Find Cheap Flights from Chicago to Des Moines (CHI to DSM)
Fares Starting at $177

Cheap Flights from Chicago to Des Moines (CHI to DSM)

Chicago to Des Moines takes a little over an hour in the air, and most people on the flight are going to work. Compare cheap flights from Chicago to Des Moines on CheapOair, search O'Hare and Midway together, and book with the shape of the week in mind, because this corridor runs on a business rhythm that makes Tuesday and Wednesday noticeably cheaper than Monday morning or Thursday evening.

Chicago to Des Moines Flight Information

• Distance: roughly 330 miles west
• Nonstop flight time: about 1 hour 10 minutes where nonstop service operates; some itineraries connect
• Departure airports: Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and Chicago Midway (MDW), both under the CHI city code
• Arrival airport: Des Moines International (DSM), about 4 miles southwest of downtown Des Moines
• Alternative: the drive is about 5 hours 30 minutes on I-88 and I-80, longer in Chicago traffic
• Carriers: network and low-fare airlines serve the corridor, frequently with regional aircraft
• Time zone: none. Both cities run on Central Time

Two Financial Centres, One Business Corridor

The reason this short route carries so much traffic is not tourism. Des Moines is one of the largest insurance and financial services centres in the United States, with a concentration of insurance, asset management and pensions employment that is disproportionate to the city's size, and Chicago is the Midwest's financial capital. The corridor between them is a working one.

That shapes the whole booking in ways worth knowing. The week has a pronounced shape. Monday mornings and Thursday evenings are the business peaks and price accordingly, while Tuesday and Wednesday sit noticeably softer. Same-day returns are common, with the first departure out and the last one back, and those two flights are the first to fill. Fares move with the corporate calendar, so quarter ends and the conference season tighten availability more than any holiday does. And the shoulder flights are the value, because a mid-morning departure and a mid-afternoon return cost less than the bookends and still give you a full working day at the far end. If you have any flexibility, that is where to aim. Compare cheap flights from Chicago across a full week rather than a single day.

Fly or Drive? The 330-Mile Question

On a route this length the question is genuine, so here is the honest comparison. The flight is about an hour and ten minutes in the air, which with ninety minutes at O'Hare, the journey to the airport and the short drive from DSM into downtown comes to roughly three and a half to four hours door to door. The drive is about five and a half hours on I-88 and I-80, more if you leave Chicago at the wrong time of day.

So the flight wins on time, by around two hours each way, which over a round trip is most of a working day. The drive wins when you need a car at the far end for several days, when you are travelling with colleagues and the cost divides, when you are carrying equipment or materials, or in winter when a drive is more predictable than regional aviation in a snowstorm. For a one-day business trip the flight is clearly right. For a three-day trip with site visits across central Iowa, the car probably is. And if you fly, price the rental car in, because Des Moines is a driving city and the total is what matters.

Two Things That Will Catch You Out

Two periods lift demand in Des Moines far beyond what a visitor would predict, and both are easy to book straight into by accident.

• The Iowa State Fair, in August: This is one of the largest state fairs in the country, it runs for about eleven days, and it draws over a million visitors to a metropolitan area of around 700,000 people. Hotel rates across greater Des Moines rise sharply, availability thins weeks ahead, and the flights follow. If you are going for the fair, book early and expect to pay for it. If you are going for a meeting, check the dates and move your trip if you can, because the same hotel room costs a multiple of its normal rate that fortnight.
• The political cycle: Iowa's position in the presidential nominating calendar means that in the year before a presidential election, and especially in the final months before the caucus, Des Moines fills with campaign staff, press and political organisations. Hotel availability in central Des Moines tightens in a way that has nothing to do with the seasons and that no travel page will warn you about. If you are booking into that window, book considerably earlier than you otherwise would.

O'Hare or Midway? Which Chicago Airport to Leave From

The CHI code covers both and they rarely price alike on this corridor. O'Hare (ORD) carries more frequency and is the better bet if your Des Moines trip is one leg of something longer, reached by the Blue Line from the Loop in 40 to 45 minutes around the clock. Midway (MDW) is smaller and considerably faster to move through once inside, reached by the Orange Line in about 25 minutes from the Loop, and often carries competitive low-fare service.

For a business traveller specifically: Midway is usually the better airport for a same-day return, because the walk from kerb to gate is short and the arrival back is quick, which on a one-day trip is worth real time. O'Hare is better if the schedule you need only exists there, which on this corridor is often the case for the earliest departure. And take the train on an early start, since both airports charge properly for parking and a day of it adds up. Widen the search from Illinois if another departure point suits you.

How to Find Cheap Flights from Chicago to Des Moines

• Avoid the bookends. The first departure out and the last one back are the business peaks and price highest. A mid-morning out and mid-afternoon back still gives you a working day.
• Travel Tuesday or Wednesday where the trip allows, as both sit below Monday and Thursday on this corridor.
• Search O'Hare and Midway together under the CHI code.
• Check the Iowa State Fair dates before booking any August trip, and the political calendar in a pre-election year.
• Price the rental car with the flight, since Des Moines is a driving city and the airfare alone is not the real comparison.
• Take the early flight in winter, which has no inbound delay to inherit, and leave yourself options if it goes wrong.

