$42 Find Cheap Flights from Columbus to Illinois - Compare and Save

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Cheap Flights from Columbus to Illinois

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 days
Sort by: Cheapest
St. Louis
1h 25mNonstop
from $106per person
Chicago
1h 10mNonstop
from $216per person
Champaign
4h 58m2 stops
from $466per person
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Columbus to Illinois flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Columbus to Illinois to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

How much is a round-trip flight from Columbus Airport to Illinois?

Flight prices are below average for this route right now.

Flights to Illinois from Columbus Airport usually cost between $268 and $470 in November.
The lowest price found in the past 5 days was $216 on Frontier (Nov 1-Nov 3).

What is the cheapest Columbus Airport to Illinois flight route?

The cheapest ticket to Illinois from Columbus Airport found in the last 5 days was to Chicago, at $248 round-trip. The most popular route is from Columbus Airport (CMH) to Chicago O'Hare Intl Airport (ORD), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $272.

What is the cheapest time of day to fly to Illinois?

The cheapest time of day to fly to Illinois is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost $524 on average. Morning departures are around 45% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Illinois is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $950.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from Columbus Airport to Illinois?

No, with an average price for the route of $399, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Columbus Airport to Illinois?

The cheapest month for flights from Columbus Airport to Illinois is April, when tickets cost $283 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are August and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $433 and $396 respectively.

What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from Columbus to Illinois?

For Columbus to Illinois, Friday is the cheapest day to fly on average and Tuesday is the most expensive. Flying from Illinois back to Columbus, the best deals are generally found on Saturday, with Sunday being the most expensive.

How far in advance should I book a flight from Columbus Airport to Illinois?

To get a below average price on the flight from Columbus Airport to Illinois, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 44% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 10 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low season

January

Cheapest flight

$42
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 21% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 24% increase in price.
Flight from Columbus to St. Louis

FAQs - booking Illinois flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Columbus to Illinois?

    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 Columbus to Illinois.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Columbus to Illinois 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 Columbus to Illinois?

    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 from Columbus to Illinois with an airline and back with another airline.

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

    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 from Columbus to Illinois up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Illinois

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Columbus to the following destinations at these prices or less: Chicago $173 one-way - $356 round-trip; Chicago $234 one-way - $403 round-trip

Reviews of the top 4 airlines serving from Columbus to Illinois

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Columbus to Illinois? 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.
8.0
SouthwestOverall score based on 4190 reviews
8.1Boarding
7.0Food
8.6Crew
7.5Entertainment
8.0Comfort
Airline reviews

Crew was rude, flight was late, wifi didn't work, no food, basically nothing about this flight was good.

2.0 MediocreIrene, Jun 2026
Read more Southwest reviews

Crew was rude, flight was late, wifi didn't work, no food, basically nothing about this flight was good.

Flight was delayed over 3 hours. Planes were dirty. Staff indifferent. And they serve vegan pretzels as snacks.

The flight was smooth. The Southwest experience has degraded overall, but this one was okay.

The checking experience in Orlando was terrible, almost missed the flight. Too many travelers and Southwest completely understaffed.

no service at all due to turbulence. they should've at least given us snacks, there were only 10 people on the entire flight.

Tried watching free movie and it kept freezing so I couldn’t finish.

Sat on tarmac for 2 hours and then missed my connecting flight

Wi Fi was horrible kept cutting out the whole time and too expensive

Southwest is always good and effective. Would be nice if they raised the pre-boarding age a couple years. Would hate to have our 7 year old daughter sit by a complete stranger because of a goitch when i check in and get a late boarding number.

Flight was a little late departing and arriving, but it wasn't an issue. Baggage arrived quickly. It is the direct flight from CMH to LAS, and lasts about 4.5 hours.

Very disappointing that on an international business class flight they would not give me access to the lounge in Boston. They said it was because it was a codeshare flight. International business class should include lounge access regardless of codeshare.

Crew was great. Seats are cramped and uncomfortable and I’m a small person.

Awful. Delay after delay. And then again on the tarmac.

Kept changing the takeoff time and the moved it up so arrived when boarding had already started. Then sat waiting to taxi in for a long time

The entertainment options on the seat back video boards were nice.

Very bad! They kept delaying my flight and wouldn’t do anything about it

IAD with the archaic people movers is just a place to be avoided.

Cabin was pitch black, even during meal service. The reading lights for seat 2E/F did not work, and seat 2E did not recline.

Check in and boarding were very easy. Quite good food and a complimentary glass of wine with dinner. The acoustics on the TV difficult at times, and the options extensive though not very updated.

