$72 Find Cheap Flights from San Diego to Illinois

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from San Diego to Illinois departing on 10/25. 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
1 adult, Economy

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to Illinois

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from San Diego to Illinois.
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from San Diego to Illinois.
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Cheap Flights from San Diego to Illinois

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours
Chicago
Chicagononstop$147
Moline
Moline1 stop$277
Peoria
Peoria1 stop$253
Bloomington
Bloomington1 stop$377
St. Louis
St. Louis1 stop$144
Chicago
Chicagononstop$147
Moline
Moline1 stop$277
Peoria
Peoria1 stop$253
Bloomington
Bloomington1 stop$377
St. Louis
St. Louis1 stop$144

Book Cheap San Diego to Illinois Plane Tickets

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for round-trip flights from San Diego to Illinois that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent round-trip flight deals from San Diego to Illinois

Fri, Oct 17 - Tue, Oct 21
Frontier Logo
8:11 am - 10:14 pmSAN-STL
12h 03m1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:52 pm - 11:50 pmSTL-SAN
5h 58m1 stop
$144Frontier
Find Deal
Thu, Oct 23 - Mon, Oct 27
Frontier Logo
6:25 am - 11:43 amSAN-STL
27h 18m1 stop
Frontier Logo
10:18 am - 6:48 pmSTL-SAN
10h 30m1 stop
$145Frontier
Find Deal
Tue, Nov 4 - Tue, Nov 4
Alaska Airlines Logo
8:00 am - 1:54 pmSAN-ORD
3h 54mnonstop
Alaska Airlines Logo
2:54 pm - 5:19 pmORD-SAN
4h 25mnonstop
$147Alaska Airlines
Find Deal
Tue, Oct 14 - Tue, Oct 21
Southwest Logo
11:00 am - 5:10 pmSAN-MDW
4h 10mnonstop
Southwest Logo
8:25 pm - 10:45 pmMDW-SAN
4h 20mnonstop
$153Southwest
Find Deal
Sat, Oct 4 - Sat, Oct 11
American Airlines Logo
6:15 am - 12:42 pmSAN-ORD
4h 27mnonstop
American Airlines Logo
7:30 am - 9:59 amORD-SAN
4h 29mnonstop
$173American Airlines
Find Deal
Tue, Oct 14 - Fri, Nov 7
Southwest Logo
6:30 am - 12:35 pmSAN-MDW
4h 05mnonstop
Southwest Logo
11:15 am - 1:35 pmMDW-SAN
4h 20mnonstop
$175Southwest
Find Deal
Tue, Oct 14 - Thu, Oct 16
Alaska Airlines Logo
5:19 pm - 11:59 pmSAN-ORD
4h 40mnonstop
Alaska Airlines Logo
7:59 pm - 10:59 pmORD-SAN
5h 00mnonstop
$175Alaska Airlines
Find Deal
Thu, Dec 11 - Tue, Dec 16
United Airlines Logo
11:11 am - 8:57 pmSAN-STL
7h 46m1 stop
United Airlines Logo
1:35 pm - 5:34 pmSTL-SAN
5h 59m1 stop
$183United Airlines
Find Deal
Wed, Oct 15 - Sun, Oct 19
United Airlines Logo
5:01 pm - 11:14 pmSAN-ORD
4h 13mnonstop
United Airlines Logo
7:10 am - 9:31 amORD-SAN
4h 21mnonstop
$187United Airlines
Find Deal
Wed, Oct 1 - Sat, Oct 18
American Airlines Logo
1:17 pm - 7:41 pmSAN-ORD
4h 24mnonstop
American Airlines Logo
5:06 pm - 7:29 pmORD-SAN
4h 23mnonstop
$188American Airlines
Find Deal
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for San Diego to Illinois flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from San Diego 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 San Diego to Illinois?

What is the cheapest San Diego to Illinois flight route?

Data is based on round-trip flight searches on KAYAK over the past month.

The cheapest ticket to Illinois from San Diego found in the last 72 hours was to Chicago, at $142 round-trip. The most popular route is from San Diego (SAN) to Chicago O'Hare Intl Airport (ORD), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $142.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from San Diego to Illinois?

The average round-trip price for all non-stop flights, flights with one layover, and flights with two layovers for the route found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks.

No, with an average price for the route of $247, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.

What is the cheapest month to fly from San Diego to Illinois?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from San Diego to Illinois, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from San Diego to Illinois is August, when tickets cost $251 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and March, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $456 and $426 respectively.

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

The average price of all round-trip flights from San Diego to Illinois clicked on KAYAK for each day over the last 12 months.

When flying from San Diego to Illinois, you should consider leaving on a Thursday and avoid Sundays if you are looking for the best rates. For your return to San Diego, you’ll find the best rates on Fridays and the most expensive ones on Sundays.