When to Book Chicago to Des Moines Flights

For airline tickets to Des Moines, aim for roughly 3 to 4 weeks before departure, and earlier for the peaks. The periods that matter here are unusual: the Iowa State Fair in August, which is the single tightest fortnight of the year across flights and hotels together; the political cycle in the run-up to a presidential caucus; quarter ends and the conference season, which tighten midweek business availability; and the December holidays, which affect this route as they do any other. Drake University and the central Iowa colleges add movement around move-in, family weekends and May graduation. Return flights to Des Moines and back midweek beat the Monday and Thursday business shape. Compare Round Trip Flights against two one-ways, which on a business corridor with heavy same-day traffic does not always break the way you expect.

Airlines on the Chicago (CHI) to Des Moines (DSM) Route

Network and low-fare carriers both serve this corridor, frequently with regional aircraft, and the timetable is built around the business day: early departures out, late departures back, and a thinner middle. That shape is the single most useful thing to understand about the schedule, because it explains both the pricing and where the value sits.

Overnight red eye flights have no application on a corridor this short, though they matter if your journey continues west from Chicago to the Pacific coast. Filter Non Stop Flights if you would rather not connect, which on a seventy-minute flight is worth paying a little for, since a connection can quadruple the journey.

Des Moines International and Getting Around

Des Moines International (DSM) sits about four miles southwest of downtown, which is one of the shortest airport-to-city runs of any American city, a ten-minute drive outside peak hours. It is a small, straightforward airport, quick to get through in both directions, and that convenience is a real part of why the one-day business trip works on this corridor at all.

Downtown Des Moines has one genuine quirk worth knowing: the skywalk system, a network of enclosed elevated walkways connecting much of the central business district, hotels, car parks and the convention centre. In January it is the difference between a pleasant walk to a meeting and a miserable one, so check whether your hotel connects to it. Beyond downtown, Des Moines is a driving city with limited transit, so des moines car rentals make sense for anything outside the centre, including the western suburbs where much of the corporate campus development sits.

Des Moines Is Better Than Its Reputation

Des Moines has spent two decades quietly becoming a good small city and the national reputation has not caught up, which works in a visitor's favour. The downtown has been rebuilt around a walkable core with the sculpture park at its centre, the East Village has turned from warehouses into the best few blocks in the state for independent shops and restaurants, and the restaurant scene now supports genuinely ambitious kitchens rather than only chains. Housing and food cost a fraction of Chicago prices, which is why the city keeps appearing on lists of places people move to. For a visitor on a one-night business trip, the practical version is this: you can walk from a downtown hotel to a very good dinner, and you will be surprised by it.

Top Things to See and Do in Des Moines

Start at the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, four and a half acres of downtown given over to major contemporary sculpture, free and open all hours, with work by Bourgeois, Kapoor, Plensa and others. It is the single best thing in the city and takes forty minutes. The Des Moines Art Center out in Greenwood Park is free as well and holds a serious collection in buildings by Saarinen, Pei and Meier.

The Iowa State Capitol has a genuine gold dome and is open to walk through, with the best view back over the city from the hill. The Downtown Farmers Market on Saturday mornings from May to October is one of the largest in the Midwest and closes several blocks. The East Village, just east of the river under the Capitol, is where to eat, drink and browse. For families, the Blank Park Zoo and the Science Center of Iowa both work, and the High Trestle Trail north of the city crosses a half-mile former railway bridge on a lit art installation, which is worth the drive and the bicycle hire. Compare cheap hotels in Des Moines downtown and on the skywalk for a winter business trip, or in the East Village for the walkable version.

Best Time to Visit Des Moines

May, June, September and early October are the best months: warm, green, the farmers market running and the city outdoors. July and August get hot and humid, and August brings the State Fair, which is either the reason to come or the fortnight to avoid depending on your purpose. Winter is cold and flat, with wind across open country and the skywalk earning its keep, though it is the value season and a business trip is unaffected. Spring is wet and unpredictable until May. Price Des Moines vacation packages against separate bookings, browse all flights to Des Moines across your dates, or look at flights to Iowa if Cedar Rapids suits your trip better.

Ways to Plan and Book with CheapOair

ClubMiles rewards: earn points on every booking toward the next trip, which adds up quickly on a corridor people fly repeatedly.

Book Now Pay Later: split the cost into smaller payments with book now pay later financing.

Wider search: compare Domestic Flights, or check last minute flights when a meeting is confirmed late.

Ready to book? Aim for the shoulder flights rather than the bookends, travel Tuesday or Wednesday where you can, check the State Fair dates before booking anything in August, price the rental car in, and take Midway if you are turning round the same day. Book cheap flights from Chicago to Des Moines on CheapOair, and give yourself an hour in the sculpture park before the flight home.