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Cheap Flights from Santa Ana to Illinois

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 5 days
Chicago
Chicago1 stop$322
Moline
Moline1 stop$432
Peoria
Peoria1 stop$499
Bloomington
Bloomington1 stop$399
Champaign
Champaign1 stop$575
Springfield
Springfield1 stop$531
Paducah
Paducah1 stop$508
Chicago
Chicago1 stop$322
Moline
Moline1 stop$432
Peoria
Peoria1 stop$499
Bloomington
Bloomington1 stop$399
Champaign
Champaign1 stop$575
Springfield
Springfield1 stop$531
Paducah
Paducah1 stop$508
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Santa Ana to Illinois flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Santa Ana 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 Santa Ana, California to Illinois?

Flight prices are below average for this route right now.

Flights to Illinois from Santa Ana, California usually cost between $379 and $580 in November.
The lowest price found in the past 5 days was $322 on Frontier (Nov 30-Dec 3).

What is the cheapest John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois flight route?

The cheapest ticket to Illinois from John Wayne (Santa Ana) found in the last 5 days was to Chicago, at $331 round-trip. The most popular route is from John Wayne (Santa Ana) (SNA) to Chicago O'Hare Intl Airport (ORD), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $331.

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 $443 on average. Morning departures are around 20% 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 $532.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois?

Yes, flying with a layover may cost you more time, but you can also save money on the route, with a 1 stop layover the cheapest option at $509 on average.

What is the cheapest month to fly from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois?

The cheapest month for flights from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois is February, when tickets cost $419 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are June and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $508 and $495 respectively.

What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois?

Your flight ticket price will generally be cheaper if you fly to Illinois on a Wednesday and more expensive on a Sunday. On your return trip to John Wayne (Santa Ana), you should consider flying back on a Saturday, and avoid Sundays for better deals.

How far in advance should I book a flight from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois?

To get a below average price on the flight from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 29% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 13 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low season

February

Cheapest flight

$79
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 21% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 25% increase in price.
Flight from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Chicago O'Hare Airport

FAQs - booking Illinois flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from John Wayne (Santa Ana) 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 John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from John Wayne (Santa Ana) to Illinois?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from John Wayne (Santa Ana) 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 John Wayne (Santa Ana) 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 John Wayne (Santa Ana) 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 John Wayne (Santa Ana) 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 John Wayne (Santa Ana) 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 John Wayne (Santa Ana) to the following destinations at these prices or less: Chicago $277 one-way - $451 round-trip

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from Santa Ana to Illinois

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Santa Ana 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.
7.9
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 13135 reviews
8.1Boarding
7.0Entertainment
7.0Food
7.8Comfort
8.5Crew
Airline reviews

It was difficult in SNA to hear the gate announcements due to muffled voice and fire alarm ringing.

10.0 ExcellentDenise, Oct 2026
Read more Alaska Airlines reviews

It was difficult in SNA to hear the gate announcements due to muffled voice and fire alarm ringing.

This was the best flight I’ve ever been on- solely for the purpose that our pilot gave us a tour of the west coast. He didn’t need to do that but he did and it made the experience spectacular. Well done.

Service OK except could not make out much of what the pilot said when making announcements. Wish they would have had seat back screens. Charging ports were conveniently located. Overall very average experience. Far from the best, but I've had worse.

Our flught was rerouted to another airport 60 minutes from our destination. We were told we would get Lyft vouchers to get us to our original destination. We did get vouchers, but when we arrived at the rerouted airport, we realized the vouchers were for a Lyft ride from the starting airport to our original destination. We were lead to believe that once we arrived at the rerouted airport, we could use the voucher from there. Nope. So we got stuck with a $100, 1-hour Uber ride. The flight staff was annoying. We were seated near the rear, and for the entire flight, both attendants were gossiping about some drama on Facebook. And they weren't being quiet about it. The back dozen rows or so could easily hear their entire conversation. I've flown Alaska Airlines many times before and have never had problems. This was an awful experience.

Never had so many staff members be rude and disrespectful. I had a staff member sarcastically call me “girly” after making me wait 20 minutes to be seen by her. I was able to print my luggage tag and she told me I was too late to check luggage I said the system obviously disagrees. And you had me wait way too long while you asked every single passenger ahead of me about their Disney vacations. She wasted so much time to then say “girly your bag won’t make it on the plane” I’m not her girly I’m a full grown adult. She needs to learn a hell of a lot of respect

On time, friendly and professional staff and crew Very nice new terminal in Spokane

Wi-Fi cut out for a bit, then resumed. Otherwise flawless flight.

You need categories to denote when food and entertainment are not available.

Canceled flight. No communication of this prior. Rescheduled to next day. Our good seats we purchased months ago turned into last row middle. No apology, reason, nor compensation for time and $ spent.

I got the last seat on the plane, in the back in the corner against the window, and I paid a competitive price for my ticket several weeks before the flight.

The entire crew were wonderful but 1 flight attendant stood out with his sense of humor on the microphone. I told him as much as I exited the plane.

