Favorite Chicagoland Airport? (Metropolis, Hammond: home, restaurants, cost)

[SkylarkPhotoBooth]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Mitchell is only 40 min from Gurnee and only 30 min from the state line.

I don't know or care where Gurnee is, and the Wisconsin state line is still pretty damned far from the North Side of Chicago. The Milwaukee airport is 85 miles from the Loop (through endless stand-still suburban hell traffic jams, at that) and 30 or 40 miles from the edge of "Chicagoland." That's what matters here. Gary, by comparison, is 30 miles from the Loop, actually *in* Chicagoland, and about 10-12 miles from the edge of the actual city of Chicago. If only they had flights.

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I never heard of anyone in Chicago or the burbs going to Indiana to fly somewhere.

Many of the Chicago burbs are actually in Indiana, you know. For people on the South Side, in the South (Illinois side) burbs or NW Indiana, South Bend is closer than Milwaukee, and there's a hell of a lot less traffic to deal with in that direction, too.

When flying domestically from Pilsen I use the following order of priority when flight costs are similar: 1) Midway, 2) O'Hare, 3) South Bend, and 4) Milwaukee. I've fortunately never had to resort to Milwaukee, and it has never even occurred to me to look at Rockford. Gross. Why?

Unfortunately South Bend isn't normally cost-effective compared to Southwest at Midway or United at O'Hare, but when it is it's a damned beautiful thing-- Little to no traffic, you can park right by the airport for dirt cheap, and everything is close and easy. It's amazing. I like Midway for similar reasons, but even with it you still have to fight some significant traffic sometimes.

[Steve&Adam]

Living in Gary, South Bend might seem a good alternative for me; its probably not much further than Midway, and its a straight shot on the Indiana Toll Road. But I'm unlikely to ever fly out of there; most destinations require a change of planes at various hubs. Might be perfect though if I was flying to Atlanta or Detroit... But I'm not a fan of regional jets unless its a screaming good deal. No thanks.

I can't speak for the OP but I'm assuming Milwaukee and Rockford are on the poll mainly because they advertise in this area. Well, mainly MKE. I haven't heard a commercial for Rockford for awhile. But the same issue applies: why would I want to fly out of Milwaukee to, say, California if I have to change planes enroute when I can do a nonstop out of ORD or MDW? It would be interesting to see some real numbers but I suspect ORD draws more passengers from the stateline area and Kenosha County than MKE does. Particularly for international destinations.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by Steve&Adam

Living in Gary, South Bend might seem a good alternative for me; its probably not much further than Midway, and its a straight shot on the Indiana Toll Road. But I'm unlikely to ever fly out of there; most destinations require a change of planes at various hubs. Might be perfect though if I was flying to Atlanta or Detroit... But I'm not a fan of regional jets unless its a screaming good deal. No thanks.

I can't speak for the OP but I'm assuming Milwaukee and Rockford are on the poll mainly because they advertise in this area. Well, mainly MKE. I haven't heard a commercial for Rockford for awhile. But the same issue applies: why would I want to fly out of Milwaukee to, say, California if I have to change planes enroute when I can do a nonstop out of ORD or MDW? It would be interesting to see some real numbers but I suspect ORD draws more passengers from the stateline area and Kenosha County than MKE does. Particularly for international destinations.

I've only flown to Milwaukee once, and it was because my flight to O'Hare was cancelled due to weather, and I had another flight out of O'Hare the following morning that I couldn't miss. Someone was able to drive up to MKE to pick me up. It's good in a desperate situation like that, but probably not an airport people in the Chicago area consider unless they live in Lake County.

[Steve&Adam]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

I've only flown to Milwaukee once, and it was because my flight to O'Hare was cancelled due to weather, and I had another flight out of O'Hare the following morning that I couldn't miss. Someone was able to drive up to MKE to pick me up. It's good in a desperate situation like that, but probably not an airport people in the Chicago area consider unless they live in Lake County.

Years ago, like probably 15-20 years ago, my parents had a flight out of Milwaukee. I don't remember where they were going, but it must have been the deal of the century to make them even consider it. Must've been a weekday because I wasn't around to drive them up there, and its hard to imagine one of the established airport limo services agreeing to a NW Indiana-Milwaukee run, but somehow they made it all the way up there. The irony being - their plane made a stop at O'Hare to pick up additional passengers! Yes, it was cheaper to fly from the plane's originating airport than it was to board at O'Hare, and my parents loved to spend a dollar to save forty cents elsewhere. I am sure it wasn't cheap to get from Hammond (where they lived at the time) up to Milwaukee.

