$65 Find Cheap Flights from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois

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Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$65
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 0% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 4% increase in price.
Flight from San Francisco to St. Louis

FAQs for booking flights from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from San Francisco Bay Area 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 Francisco Bay Area to Illinois.

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

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

  • Which airlines fly most frequently to Illinois?

    Air Canada connects San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois with 123 flights per week. Air New Zealand also offers 123 flights per week, while Virgin Australia follows with 111 flights per week.

  • How many airports are there in Illinois?

    There are 12 airports in Illinois. The busiest airport is Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD), with 91% of all flights arriving there.

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

    Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in Illinois is Chicago Midway Airport (MDW), with an average flight price of $284.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to Illinois?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to Illinois is Wednesday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $405. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $507 on average.

  • 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 $411 on average. Morning departures are around 7% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Illinois is generally in the afternoon, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is $467.

  • What is the cheapest flight to Illinois?

    The cheapest ticket to Illinois from San Francisco Bay Area found in the last 72 hours was to Chicago Midway Airport, at $258 round-trip. The most popular route is Oakland (OAK) to Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $258.

  • What is the cheapest month to fly from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois?

    The cheapest month for flights from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois is February, when tickets cost $216 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are March and April, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $508 and $426 respectively.

  • How far in advance should I book a flight from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois?

    To get a below average price on the flight from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 46% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 10 weeks before departure.

  • How many cities have direct flights to Illinois?

    From San Francisco Bay Area, there are direct flights to Illinois from 2 cities. The city with the most direct flights is San Francisco, with 843 direct flights each week.

  • How many direct flights to Illinois are there each day?

    There are around 124 direct flights from within San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois every day. Most flights (47%) depart in the morning.

  • How many direct flights to Illinois are there each week?

    Each week there are around 862 direct flights from within San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois. The most common day for departures is Sunday, with 17% of flights taking off on this day.

  • How long is the flight to Illinois?

    An average nonstop flight from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois takes 11h 47m, covering a distance of 1771 miles. The shortest route is San Francisco (SFO) to St. Louis (STL) with an average flight time of 3h 40m.

  • How many long-haul flights are there to Illinois each week?

    There are not any long-haul (6-12 hour flight duration) or short-haul (up to 3 hour flight duration) flights to Illinois. Instead, there are 862 medium-haul flights (3-6 hour flight duration), with the most arriving from San Francisco.

  • What are the most popular destinations in Illinois?

    Based on KAYAK flight searches, the most popular destination is Chicago (91% of total searches to Illinois). The next most popular destinations are St. Louis (7%) and Decatur (0%). Searches for flights to Moline (0%), to Bloomington (0%) and to Peoria (0%) are also popular.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from San Francisco Bay Area to Illinois

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Francisco Bay Area 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 11214 reviews
8.1Boarding
7.0Entertainment
8.5Crew
7.8Comfort
7.1Food
Airline reviews

Check in went pretty well and you didn't lose my bag. After I got a drink from the drink cart they charged me for it, and at the crazy overpriced airport rates. Never had that happen before, is that an american thing? what madness.

6.0 GoodAnonymous, Oct 2025SJC - SEA
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

Check in went pretty well and you didn't lose my bag. After I got a drink from the drink cart they charged me for it, and at the crazy overpriced airport rates. Never had that happen before, is that an american thing? what madness.

Kayak I had marked one carry on, one checked bag. Yet when it completed the purchase marked it as no carry on. Fail on kayaks side! Then extended flight delayed due to computer issues. Crew of the plane did awesome but fail on both kayak and alaskan

In both halves of the trip (going and returning) there were problems. Not exactly Alaska's fault, but still really difficult. Outgoing flight was canceled and rebooked twice due to a total ground stop of all Alaska's flights. This required me to change airports with minimal notice and I almost missed my flight transferring to the other airport (which was roughly an hour and a half away). On the return, the first leg was delayed by an hour, and the second leg was delayed by nearly 3 hours. This was a rough set of flights and the communication about all of these changes was minimal. Crew did their best however, so no fault there. Other thing to remember is there is no food on Alaska flights unless you pre-order. Take that into account when you choose airlines.

Check in online didn't accept my confirmation number so i could only check in with assistance at the airport and ended up with s creepy middle seat.

I was delayed several times. Missed a very important event. The airline only provided a $12 voucher after being delayed 3 times.

