$46 Find Cheap Flights from Illinois to California

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Low seasonFebruary
High seasonJuly
Cheapest flight$46
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 6% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 6% increase in price.
Flight from Chicago O'Hare Airport to Las Vegas

FAQs for booking flights from Illinois to California

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Illinois 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 Illinois to California.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Illinois to California 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 Illinois 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 from Illinois to California 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 Illinois 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 from Illinois to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in California?

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in California is Long Beach Municipal Airport (LGB), with an average flight price of $158.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to California?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to California is Friday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $350. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Monday, where round-trip prices are $528 on average.

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to California?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to California is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost $342 on average. Morning departures are around 59% cheaper than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to California is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $836.

  • What is the cheapest flight to California?

    The cheapest ticket to California from Illinois found in the last 72 hours was to San Francisco, at $122 round-trip. The most popular route is Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) to Los Angeles (LAX) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $130.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from Illinois to California?

    The cheapest month for flights from Illinois to California is August, when tickets cost $228 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and March, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $361 and $349 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from Illinois to California?

    To get a below average price on the flight from Illinois to California, you should book around 3 weeks before departure. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 5 weeks before departure.

  • How long is the flight to California?

    An average nonstop flight from Illinois to California takes 4h 56m, covering a distance of 1666 miles. The shortest route is Moline (MLI) to Las Vegas (LAS) with an average flight time of 3h 22m.

  • What are the most popular destinations in California?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Las Vegas (31% of total searches to California). The next most popular destinations are Los Angeles (19%) and San Francisco (13%). Searches for flights to San Diego (9%), to Ontario (6%) and to Santa Ana (5%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Illinois to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Illinois 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.
8.0
SouthwestOverall score based on 4266 reviews
8.0Comfort
7.0Food
8.6Crew
8.2Boarding
7.6Entertainment
Airline reviews

First time traveling on Southwest since bag fees were implemented. Usual good service. Just more expensive now.

8.0 ExcellentMichael, Jun 2025PHX - SAN
Read more Southwest reviews

First time traveling on Southwest since bag fees were implemented. Usual good service. Just more expensive now.

It was a perfect flight in all aspects! Both legs!

Boarding process, crew were good. But the seats were so uncomfortable that was all I could focus on. I literally had to sit forward so that all 3 of us could fit in row. I will try to avoid Southwest in the future for any flights over 60 minutes.

Great flight, 47 passengers on a 180 seat plane. Stewardess was pleasant and cheerful.

Great experience flying Southwest. The crew was really kind and helpful, and very friendly with our toddler.

Plane late from DC to Austin 30 minutes. Crew made up much of the time enroute to San Diego.

Fine, but how to board on SW versus othrr airlines, is just lame. Goood staff though and all was solid otherwise.

Was as expected. Crowed planes. Too many carryons delaying takeoff. But the ride only took an hour and saved me a lot of time SFO is a not a great airport.

I will be flying again Southwest Airlines. Friendly crew, comfortable and affordable.

The plane arrived 25 minutes late, and the Wi-Fi was slower than it usually is.

Boarded plane and then delayed 1.5 hours while on the plane

Horrific. They missed my connecting flight to San Diego. I didn’t get there until Monday at 9am when I had a mandatory court settlement conference scheduled at 6am since we had parties on the east coast. This caused many issues. All because United apparently forgot to hold the doors open until my flight landed that only had a 10 minute delay. This was the last flight to Southern California. So I couldn’t even rent a car to finish the trip. United cannot be trusted when traveling on specific days and times since weather didn’t have anything to do with the delays.

My flight was delayed a very short period of time but they did not hold my connecting flight to San Diego, also through United. So they closed the doors before we got off our plane. They would only have to help the door open for another five to ten minutes. So I missed a court deadline for a manditory mediation settlement conference for my client. I had to get an associate to be there in person and be on the phone with him relaying what he needs to do the entire time. The court was very upset with me and so was my client. United cannot be trusted.

We were given vouchers we couldn’t use with a 5.5 hour delay

Really good 😊 the woman at the gate entrance was a little rude checking in our carry-on but i dont think she worked for the airline, she worked for the airport at sacramento, other than that amazing.

Boarding was mayhem. Late boarding by 15 minutes because of lack of staff (missing 1 flight attendant. We had to wait for an arrival of another plane before we could board). Flight was a little rough, but cannot blame on airlines.

Great experience…left a bit behind schedule but made up fir that in the air and landed 10 minutes early 😁

United out of SFO is having issues with catering so none of our meals were loaded on the plane and no offer of compensation for our tickets purchased was offered.