How far in advance should I book a flight from San Diego to Illinois?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights from San Diego to Illinois, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below average price on the flight from San Diego to Illinois, you should book around 3 weeks before departure, which saves you about 23% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 19 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$72
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 14% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 16% increase in price.
Flight from San Diego to St. Louis

FAQs - booking Illinois flights

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

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

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

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

    The cheapest time of day to fly to Illinois is generally in the evening, when round-trip flights cost $275 on average. Morning departures are around 86% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Illinois is generally in the morning, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $510.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Illinois

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from San Diego to the following destinations at these prices or less: Chicago $145 one-way - $228 round-trip

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from San Diego to Illinois

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from San Diego to Illinois. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Diego 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
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 10000 reviews
7.0Entertainment
8.1Boarding
7.8Comfort
8.5Crew
7.1Food
Airline reviews

My flight wait is 3 hours delayed due to Unknown reason. We waited a very long time in the tarmac. Our flight 24 was scheduled @ 7, therefore we left my house at 330 to park our car. We were at the gate @ 530, then we were told at 6a that it will be late , we boarded at 930 but did not take off until 1015. Therefore my arranged pick up in JFK was cancelled because of no show. Before all these I got an email offers of changing my flight to a different date which I took a day earlier. I will never again take Alaska Airlines, very Inefficient and Disappointing.

10.0 ExcellentGRACE, Aug 2025SAN - JFK
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

My flight wait is 3 hours delayed due to Unknown reason. We waited a very long time in the tarmac. Our flight 24 was scheduled @ 7, therefore we left my house at 330 to park our car. We were at the gate @ 530, then we were told at 6a that it will be late , we boarded at 930 but did not take off until 1015. Therefore my arranged pick up in JFK was cancelled because of no show. Before all these I got an email offers of changing my flight to a different date which I took a day earlier. I will never again take Alaska Airlines, very Inefficient and Disappointing.

Such great crew, from checkin to the plane. So friendly and helpful, I was genuinely impressed.

Seats extremely uncomfortable, no entertainment, no snacks, and when boarding, half of the passengers needed to check in the carry on luggage without any explanation.

The flight was jumping between being delayed and closer to schedule about 5 times. Alaska air website showed incorrect times while google had latest info. This panic was horrible to deal with.

I always heard this was a terrible airline but I was happy to experience otherwise. The seats were more comfortable than delta. They did board late and gate was a little chaotic, which is to be expected for a budget airline. I would definitely do it again for that price.

Very expensive for short flights. Can’t communicate with Alaska Air about passport issue at check-in. Also no replies to my text messages. Wanted to extend our vacation for two more days but this expensive flight ticket is called SAVER and I couldn’t make changes or cancel or get a credit even, so I paid another airline for the return trip. Extremely disappointed.

They canceled my flight then changed me $155 for the same flight the next day

Our flight time was drastically changed which caused us to lose a day of vacation

I like the new adjustable headrest. Unfortunately 2 crying children were in front of us. But it was the first time and not holding Alaska accountable for that. Alaska always seems to have everything in order professional but comfortable.

Very bad, terrible food and late by 2 hours. Then no to open aircraft doors

As always, the entire Southwest experience was wonderful, from online booking to flight to baggage retrieval. Very grateful.

The weather could have been better. There was a 40 minute ATC delay in SFO because of marine fog and a micro cell storm delayed landing and take-off at Nashville. The gate was changed 5 minutes from boarding from gate B3 to gate C23 at Nashville airport.

The cabin was quiet for the redeye flight. The area was clean. The staff was great. The 787 Max was in good condition. Drawbacks were that the seat widths were tight for some passengers. The seat padding was at best average and for a long flight uncomfortable.

Worst experience I had on Southwest. Still better than most, but the seating was barely tolerable.

It was okay. The plane was delayed from earlier in the day, but they kept updating the departure time, sometimes later, sometimes earlier. That was stressful. Once we finally got on and took off, it was fine. I was supposed to have a connection in Chicago to Los Angeles, and the time for so late I was rebooked to arrive in LA 3 hours late. The departure time to Chicago later became early enough to have taken my original connection and arrive earlier but that wasn't an option.

Delayed flight. Nicest crew member was a SW pilot flying seated next to me who kindly move to seat the final passenger. Flight extra delayed. My cup of refreshment of ginger ale was so packed with ice it was literally 2 sips.

No trays in our seats, we sat in first row, purchased a business class fare. Had to hold our drinks and snack in our hands. No plugs for our cell phones. Had to pay for it a drink cocktail each. Seats so uncomfortable.

Flight wasn’t even full, but too many carry-ons caused us to run out of bin space. New bag fee has folks who would usually check their bags carrying on. Watching Southwest morph into Spirit/Frontier is so sad to watch

Everything was on time. I was disappointed by the front section female, African American flight attendant. I did not see her name tag or would have identified by name not race. As passengers moved to the bathroom early in flight, she would say with a disdainful tone “I have to say the seat belt light is on” then go back to her book. Better trained flight attendants say something like be careful the seat belt light is on.

