$119 Find Cheap Flights from Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara to Illinois departing on 4/14. 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, 0 bags

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 Santa Barbara to Illinois, as well as popular online travel agencies
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Santa Barbara to Illinois, as well as popular online travel agencies
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Flight Deals

Book Cheap Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara to Illinois

Tue, Mar 24 - Sat, Mar 28
Delta Logo
12:40 pm - 9:34 pm
SBA
-
ORD
6h 54m
1 stop
Delta Logo
5:00 pm - 9:54 pm
ORD
-
SBA
6h 54m
1 stop
$237Delta
Tue, Mar 24 - Tue, Mar 31
Delta Logo
12:40 pm - 9:34 pm
SBA
-
ORD
6h 54m
1 stop
Delta Logo
6:15 am - 4:09 pm
ORD
-
SBA
11h 54m
2 stops
$242Delta
Sat, Feb 21 - Tue, Feb 24
American Airlines Logo
4:40 pm - 12:51 am
SBA
-
ORD
6h 11m
1 stop
American Airlines Logo
6:10 am - 11:48 am
ORD
-
SBA
7h 38m
1 stop
$257American Airlines
Wed, Apr 29 - Mon, May 4
Alaska Airlines Logo
7:07 pm - 6:40 am
SBA
-
ORD
9h 33m
1 stop
Alaska Airlines Logo
8:50 am - 2:16 pm
ORD
-
SBA
7h 26m
1 stop
$270Alaska Airlines
Sat, May 16 - Wed, May 20
Alaska Airlines Logo
3:56 pm - 11:41 pm
SBA
-
ORD
5h 45m
1 stop
Alaska Airlines Logo
3:43 pm - 11:34 pm
ORD
-
SBA
9h 51m
1 stop
$277Alaska Airlines
Mon, Apr 6 - Sat, Apr 11
United Airlines Logo
8:31 pm - 7:07 am
SBA
-
ORD
8h 36m
1 stop
United Airlines Logo
8:45 am - 11:15 am
ORD
-
SBA
4h 30mnonstop
$279United Airlines
Sat, Mar 7 - Sat, Mar 14
United Airlines Logo
1:02 pm - 11:52 pm
SBA
-
ORD
8h 50m
1 stop
United Airlines Logo
7:40 pm - 12:39 am
ORD
-
SBA
6h 59m
1 stop
$289United Airlines
Wed, Jul 29 - Tue, Aug 4
Southwest Logo
2:05 pm - 11:45 pm
SBA
-
STL
7h 40m
1 stop
Southwest Logo
2:45 pm - 9:20 pm
STL
-
SBA
8h 35m
2 stops
$452Southwest
Wed, Jul 29 - Tue, Aug 4
Southwest Logo
6:15 am - 3:45 pm
SBA
-
STL
7h 30m
2 stops
Southwest Logo
6:30 am - 12:55 pm
STL
-
SBA
8h 25m
2 stops
$457Southwest
Wed, Jul 29 - Mon, Aug 3
American Airlines Logo
7:24 pm - 8:50 am
SBA
-
STL
11h 26m
2 stops
American Airlines Logo
9:40 am - 6:41 pm
STL
-
SBA
11h 01m
2 stops
$458American Airlines
Booking Insights

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

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

What is the cheapest Santa Barbara to Illinois flight route?

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

The cheapest ticket to Illinois from Santa Barbara found in the last 72 hours was to Chicago, at $228 round-trip. The most popular route is from Santa Barbara (SBA) to Chicago O'Hare Intl Airport (ORD), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was $228.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Santa Barbara to Illinois?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara to Illinois is June, when tickets cost $274 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are November and October, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $555 and $542 respectively.

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

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

Your flight ticket price will generally be cheaper if you fly to Illinois on a Friday and more expensive on a Tuesday. On your return trip to Santa Barbara, you should consider flying back on a Sunday, and avoid Fridays for better deals.

Good to know

Low seasonJune
Cheapest flight$119
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 19% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 6% increase in price.
Flight from Santa Barbara to Chicago

FAQs - booking Illinois flights

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

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara 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 morning, when round-trip flights cost $424 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 $424.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Illinois

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Santa Barbara to the following destinations at these prices or less: Chicago $174 one-way - $324 round-trip

Reviews of the top 4 airlines serving from Santa Barbara to Illinois

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara 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 4267 reviews
7.5Entertainment
7.0Food
8.0Comfort
8.1Boarding
8.6Crew
Airline reviews

All good except once again bags took an hour at Midway Airport Happens all the time. Ridiculous

10.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Jan 2026
PHX - MDW
Read more Southwest reviews

All good except once again bags took an hour at Midway Airport Happens all the time. Ridiculous

Great flight but super high price. Glad it was a business trip and not personal

The seats were comfortable, and the boarding process was pretty smooth.

3 hour delay. Had to change plans and was still delayed.

We got exit row seats both flights. Everything was running on time

The boarding and seat assignment system no longer works for me, but I know it is being replaced. Otherwise, I am good with the overall experience.