A bit rush for transit. Food and entertainment are not available

The gate was too far away for the connecting flight

Boarding gate in Honolulu was staffed with a great clerk with a soothing voice despite the flight delay of over an hour. Flight attendants in the plane were all grumpy, not pleasant looking bunch. Their sour attitude showed throughout the flight. Inly able to get a select few movies started. Most of the movie links in the “free entertainment” did not work.

This was a horrible experience. For a first class experience, my chair was held together by 3M tape - and I have a photo. The crew weren’t very attentive, somewhat dismissive and forgot my drink and snack, the chair reclined about 3 inches on a 6-hour cross country flight. I was also not informed that there was no lounge available in Newark airport because of renovations, so all around this was one of the worst experiences and I would actively avoid both American and Alaska Air going forward.

Boarding was very efficient. Everyone got on board and we got on our way very quickly. It was frustrating that the entertainment app was not functioning properly. I was not able to activate some of the movies offered. The crew on this flight appears to be pretty grumpy. They had no smile on their faces. I felt like they were doing us a favor for being there.

Loved the staff, boarding and drink options! Wish the comfort of the seat could have been better nevertheless

Honestly, I haven’t flown American in years, probably due to the pandemic and my being unable to travel for certain periods in the last two years, but it was a good experience to dig out or obtain a new American Airlines account after many years of traveling for business with American in the past.

Long 5 hour and 45 min flight and only one drink service and cookie snack

One bottle of water and a package of cookies for comfort plus. We had to literally beg a flight attendant for an extra bottle of water later in the flight due to feeling dehydrated.

Flight boarded from Gate 39 at OGG, the farthest gate in the terminal. There were no Hawaiian themed amenities for the flight. The first class service was mediocre at best; I received not special welcome or recognition as an executive platinum member of American Advantage program. The flight attendants were more concerned with their cell phones than saying "thank you" to the passengers as we disembarked. Fortunately, the flight arrived at LAX a few minutes early.

Bigger seats. Board back to front! Disembark front to back!

Extraordinary service in business class, and very good breakfast and snacks. A really lovely flight.

Boarding was a breeze, however, two of the flights that I boarded with Spirit did not have Wi-Fi available.

Very good. Nothing more or less than expected. No complaints.

My experience with the spirit as a first time it was OK, but the seats need a little cushion, the problem I had the most impacted me was when checking in the scales were so off and wrong. It will tell that you would have more weight, which was not true. The scale was say that it had Thirty Eight Pounds, when get in the labels when we send the luggage into the band. It says that it was overweight. I really really dislike that because the scales are not accurate. If I use Spirit and I have that issue again. That will be my last time flying with the spirit, even though I like so much to service the planes, and everything else

hahaha we are delayed for one hour plus.. but thx we arrived San Diego safe

Worst airline ever! The guy weighing my bag had his foot on the metal plate and when I called him out on it, I got this stupid little smirk. La is a scam and so is Spirit Airlines. All the flight attendants looked like they hated our flight just as much as we did.

Unclear pricing; ended up being charged an extra $52 just to get onboard

Spirit is awful. Too expensive for what you get. Stop nickel and diming.

would be great to get basic water, soda at least and stop charging for carry ons

Your crew is a representation of your Standards and Values. The crew from Seattle to LAX, was very disappointing. The crew was more interested in hanging out at the lobby area. Talking, laughing loudly and eating all the snacks. They did not do regular rounds to see if customers needed anything. This was a huge disappointment. I will no longer be flying with your airlines moving forward.

- flight attendants not very friendly. - Paid for WiFi and plane didn’t have it working , never got a refund.

We’ve all seen the YouTube vids of out of control passengers. But this was an instance of a highly aggressive, bully flight attendant. Yelling in the face of a vet with PTSD who was texting their family. And no , we had not yet been instructed to put our phones in airplane mode. My suggestion is that you should pay whatever difference there is in order to avoid Frontier airlines. Additionally, after 3hrs trying to get customer service frontier offered a $25 voucher. I declined. This experience was so traumatic. To be verbally assaulted and abused by a flight attendant that has the power to say “boo” and I miss my flight ( which was to a family member’s funeral ). Frontier is unsafe and I cannot impress enough how much I discourage anyone ( esp those with any kind of disability like PTSD ) flying on Frontier.

My flight was delayed by two hours which made it so that I would miss my layover flight. I stood in line for customer service for over an hour and when I reached the agent she told me to scan a QR code and it'll give me options. I wasn't offered any help, guidance or compensation, only told that I have options but that I had to figure it all out myself. I was refunded part of the trip and had to buy an expensive same day ticket from another airline in order to get home. I will never fly Frontier again.