Southwest is Southwest. No frills. If you're luck enough to get a happy crew (we did), then it makes for a nicer flight.

Flight attendant in first class gave poor service (like he didn't want to be there) and food was awful. We sat waiting for gate upon arrival over 45 mins.

Weather delay in Chicago?. No sense of urgency to make connection in Chicago for our connecting flight that wasn't delayed. Connection was missed.

Overall it was good. I missed my connection but I was put on another flight.

Overall a very poor experience - booked premium economy tickets but due to last minute flight delays , all my itinery went for a toss and had to fly economy class with no access to lounge or any compensation by united airlines to make up for the flight delays . i had expected better experience than that from united.

It was fine, definitely older planes with no charging or anything. There’s no entertainment set up on board, but it is nice that they allow you to access the in flight entertainment from your phone without having to pay for the Wi-Fi and they do offer free texting.

I liked that the flight was nonstop from ORD to CIU for $200 round trip.

The schedule to Moline changed 5 times. The gate changed 6 times. That is a pathetic way to run an airline. No wonder that no one in our company flies on United Express to or from Moline. Changes happen most of the time. I learned my lesson on this trip…never again!

While the staff was pleasant and helpful, the following observations are for your awareness. There was some delay on the tarmac on take off and landing. The paid lunch/food offerings were limited. Entertainment was only available on WiFi at a cost.

The first flight was better in terms of the aircraft.

Smooth flight. Boarding was chaotic. Could not hear the gate agent over the intercom. People were lined up in the wrong lines. Groups one and two were told to board through line one and group 3 through line 2. All very confusing. Once in the air, the flight was smooth. There was no entertainment option on this aircraft, even though it was a larger aircraft.

The entertainment package was vast and the selections were very current. Keep updating it was great.

The seat was so hard my tailbone was aching The crew was kind of a b**** because I made a joke that I didn't care if they close the door I total c*** when she was trying to f****** act like she was mad at me because I said that The flight was bumpy. Sure you didnt have control over that.

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.

Food was ok, but not as good as I have had before on AA.

Pretty good. The food was just mediocre, the boarding and crew were good.

My flight got switched and my prepaid bag didnt transfer over properly so I paid to check ANOTHER BAG. I was placed in a middle seat and it was just miserable. At least it was a bulkhead row so I had legroom. The flight just never seem3d to end

Was not able to watch most shows on the entertainment site. They would not load

On Wednesday, July 30 we were in mid flight from Manchester to Charlotte and we turned around because the right engine was malfunctioning. That was the last flight out of Manchester that night. I was rebooked for Thursday, which became a weather event Friday. There were no seats left on the flight from Manchester to Charlotte. Consequently I didn’t leave Manchester until Saturday morning and we flew to Chicago so to say the least my scheduled flight and return to Iowa was three days off and it messed with my business schedule. Consequently cash flow. I would like some sort of acknowledgment of this event.

Dreadful experience. Our flight was delayed more than 8 hours due to a maintenance issue and the assistance from rebooking was poor. I was travelling with a bad knee and needed assistance waited in one place more than 3 hours before someone came with a wheelchair. The woman next to me was a 91 year old great grandmother who had waited more than 4 hours. There were moments of support from the staff but it appeared as they were going against the direction of management. It was apathy, lack of ownership and dismissive responses with small moments of kindness and understanding typically from grey haired, female, veteran staff..

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.

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

Cancelled flight after I arrived at airport after 75 min drive and parking. Next flight was 4 days in the future. Had to scramble and buy a much more expensive flight on another carrier.

I liked the turn-style feature at gate 209B at LAX. Very efficient process. The gate staff also made several, clearly directed announcements so I felt very informed.

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

The seats were awful, hard plastic covered in sheet vinyl. The airline tries to scam you into paying extra to get seat together when the flight wasn’t full. They were going to separate a family with young children but my wife who had a row to herself gave up her seat so the young mom could be with her young boys. I’m never giving this airline my money again.

It was a short flight so no food or entertainment….

Frontier had yet another flight cancellation. Have never made a complete round trip with this airline without at least one leg getting cancelled. Miserable flights - dirty, uncomfortable planes that apparently always have issues since I've had multiple delays and cancellations with them.

Flight was delayed 3 times, would have been nice to have received text message instead of email notifications. Frontier app wasn’t even updated accordingly, no gate number disclosed. No agent at front desk of gate to inform of delay. Very confused and left if the dark

The flight itself was ok and the pilot was very communicative. However, our flight was delayed for almost 3 hours, the gate was changed 3 times and there was no communication as we were waiting. The flight staff was overall a little crabby...I understand as they probably had a long day but we all did.

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