • You can board your flight to California at Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) or O’Hare International Airport (ORD). When selecting your flight, choose one that departs at MDW. Doing so is in your best interest because MDW experiences lower passenger traffic than ORD, meaning it has shorter queues.
  • When booking a flight to California, book one that lands at an airport close to your preferred destination. You can land at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Oakland International Airport (OAK) if you’re flying into Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland, respectively.
  • Suppose you intend to fly to California with your pet. If that’s the case, you can let your pet relieve itself at ORD in one of the airport’s Service Animal Relief Areas. They are outside security on the lower levels of Terminals 1, 2, and 5 and inside security in Terminal 3 Rotunda and Main Hall.
  • If a small airport serves your California destination, use LAX as your travel base. This is because it serves commercial flights to nearly all small airports in the state. If you need assistance at MDW, visit the airport’s information desk at the Main Entrance of the Terminal. Here, you’ll find knowledgeable airport staff, always ready to help.
  • If you need assistance at MDW, visit the airport’s information desk at the Main Entrance of the Terminal. Here, you’ll find knowledgeable airport staff, always ready to help.
See more tips
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

Top 5 airlines serving from Chicago to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Chicago to California? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.3
EVA AirOverall score based on 1542 reviews
8.0Entertainment
8.2Comfort
8.0Food
8.4Boarding
8.6Crew
Airline reviews

The type of the food requested (Asian vegetarian) was not properly met with. They have very limited snack items that may compensate for the main meals.

8.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Apr 2024TPE - JFK
Read more about EVA Air reviews

The type of the food requested (Asian vegetarian) was not properly met with. They have very limited snack items that may compensate for the main meals.

The quality of the food is pretty good. Thank you, EVA Air.

Pleasant crew. Very long flight, a bit uncomfortable at times being seated, but not too bad.

No ice for the drinks. Only gave a half a cup of your beverage. Not enough water. I got very dehydrated.

Eva air is a good airline. The seats on the way to Taipei could have certainly been more comfortable, but all in all it was a pretty good experience.

Eva is one of the top airlines in Asia... but often are over priced. Finally found a reasonable rate.

My original flight was rescheduled & EVA did a good job rescheduling my flight & connecting flight.

Polite hard working crew. No complaints really. Meals were not to my liking.

Everything was fantastic! The crew really went above and beyond to make it a great flight. I felt cared for with EVA.

t and I Flight crew did excellent job taking care of us and feeding us and staying professional. The boarding was delayed by an hour and then extra security measures were taken. No real explanation except for they said it was more of a maintenance dey

Great! The plane was decently sized and comfortable. The staff was nice and there was great in flight entertainment

Last minute gate change nearly caused us to miss our flight. Change was not announced or displayed in the main board at the old gate. Terrible communication. When we landed we had to wait 20 minutes because there was another plane at the assigned gate. Not the crew’s fault, but adding 20 minutes to a 45 minute flight sucked.

delay several times and wait extra long to board. no entertainment service because there are problem for some rows. always encounter some delays for the last flight of the day.

The flight experience was very good! Especially the United Club!

I was not able to buy food in the flight. They refer to include your Credit card in the APP, and if you are not from USA (i have a credit card form Canada) it is not possible

The flight from Ottawa to Chicago took a lot longer due to DC in Ottawa. We got to Chicago and went to our gate to catch our flight. We only had nine minutes I found that very stressful.

Good boarding. Crew started quick with drinks and food. They came around several times for trash which I really liked. Other than turbulence due to storms in the area, flight was great.

The control panel for the seat back screen did not work at all after takeoff.

Plane was so old it had cigarette butt trays in the seat

Everything was good, hard to really comfortable on a flight that long.

Good flights. Departure and arrivals were on time. DFW was a little problematic in that the Skytrain without prior notice bypassed the Echo terminal so that delayed my arrival at my connecting flight.

Because I can’t stand very long in one place, I was allowed to reword.

5 hour flight - full flight - not enough room to use my computer - slightly delayed - Admirals club was excellent quality food, drink made up for flight seating. No food offerred on flight, you ahd to prebook.

Excellent- plan was barely populated. I cannot remember a flight where I was able/encouraged to stretch out!

Great flight. Boarding was efficient and quick. On time departure and smooth flight. Flight arrived early at destination. Good experience.

