RFD and MKE as alternatives to O'Hare

[mikea]

Just 70 miles from O'Hare International, Rockford's airport has seen its fortunes rise during the last five years by trying to be everything its hulking big brother is not. Parking, mere feet from the terminal, is free. Hot dogs cost $1. And the long lines, gruff attitudes and O'Hare's terminally stale smell? None of it.

"We go out of our way to encourage people to drive up to the curb," said Bob O'Brien, the airport's executive director. "We will fight people for their bags and put them on a free luggage cart."

(Don't worry, Chicagoans. Unlike in the big city, in Rockford, once your bag is wrestled away, you get it back.)

And the most important travel barometer, price, is competitive. Priced six weeks in advance, a mid-August jaunt to St. Petersburg, Fla., cost $229 out of Rockford on Allegiant Air. A similar flight on American Airlines out of O'Hare was $269 (both prices including identical tax and fee totals).

There are, in fact, plenty of reasons to forsake O'Hare or Midway for the regional airports, particularly Rockford and Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-chicago-regional-airports_08aug03,0,4679838.story

I think I can actually get to MKE faster than ORD. I'd make the effort just to keep 10 cents more from goin' to duh mare.

BTW, Today I finally proved my theory that driving into O'Hare to avoid the perpetual Rod R. Blagoevich Memorial tollway bottleneck into the Kennedy works great. I did a flipper on Mannheim and cruised right on by.

 

[ScottM]

Flying GA in RFD and then parking at Emory and walking over the commercial air terminal is easy. Emory will allow tie downs and will move your plane indoors if the WX goes really bad. They do this service for people that do fly in to take commercial flights, pick up or drop off pax. So that is something else to consider.

I still wish the cooler heads in Chicago and Springfield would prevail on the 3rd Chicago airport though.

RFD would be a better choice than building Peotone. The biggest thing would be to build a high speed rail link right down I-90.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I think I can actually get to MKE faster than ORD. I'd make the effort just to keep 10 cents more from goin' to duh mare.

BTW, Today I finally proved my theory that driving into O'Hare to avoid the perpetual Rod R. Blagoevich Memorial tollway bottleneck into the Kennedy works great. I did a flipper on Mannheim and cruised right on by.

And there's an awfully nice airline based at MKE...

...Just don't go there GA.

 

[wsuffa]

And there's an awfully nice airline based at MKE...

for now (unfortunately)... I hope they survive.

...Just don't go there GA.