Maybe different snack selection. To much sodium in them. I know refrigerators are not available but there has to be healthier items.

Wasn't expecting this, but, we actually ended up getting assigned to the first row of seats!!!!! The extra legroom came in handy

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.

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

Flight was ok. Boarding wasn’t fun. Flights were delayed by 12 minutes on each leg.

The 700 model seating is too tight both seat size & leg room

Wifi didn’t work, no service, seats are hard as rocks

Better management of the boarding process. Is there any way you could forward all the window seats first? That's the Way Reno Air used to do it, and they had the fastest boarding in the industry!

We were delay because so many bags needed to be gate checked and it was disappointing not to have outlets in the seats for such a long flight.

Excellent. I had a medical emergency on flight SNA-ORD and the attendants were very helpful.

Booked through Kayak Business, had a seat in middle and towards back due to booking rate, not comfortable.

Crew was great (professional, attentive, prompt). Snacks for 4 hrs flight is deplorable.

It was a pretty standard flight... until the almost hour and a half spent on the taxi way. I get that the weather has been poor but the delay had nothing to do with the weather and more to do with a plane with several issues tying up the gate. I get that that happens from time to time but this has been EVERY flight I've been on for the past 5 years and I fly 3 to 5 times a year. This isn't just United... it's American, it's Delta. It's an issue with the entire industry. I work for UPS and packages on a cargo plane get better service than people do these days. Anymore I HATE flying.

Not a great experience. We paid for the upgrade for premium economy seats and seated ourselves in very comfortable seats. Someone came along with the same seat on their boarding pass. The aircraft had been changed and as a result we were booted out and sent further back to small uncomfortable seats. After complaining we were moved to emergency row seats, which gave us more leg room but the seats don’t recline. For people in our 70’s we found having to sit upright from California to NJ very uncomfortable. Not sure why they chose to move senior citizens instead of the two people that were allowed to take the more comfortable seats. Not happy.

Very poor the plane itself was really old, slight smell that couldn’t be named. I didn’t even get a boarding pass UNTIL AFTER clearing security! Even then, they said when I get to my connected flight I’ll get my 2nd boarding pass there! A bit ridiculous!

Due to one crew member not showing up to work, our flight was significantly delayed causing us to miss our connecting flight in Houston to Mississippi causing us to be delayed by more than 6 hours and missing our event all together. Very disappointing. All because ONE crew member called in sick. United did grant us a $15 meal voucher, which was a small but appreciated concession that I wasn’t able to use because I ordered my lunch and paid for it before applying the concession, and the staff said it was too late to use it. Ugh! We also had a TWO delay coming back from Mississippi, but that was on American Airlines and it was due to weather, so not their fault. Anyway, not at all impressed with United’s handling of our flight and the HUGE disappointment of missing our important family event for our 90 year old mother. All that money and all that stress and emotions for nothing. Having to wait the hour to bring an employee from LAX seemed like something that should not have happened. Why don’t you have a local back-up? Santa Ana is not a little airport in a rural area.

the head jack on my seat didn't work and the power outlet didn't work for my seat

No food on 4.5 hour flight, wi-fi did not work. Terrible experience for a long haul flight.

first leg from san diego to chicago, only had cookies for snack. 1 flavor of sparkling water chicago to washington dc had option of cookies, pretzels, or gold fish. had 2 flavors of sparkling water. 2nd flight better however the best part was there was no delays!!! Got to chicago and washington dc early. That was wonderful!!!!

Business class flight attendant was very good. But our flight was delayed two hours for a “mechanical” bathroom issue that literally took 5 minutes to fix. Our plane landed early from its previous flight but still waited for a mechanic to show up to fix an obvious minor issue for almost three hours. This caused us to miss our connecting flight. They put us up in a Days Inn that was 17 miles away from the airport that took a half hour of driving just to get to and this was at 11pm at night. Then when we finally got back on a plane after a full day delay they left our luggage back in the airport. This was an international flight, so no luggage or belongings after flying 8 hours to a different country. We will NEVER fly American Airlines again.

The WiFi didn’t work entire flight, couldn’t watch a movie. The recline button didn’t work

Our flight was 1.5 hours delayed. There was no weather for the inbound flight, so I don't understand why. This meant a VERY late arrival and only a quick nap before my morning flight.

The flight encountered a delay exceeding 4 hours. The food voucher issued was valued at $12, insufficient to cover our meal expenses. Consequently, I was unable to take my medication, leading to a drop in blood sugar levels and exacerbating my anxiety.

Flights were on time. That's the main consideration since I had to change planes. The entertainment was whatever you bring with you and the food (in Economy) is non-existant. Neither of those was a surprise.

The gate crew did try to help, however they lacked the information as to whether the flight will operate or not. Being delayed 6 hours and in a limbo on whether the flight will operate or not is not fun. The airline having staffing issues is not encouraging at all.

Flight was delayed and missed connecting flight. Did not give warning about delay until we showed up at the airport. Not good.

I love to be able to connect my own devices to the entertainment system. It works great!

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

The flight never took off and we spent 7 hours at the airport

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.

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

More options for your flight from Santa Ana to Illinois

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