Had technical issue which delayed the flight period. Flight crew knew there was 5 passengers that the connecting flight was within 15 minutes once at the gate. Rather than identify the 5 passengers to assure they got first. The flight attended mentioned it but didn't assist to assure passengers with connecting flights off first. This caused a hardship and our party of 3 missed the connecting flight.

I don't like that I have to pay if I want extra leg room. The seats are so expensive; I sit in normal seats and my legs and knees cramp the entire flight. I never feel comfortable on AA flights.

Flight was delayed at departure due to weather and the need for de-icing. The flight was smooth but there was a delay at arrival due to weather. We were in a hold for 20 minutes or more. The flight arrived more than 30 minutes late. Airlines have no control over the weather and I'm glad that they follow all safety procedures. Had to wait a long time for my checked luggage. Whole process was slow and the bags arrived wet due to the rain. The onboard wifi and entertainment access was spotty and the signal was dropped several times. Otherwise the crew was great and friendly. They tried to get everyone's bags stowed and seated so we could take off.

Regarding the boarding: it needs more efforts to make it more convenient

Deicing in Denver took forever and I almost missed my connection. De-ice faster! Not Americans fault.

The guy with severe body odor sat next to me. For the whole duration of the flight it was a torture. The airline should have better policy on limiting people with bad body odor to board the flight. Passengers should not be the ones to endure bad odor for the whole duration of the flight. The airline should be e the one to ensure decent air quality for ever passenger.

They charged me 212.00 for a heavy check in bag at the gate. The pricing and process was so confusing - as if it was designed to purposefully gouge customers who need to board plane. That experience combined with the outrageous price charged will prevent me from ever flying Spirit again. And I’ll be sure to tell the story to anyone who cares to hear.

The text told me it was changed to Terminal E and Gate D5. But with no one on site to ask questions there was confusion on where to go as all the gates were E's. Then we took the skyline to the D area. We left to get something to eat. No announcement was made but my daughter happened to asked and they told her our gate was moved to D12. I will not fly Spirit again.

The agent at the check in desk was absolutely rude. The rest of the team after that was good, but the check in process at LAS was miserable. The woman at the desk spoke like we were stupid and was rude throughout the process.

Its so random that they only allow 40 pounds on checked bags when all airlines take 55. They then charge you for each 10 extra pounds, so my checked suitcase was $130 and the flight $30 ... its like whattt, im for sure not traveling with Spirit again

The flight attendants were very personable, extremely friendly, and had a very good feeling of the energy around them not to mention they’re very funny and engaging. What made up for the discomfort of the seats and the fact that the plane sat for a long time on the Turmac. Not sure if the pilot was new, but the landing was very rough sort of like I was at a magic mountain theme park ride that was built in 1959

Flight was delayed 2+ hours missed a concert because of it…

So bad. The check in process was laborious and the check in agent didn't seem to know how to manage the process efficiently and was confused about how to check in my son's sports equipment. The baggage fees were outrageous and so expensive. $90 for a carry on bag? And $200 additional for 2 check ins. The security lines were insanely long and the terminal was not very nice in the Spirit area. $5 for a water on board. It was my first and last time flying Spirit - I tried to save $ by flying them due to the accommodating schedule but I should have paid for Southwest, because it would've actually ended up less expensive due to the free bags with Southwest. There were no charging ports on the airplane, no wifi and really uncomfortable seating. The flight crew were great though, courteous and efficient in their boarding. Flight was delayed 1 hour, but we made up 15 minutes in flight.

My experience was better than expected. What I did find not so great was the seats. Very little room, they did not recline and the tray table was the size of a post card. There was no food to try, just standard snacks that you had to pay for and I don’t know of any entertainment. I would fly again even though everything was an upcharge. Flight was on time with little disturbance

thy don't even ofer water we have to buy it for $4.49 and paid for our cary on bags $100 each we never will fly in this company again.

Six hour delay. Poor customer service. No voucher. Bad communication. Missed important appointments.

They cancelled the flight then did nothing to help us rebook. It was awful - I won’t fly with them again

The truck that was refueling the plane drove away with the hose still connected to the plane and ripped part of the plane off with it

The boarding time. I was in Section 1 the lady in charge just let people in section 3 without see us. Make a line , I have to step out and ask her. We were in the line and she just take my ticket and that’s it, so if I don’t ask her she could leave us at the end! We paid more for that privilege and. She doesn’t care….

