Chicago to Sacramento flight

Flights from Chicago to Sacramento start at €282.16 and take 7h 18m at their fastest.

ChicagoChicagoSacramentoSacramento
A beautiful twilight aerial view of Sacramento's urban skyline with historic Old Sacramento in foreground.

The Flights from Chicago to Sacramento starts at €282.16 and takes 7h 18m door to door, run by 2 operators over 2,964 km, with around 12 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 45 days before departure.

Checked September 12, 2026Priced for September 28, 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 7h 18mDoor to door
  • 4h 8mMoving
  • €282.16From
  • 729.1 kgCO2
Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on September 28, 2026

Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.

Cheapest€236.73
  1. American Airlines AA270607:303h 58m11:28Chicago ORDReno RNO
  2. Amtrak San Joaquins AS152912:212h 54m15:154th Street StationSacramento Greyhound Terminal

Changes at Reno, with 53 minutes between services and a walk of about 14 minutes.

Door to door 9h 42mCO2 691.7 kgChanges 1Fixed, no changes

Fastest€281.57
  1. United Airlines UA719010:064h 8m14:14Chicago MDWSacramento SMF

Door to door 7h 18mCO2 729.1 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes

Carriers

Airlines

Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFrom
United Airlines€237.32
Southwest Airlines€242.63

The trip ends at Sacramento Valley Station. Everything past the gates belongs to somebody else, the rooms included.

A hotel room

Where to stay in Sacramento

Hotels and apartments near downtown, most of them with free cancellation, on a map that shows what is walkable.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Chicago to Sacramento

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €273.9090 days
  2. €191.8960 days
  3. €185.4045 days
  4. €189.5330 days
  5. €273.3121 days
  6. €398.9814 days
  7. €454.447 days
  8. €438.513 days
  9. €601.351 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €185.40.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 224 percent. The most expensive point is €601.35, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 45 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €340.57Sun
  2. €282.16Mon
  3. €286.88Tue
  4. €298.09Wed
  5. €370.66Thu
  6. €347.65Fri
  7. €398.98Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.

Chicago

Air
  • ORD
  • MDW

Sacramento

Air
  • SMF
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

Direct or connecting
67% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 33% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 2,964 km against 2,878 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis. The gap between arriving and leaving is 53 minutes, of which about 14 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 18 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Chicago at 06:47 and the last at 18:34, across 12 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.

Questions about Chicago to Sacramento

The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento take?

The Flight from Chicago to Sacramento takes 7h 18m door to door, of which 4h 8m is spent moving. The route runs 2,964 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.

How much does the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento cost?

The Flight from Chicago to Sacramento starts at €282.16 for one passenger, checked on September 12, 2026. A typical fare is €272.43. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.

Who runs the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento?

2 operators run the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento: United Airlines, Southwest Airlines. Between them they file around 12 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.

Which terminal does the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento use?

The Flight from Chicago to Sacramento leaves from Chicago MDW and arrives at Sacramento SMF. Allow about 3h 10m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.

When should I book the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento?

Fares for the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €185.40. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 224 percent, measured on September 12, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Flight from Chicago to Sacramento produce?

The Flight from Chicago to Sacramento produces about 729.1 kg of CO2 per passenger over 2964 km, which works out at roughly 246 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.

Where these numbers come from

Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.

Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Chicago to Sacramento on September 12, 2026: 2964 km of route against 2878 km in a straight line, 12 services a day, 2 operators, a cheapest fare of €282.16, and 7h 18m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

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