It was the most expensive Alaska Airlines ticket I’ve ever purchased. I had a middle seat with no legroom or space compared to any other middle seat I’ve hadThere was a silver box under the seat that took up 70% of my legroom on the most narrow 737 max the crew flat out would not help they would not help with bags they would not help with garbage there was no coffee,It was definitely not one of my better experiences on Alaska.

Sitting on the ground for 2 hours waiting for a gate wasn't fun.

It was a great experience, friendly staff and good snacks

Online check in didn't work. Somehow ended up with 2 Alaska rewards numbers and 1 for Hawaiian. No one at check in could figure out what to do. No one at check in could help me confirm an upcoming flight on Hawaiian Airlines.

Flight was delayed 14 hours! We missed an entire day of our vacation and had to pay for hotel that we didn’t use

Ever since Southwest starting charging for bags, passengers don't want to pay to check their bags, so the gate agents have to beg people to check their roller bags now because there's "not enough space". This was a terrible business move by Southwest.

Sacrament staff are always polite and helpful. Airport is easy to maneuver and boarding is straightforward.

Excellent. Would encourage Southwest to keep current boarding procedures with free style seating. Makes for a fantastic experience

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 was delayed only slightly before takeoff due to traffic control. However, the flight arrived early to ORD. Good flight. United has been very reliable for me.

Another delayed flight. When the delays exceed the duration of the flight, it’s a problem.

After boarding the plane in Chicago, the passengers were told that there was a technical problem with the plane. Passengers remained on the plane as they tried to fix the problem. After what was probably an hour passengers were told that there was a need to change planes as the problem was not solved. Passengers disembarked and boarded another plane. After taxing to the runway and waiting for takeoff, passengers were told that owing to the thunderstorm the flight was unable to take off but would try and reroute. After some time passengers were told there wasn't enough fuel for the new route and the plane had to return to the gate for additional fuel. after another log delay the flight got underway. On the plane there was food, drinks, ice or entertainment. We were a glass of water, which appeared rationed. Flight arrived about 5 hours late. The pilot was fantastic and communicated with the passengers throughout the ordeal.

Better WiFi. I cannot understand that in 2025, United is so behind on a technology that is now a necessity and still painfully unreliable, slow and keeps disconnecting.

Trip was great. A wild landing in Ottawa with the wind and rain, but the pilot did a great job. Always love flying United.👍

Excellent experience. Starting with the agent at the Premier bag drop who noticed I was very early for my scheduled flight and offered to rebook me on an earlier flight with my seat preference. She would not let me leave the counter until she knew that all of the changes and new boarding pass showed up on my United app. At the gate, the flight boarded quickly such that we departed early and the flight was smooth. We arrived 20 minutes early at ORD and I was able to be home in time for dinner. One of the best flights I've had.

Salina to travers city was great! But the sept 24 Tranverse city was not! Traverse city to chichago was cancelled, i went to Denver & got to Salina 6 hours later!

See previous note about the passenger in Denver who threw my husband's bag out of the overhead bin in order to maker room for his own. And the flight attendant back up the new passenger.

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.

It was good..clean, comfy seat. Friendly warm welcoming crew. Was able to check my cabin luggage at the gate which I was able to pickup in a decent time from baggage claim. The app gave all updates from delays to baggage claim info. Overall smooth flight.

It was a typical flight. We had a delay which seems to be the normality now. And we had no in flight service due to conditions.

After we landed we sat on the tarmac for 1.5 hours waiting to get to our gate. Ridiculous.

Terrible. Flight delayed for more than 8 hours with only a $12 meal voucher provided for the inconvenience. The airplane did not have breaks on arrival yet they still made us go through the motions and board on time knowing we could not take off then sit for 40+ minutes before having to get of the time. A complete waste of my time. I cannot believe they can stay business with these shenanigans. I’ll avoid this company like the plague moving forward as the lack of accountability is disgraceful.

This was the best 2 flights I have had with American out of SGF. Great crew both flights.

Excellent - explanations were clear staff was nice and flight was comfortable

Lost bag and 2 days no word leaving for cruise no clothes or stuff

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.

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.

This airline sucks. They offer low rates then charge you for everything, the app does not work well, the seats are the most uncomfortable. Maintenance issues on the flight, and you still have to sit through their credit card commercials. People are nice enough but does not make up for overall poor experience.

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….

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