Was just ok with over selling I guess. A lot of people in a short space and when we finally arrive i20 minutes, waiting to get out from the plain because we were waiting authorization for out boarding? Something like that.

See my previous comment which is mostly about our flight from Phoenix to SFO

They changed my flight and did not want to accommodate me or try to help me in any way. They do not care about their customers.

The check in at the airport was awful. Told I need to pay for a bag. The item was taken at screening. I went back to get my $ back and they gave me a coupon with a QR code that doesn’t work. Worst costumer service ever!!!!!

4 hour delay because they used our aircraft to fly a different segment (per the captain)

Lost baggage on my connecting flight. 24 hours later, still no update on my bags.

Book cheap flights from Chicago to California

Recent round-trip flight deals

5/14Tue
1 stopSpirit Airlines
20h 54mORD-LAX
5/15Wed
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 05mLAX-ORD
$88
5/29Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
18h 41mORD-LAX
5/30Thu
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 07mLAX-ORD
$94
6/1Sat
1 stopFrontier
6h 22mORD-ONT
6/5Wed
1 stopFrontier
9h 17mONT-ORD
$138
5/18Sat
1 stopFrontier
12h 24mMDW-ONT
5/25Sat
1 stopFrontier
5h 40mONT-MDW
$138
5/31Fri
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 25mORD-LAX
6/2Sun
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 01mLAX-ORD
$209
5/31Fri
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 27mORD-LAX
6/1Sat
1 stopAmerican Airlines
6h 40mLAX-ORD
$218
5/31Fri
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 27mORD-LAX
6/2Sun
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 08mLAX-ORD
$229
6/1Sat
1 stopDelta
6h 53mMDW-LAX
6/7Fri
1 stopDelta
8h 47mLAX-MDW
$242
6/1Sat
1 stopDelta
7h 20mORD-LAX
6/7Fri
1 stopDelta
9h 04mLAX-ORD
$242
5/23Thu
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 44mORD-SFO
5/28Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 20mSFO-ORD
$246

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/15Wed
1 stopSpirit Airlines
9h 04mORD-LAX
$45
5/21Tue
1 stopSpirit Airlines
13h 02mORD-BUR
$49
5/29Wed
1 stopFrontier
7h 14mORD-ONT
$64
5/25Sat
1 stopFrontier
15h 08mORD-SAN
$68
7/3Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 39mORD-SFO
$114
7/31Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 26mORD-LAX
$115
6/1Sat
1 stopDelta
8h 27mMDW-LAX
$118
6/1Sat
1 stopDelta
7h 59mORD-ONT
$118
5/26Sun
1 stopAmerican Airlines
11h 13mORD-ONT
$133
6/26Wed
1 stopAmerican Airlines
6h 24mORD-BUR
$146

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Last minute flights from Chicago to California

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

5/8Wed
multi-stopFrontier
15h 33mMDW-ONT
5/13Mon
multi-stopFrontier
8h 39mONT-MDW
$141
5/8Wed
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 31mORD-LAX
5/13Mon
multi-stopSpirit Airlines
22h 05mLAX-ORD
$144
5/8Wed
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
9h 50mORD-SFO
6/4Tue
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 22mSFO-ORD
$247
5/6Mon
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
8h 44mORD-ONT
5/8Wed
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
5h 33mONT-ORD
$320
5/6Mon
multi-stopDelta
8h 34mORD-ONT
5/11Sat
multi-stopDelta
8h 47mONT-ORD
$327
5/6Mon
multi-stopDelta
11h 37mMDW-ONT
5/11Sat
multi-stopDelta
6h 55mONT-MDW
$327
5/8Wed
multi-stopUnited Airlines
7h 33mORD-SFO
5/13Mon
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 21mSFO-ORD
$386
5/6Mon
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 40mORD-SFO
6/12Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 13mSFO-ORD
$414
5/8Wed
multi-stopQatar Airways
54h 19mORD-ONT
5/12Sun
multi-stopQatar Airways
50h 56mONT-ORD
$3,061
5/8Wed
multi-stopQatar Airways
49h 24mORD-ONT
5/11Sat
multi-stopQatar Airways
51h 10mONT-ORD
$3,123

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Flights to California

Return flight deals:

California - Chicago

Cabin classes:

$469
$818
$498
$69

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