Best Flights for Route 66 International Visitors Page Hdr

Best Flights for Route 66 — Where to Fly In and Out

One of the first practical decisions international visitors face is the flight strategy: where do you fly into, where do you fly out of, and how do you book a ticket that reflects a journey with a different start and end point? The answer for most is straightforward: fly into Chicago, drive to Los Angeles, and fly home from Los Angeles. The ticket structure that makes this work is called an open-jaw ticket.

The Open-Jaw Ticket: Your Most Important Booking Decision

An open-jaw ticket is a return flight where the departure and arrival airports differ — fly from London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare, then home from Los Angeles LAX to London Heathrow. Airlines treat this as a standard return ticket, and open-jaw fares are typically comparable in price to a standard return to the same city.

The alternative — buying a return to Chicago and driving back to Chicago at the end — adds two or three days of driving and 1,000 miles of retracing your steps. An open-jaw ticket lets you end at the Pacific Ocean, exactly as Route 66 is meant to end.

Booking tip: search for open-jaw tickets using Google Flights, Skyscanner, or your airline’s website. Enter outbound to Chicago (ORD or MDW) and return from Los Angeles (LAX). Most booking engines support this.

Chicago: Your Route 66 Starting Point

Route 66 begins at Adams Street and Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. Chicago is served by two airports:

O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

Chicago’s main international hub. Receives direct flights from London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Dublin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris CDG, Tokyo Narita, Seoul, Sydney, and many other international origins.

Midway Airport (MDW)

Chicago’s secondary airport, closer to downtown and cheaper for domestic connections. Limited international traffic. Most international visitors will use O’Hare.

Los Angeles: Your Route 66 Finishing Point

Route 66 ends at the Santa Monica Pier, 15 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) handles direct flights to London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Dublin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Seoul, and dozens of other international destinations.

Alternative Entry and Exit Points for Partial Route Trips

If you’re planning a partial Route 66 trip, these airport pairs work well:

St. Louis Lambert (STL) — growing international hub, good for a Missouri-westward start
Tulsa International (TUL) — connects via US hubs, good for an Oklahoma-focused trip
Albuquerque Sunport (ABQ) — ideal for a western-states focus covering NM, AZ, and CA
Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) — solid option for starting in Arizona and driving to Santa Monica