Crew did not arrive for their shift and flight delayed for 2 1/2 hours whilst new pilots were found. The man at the boarding gate did a great job keeping us informed and the eventual flight was good. It was just the long delay waiting…….

Flight canceled because they didn’t have enough flight attendants. No refunds or credits for future flights

Flights on time w/o delays. However, my baggage was damaged. Ground crew, throws baggage from plane to the baggage carrier, carelessly.

On time flight, good communication about boarding, lines didn't form unnecessarily for boarding before their group was announced (kept aisles clear), friendly flight attendants and service

They put me on an earlier and I got home sooner

I love American. I’ll never fly anyone else if I can help it.

Any flight to ORD after about 2pm this summer has been challenging. Flight was delayed getting in (coming from ORD) and that led to it not leaving before a ground stop due to lightening before they could fuel the plane, and so forth. They made up some time but we were still late in arriving at ORD, and that led to missed connections.

Couldn’t get the door on the plane to close leading to a nearly 2 hour delay. But, hey at least they didn’t cancel the flight.

The flight was fine and the crew awesome. The problem is ORD and AA. Computers went down, ORD fell apart and a 40 min flight turned into a 3 hour trip. Guess the answer is to not try and fly to ORD after noon. But, as I said, crew was awesome and did everything they could to lesson the flight time.

Boarded over an hour late, no communication, the sign just changed, no attendant to answer questions - she disappeared forever (hiding). Small plane and couldn’t hear the overhead nor understand.

Was supposedly in main extra (row 10), but the seat spacing appeared to be regular economy (the head rest was blue, as well - same as economy, the seats in front of us had red head rests). Otherwise the flight was good and got in well ahead of schedule.

Flight was scheduled at 9:40pm. Got delayed to 10 am, the next day. crazy

The bag check, flight check-in, and onboard experience convinced my wife and me that we will actively go out of our way to avoid flying Frontier Airlines in the future. At bag check, we were informed that check-in could only be completed via the Frontier mobile app. Unfortunately, the app was extremely frustrating—sending us through repetitive, confusing loops that repeatedly forced us to decline add-on services with nearly every click. While most airline apps upsell, this one felt intentionally exhausting. As the process dragged on, we became genuinely concerned that my phone battery would die before check-in could be completed. We approached the bag check staff—who were standing together talking—and explained both our frustration and our predicament. They laughed. Later, my wife described the interaction as “gaslighting,” which felt accurate. We were then informed it would cost $25 per person simply to have our boarding passes printed. From that point forward, the tone of the experience was consistently hostile. The bag check employees were condescending and combative, behaving more like bullies than customer service staff. Unfortunately, that same attitude continued onboard. One flight attendant argued with me when I attempted to stow my backpack in the overhead bin. I explained that we had each paid $75 to check our bags specifically so we would not need to use carry-on space and could have adequate legroom. She demanded to see my ticket, pointed out that it said “no carry-on”—which I acknowledged—and I reiterated that this was precisely why we paid to check our bags. Her response was, “I don’t make the rules.” She then walked away, but not before asking if I “truly wanted to fly back to Chicago today?”—an unnecessary and unmistakable threat. It is also worth noting that despite booking our tickets together in the same transaction, we were not seated together. Upon our return to Chicago—where we could once again sit together—we compared onboard experiences. We both remarked on how unhappy the flight attendants appeared and how each of us was separately asked whether we would like to purchase a beverage. We declined. At no point was water mentioned as an option, leaving us with the clear impression that even water came at a cost—or that complimentary water, if available at all, was deliberately left unmentioned. Overall, the experience was shocking and deeply disappointing, but it was also a profound learning experience—one we will not forget and will not repeat. -Steve

Good for a budget airline! It was easy to get on, staff was really nice. Can’t say anything about the food or entertainment because it wasn’t available, which is fine.

This company socks. It's fraud. They canceled our flight yesterday, and today we were late because of a really long line at the check in bag. At the rebook station, there was ton of people. The workers were all rude. I am gonna make a report to FTC.

The single worst check in experience I could imagine. I’ll never do any business with Frontier or any affiliated company

Too many extra fees, uncomfortable, little leg room. Will not recommend this airline.

Severe turbulence. Captain never came on to reassure passengers after things settled down.

We were delayed three times ,and that destroyed my plans, and reservations

Since you have to pay for overhead bags then they shouldn't be running out of space and asking individuals who paid to remove stuff from the overhead

The crew was delayed because they came on another flight that was delayed due to weather 10pm flight left at 1.30 am The airline made no effort to align alternate crew

More options for your flight from Columbus to Illinois

Complete your trip to Illinois with a hotel stay or car rental