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

Very bad! No good service delayed my second connection flight

They canceled flight. Hard to believe there was even a plane incoming for us to get on

Plane was down graded and I lost my uncharged exit row with more leg room. No mention or offer of refund from podium. Flight attendant was nice to explain this happens often and that I could request a refund via online form submission. I did this and have heard nothing back.

Horrendous. I do not recommend Frontier. The passengers lack manners and decency, and the flight attendants lack professionalism. If I wasn’t in a bind to fly with 48 hours notice for a job interview, I would not have selected a flight with Frontier and I never plan to fly with them in the future.

The seats were hard molded plastic covered in plastic vinyl. And the scam to charge people extra to sit together. Don’t they know we can just ask someone to trade seats. And watching the staff separate young children from parents… super classy. We had to guilt them into offering up our seats. This companies policies suck. Don’t give them your money.

Everything went as planned. Crew was great. Seats were still not that comfortable.

No frills for sure. No gate announcements about flight delay, not even water to drink on the flight.

Book cheap flights from Illinois to California

Recent round-trip flight deals

8/17Sun
1 stopFrontier
9h 06mORD-LAX
8/24Sun
1 stopFrontier
27h 09mLAX-ORD
$92
8/17Sun
nonstopFrontier
4h 09mORD-LAS
8/22Fri
1 stopFrontier
9h 32mLAS-ORD
$92
8/4Mon
nonstopFrontier
4h 09mORD-LAS
8/11Mon
1 stopFrontier
10h 22mLAS-ORD
$93
8/10Sun
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 58mORD-LAS
8/14Thu
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 40mLAS-ORD
$96
8/16Sat
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 52mORD-LAS
8/23Sat
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 40mLAS-ORD
$99
8/16Sat
nonstopSouthwest
3h 50mMDW-LAS
8/19Tue
nonstopSouthwest
3h 45mLAS-MDW
$159
7/28Mon
nonstopSouthwest
3h 55mMDW-LAS
7/31Thu
nonstopSouthwest
3h 35mLAS-MDW
$169
8/31Sun
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 30mORD-SFO
9/6Sat
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 17mSFO-ORD
$188
8/23Sat
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 40mORD-SFO
8/31Sun
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 20mSFO-ORD
$189
8/16Sat
nonstopHawaiian Airlines
4h 48mORD-SFO
8/18Mon
nonstopHawaiian Airlines
4h 23mSFO-ORD
$191

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Recent one-way flight deals

8/17Sun
nonstopFrontier
4h 09mORD-LAS
$46
10/26Sun
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 55mORD-LAS
$47
10/14Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 06mORD-LAS
$80
9/20Sat
nonstopSouthwest
3h 50mMDW-LAS
$80
9/10Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 20mORD-SAN
$86
10/14Tue
1 stopAlaska Airlines
9h 43mORD-LAS
$89
7/28Mon
nonstopSouthwest
3h 50mMDW-LAS
$90
11/10Mon
1 stopAlaska Airlines
15h 45mORD-LAS
$95
10/8Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 26mORD-LAX
$99
9/17Wed
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 43mORD-SFO
$101

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Last minute flights from Illinois to California

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

7/5Sat
multi-stopFrontier
10h 07mORD-LAS
7/10Thu
multi-stopFrontier
10h 26mLAS-ORD
$152
7/7Mon
nonstop
4h 09mORD-LAS
7/21Mon
nonstop
3h 29mLAS-ORD
$155
7/7Mon
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 00mORD-LAS
7/8Tue
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 29mLAS-ORD
$172
7/8Tue
nonstopSpirit Airlines
4h 04mORD-LAS
7/15Tue
nonstopSpirit Airlines
3h 29mLAS-ORD
$182
7/4Fri
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 16mORD-SNA
7/5Sat
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 17mSNA-ORD
$271
7/8Tue
nonstopSouthwest
3h 55mMDW-LAS
7/15Tue
nonstopSouthwest
3h 30mLAS-MDW
$279
7/4Fri
nonstopAmerican Airlines
4h 16mORD-SNA
7/5Sat
multi-stopAmerican Airlines
8h 31mSNA-ORD
$323
7/8Tue
nonstopSouthwest
3h 55mMDW-LAS
7/10Thu
nonstopSouthwest
3h 35mLAS-MDW
$329
7/4Fri
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 28mORD-SNA
7/10Thu
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 21mSNA-ORD
$349
7/4Fri
multi-stopUnited Airlines
6h 14mORD-SNA
7/10Thu
nonstopUnited Airlines
4h 11mSNA-ORD
$355

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Everything you need to know for your flight to California

Cabin class types available on flights to Illinois

Cabin classes available on flights to Illinois. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.

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