The lead steward kept singing about "San Francisco" and hotel California---more annoying than humorous....needs work. Flight was smooth and on time.

San Diego airport is brand new, spacious, airy and very smooth checkin at SW baggage drop.

It was rough. The staff was unprofessional, the choice of on board drinks terrible, it was cramped in space at every airport, they always ran out of overhead bin space so they pressured people to check bags for free or we couldn’t leave on the plane— so I did check my bag to help, and they nearly lost my bag. My bag did not arrive on the luggage belt, another man on my flight and I had to waste our time going to the baggage office to search for our bags. I would only fly southwest again if it was my last choice. Also, my flights were consistently delayed over and over again— at one point they straight up told us we were waiting for the pilot to arrive.

Crew could have been friendlier, maybe I'm spoiled by SW crews. In flight wifi was good. Would be nice to have more food offerings on a 4 plus hour flight

Delta One is extraordinary. I fly business when somebody hires me. I just wonder why there is such a chasm between business class and the insanely inhumane and nonsensical coach. The seats are not large enough to fit even my tiny wife. We fly 10% of what we did because we don’t want to pay 5-10 k but for $400 it’s unbearable. It seems like the accountants took over and made stupid decisions. Screw in 20 extra seats and make it so unbearable that people fly 90% less. Just put the damn price up and put some proper chairs in. But business, yay.

Very large passenger too space from my own seat. Arm board couldn’t be lowered because of his size. It wads very uncomfortable trip, as the flight was full couldn’t move anywhere having back pain because of the position in which I was the entire flight.

Delta’s staff is unmatched. From the gate agents, to the pilots, to the flight attendants… all top of the industry.

The flight was delayed for about 2 hrs. Other than it, it was good.

I am extremely disappointed that delta internal pilot manuals now refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “gulf of America”. You can bow down to the Orange turd on your own. I will never fly delta again

No lunch on a x-country flight scheduled for 10:50 am departure, arrived 5+ hrs later. That requires a black box label before you pay for the tickets. Worst, when I checked in online, it's specifically said that lunch was served on his flight for economy Plus passengers.

Our flight from SFO to MSP was right on time on 11/15/2025. No delays. As we approached MSP at about 8 pm, we circled in the air until 8:40 pm so I don't call that efficient for MSP. I think the captain should announce the delay and why. (as if we all don't know that we are just circling around the area, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down.) Thank you. Marilyn Fischer

Staff were friendly and happy. Delta could make sure passengers that don't have the app know of changes. Without Kayak I would not have known about the change of gate or the delay. Kayak was faster to notify me.

The flight used a B767 with a very old interior from before 2014. The entertainment system did not work at all during the flight despite attempts to reset the system. It was like they flew this route just to be competitive.

Delayed flight (1hour) plus a long layover after an overnight flight with no backup plane available.

Seated dude next to me even though lots of empty rows. But main thing was we sat on the tarmac after landing for 30 minutes because of, in the words of the dude who sat next to me, “operational incompetence”. We got changing directions about where to pick up gate checked bags. Pilot and flight attendant were awesome though.

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.

Perfect flight. Smooth flight. Arrived 20 minutes early at destination. Excellent service.

The flights were on time which was great give. It was holiday travel season and there’d been some weather issues. The only complaint and this is every time with United is the terrible seat design. The head rest is not built for comfort and having my neck bent forward for a cross country trip reminded me while I try not to take United flights as a rule.

Everything was absolutely wonderful from check in to baggage claim. Staff was very professional and sweet. Will definitely recommend United to family and friends.

They did the one thing that really matters - got to Chicago early.

The flight was on time. I generally don’t drink or eat on short flights and the seats were good and the flight attendants were friendly. That’s all I expect

It was nice to have gotten up upgraded to first class with a meal on a three hour flight

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

Door to door, the crew and staff were amazing. It was a stressful travel day with delays, but they were focused on customers and doing what they could to get us to our destinations.

Pilot navigated severe weather/snow storm with skill. Described his intentions clearly

Little warm on the plane and delayed for an hour

So excited very proud first of all I wanna thank kayak all updates very professional and fast alart And amazing cabin crew so nice to me they deserve big salute

The boarding process needs to be fixed. The zone don't work, especially when there is hardly anyone in zones 3, 4,and 5, leaving the majority of the passengers backed up in the aisle, especially because passengers seated near the front are blocking passengers who are seated in the rear of the plane. It would also help if the size of carry on bags was more strictly enforced.

Awful. They won’t help me with anything. I booked on American but they abdicated to Iberia. The ticket was overpriced. Everything negative

I enjoyed the extra leg room compared to other airlines. The first stewards made my daughter’s birthday special by giving her an extra snack. Then the last one coming home from Chicago to Appleton made our night really enjoyable Thanks for making our trip enjoyable

The flight was smooth, the pilot kept us informed about delays and we arrived more of less on time

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.

Everything you need to know for your flight from Santa Barbara to Illinois

Information on your arrival and departure airports