For their return trip, they were able to exit the plane at O'Hare rather than stay on for the final leg to MKE.

[Milwaukee City]

When I fly out of Milwaukee I always see taxicabs from Chicago dropping people off, sometimes it's cabs from the burbs but a lot of them from the city. Personally I cannot fathom how much it cost to take a cab up here. Besides we have airport flyers up here that run to Ohare-midway and back to Mitchell every 2 hours.

[Steve&Adam]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

When I fly out of Milwaukee I always see taxicabs from Chicago dropping people off, sometimes it's cabs from the burbs but a lot of them from the city. Personally I cannot fathom how much it cost to take a cab up here.

What are they gaining by flying out of MKE? More destinations to small towns in northern Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula that aren't obtainable from O'Hare? A taxi from Chicago would eat up any price advantages, if any. Maybe its more people like my elderly parents (who I mentioned in a post above) who added several hours and many dollars to their trip to fly out of Milwaukee just to save a few bucks on the ticket price.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by Steve&Adam

What are they gaining by flying out of MKE? More destinations to small towns in northern Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula that aren't obtainable from O'Hare? A taxi from Chicago would eat up any price advantages, if any. Maybe its more people like my elderly parents (who I mentioned in a post above) who added several hours and many dollars to their trip to fly out of Milwaukee just to save a few bucks on the ticket price.

...and from what I have seen recently on fair prices, ORD is always cheaper than Milwaukee and rarely is MDW. ORD is usually cheaper by a $100 per ticket and I still usually fly out of Milwaukee just because it's easier. However Milwaukee is basically non-existent international flights. Milwaukee international non-stops are only: Montego Bay, Punta Cana, Cancun, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta and that's it.

[frimpter928]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I don't know or care where Gurnee is, and the Wisconsin state line is still pretty damned far from the North Side of Chicago. The Milwaukee airport is 85 miles from the Loop (through endless stand-still suburban hell traffic jams, at that) and 30 or 40 miles from the edge of "Chicagoland." That's what matters here. Gary, by comparison, is 30 miles from the Loop, actually *in* Chicagoland, and about 10-12 miles from the edge of the actual city of Chicago. If only they had flights.



Many of the Chicago burbs are actually in Indiana, you know. For people on the South Side, in the South (Illinois side) burbs or NW Indiana, South Bend is closer than Milwaukee, and there's a hell of a lot less traffic to deal with in that direction, too.

When flying domestically from Pilsen I use the following order of priority when flight costs are similar: 1) Midway, 2) O'Hare, 3) South Bend, and 4) Milwaukee. I've fortunately never had to resort to Milwaukee, and it has never even occurred to me to look at Rockford. Gross. Why?

Unfortunately South Bend isn't normally cost-effective compared to Southwest at Midway or United at O'Hare, but when it is it's a damned beautiful thing-- Little to no traffic, you can park right by the airport for dirt cheap, and everything is close and easy. It's amazing. I like Midway for similar reasons, but even with it you still have to fight some significant traffic sometimes.

I mean technically Chicago borders the state of Indiana.

[Steve&Adam]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

...and from what I have seen recently on fair prices, ORD is always cheaper than Milwaukee and rarely is MDW. ORD is usually cheaper by a $100 per ticket and I still usually fly out of Milwaukee just because it's easier. However Milwaukee is basically non-existent international flights. Milwaukee international non-stops are only: Montego Bay, Punta Cana, Cancun, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta and that's it.

That's what makes it so strange that anyone would take a cab from Chicago to fly out of Milwaukee. Those people must REALLY hate O'Hare!

[brianpmcdonnell17]

One thing that's nice about Chicago airports is the rail access. Most airports, even some major hubs, lack any train connection at all (including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Houston Intercontinental, Detroit, New York Laguardia, Fort Lauderdale, Washington Dulles, San Diego, Honolulu, and Tampa). Meanwhile, both Chicago Midway and O'Hare have direct CTA service while Metra can also be used to access O'Hare via a shuttle bus. South Bend Airport has direct service via the South Shore Line, while Gary Airport is also a stop along the line (although it is just over a mile to the terminal, a shuttle would likely be operated if any significant service were to operate there). Milwaukee Airport is a stop on the Amtrak Hiawatha Service and can be accessed via a shuttle from the station. Rockford is the only one without direct rail access from within two miles to the Loop, although it is too far away to be relevant for most people anyway.