Wendwick: Weekend Flights That Fit Your Work Week

From Chicago O’Hare, 100 places fit a five-day work week in the airlines’ winter timetable: leave after 5 pm on Friday, fly four hours or less each way and be home by midnight on Sunday. Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington Dulles each give you 49 hours there. Type your own airport above to see yours.

How to use it

Type your airport: a city, the airport’s name or its three-letter code. Pick the weekend, the time you can leave on Friday, when you have to be home on Sunday, whether one change of planes is fine, and the most you want to fly each way; tick red-eyes if a night flight is fine. The list shows every place you can reach, how many hours you get there, the flight out and the flight home that give you the most time, and how many other flights fit. Each trip opens a live search on Google Flights, KAYAK or Skyscanner for that weekend: we show no fares, because a price we did not read would be a guess. The link under the answer keeps your choices, and this device remembers your airport for our other flight tools.

Where the flights come from

From the US Department of Transportation’s record of every flight the large US airlines flew (the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, public domain), one month of each of the airlines’ two timetables: August 2026 for summer and January 2026 for winter. A flight counts when it was on the timetable on at least half of that month’s Fridays (leaving from noon) or Sundays (leaving from 8 am), even on a day it was cancelled. The summer timetable answers a weekend from the last Sunday of March to the last Saturday of October, the winter one the rest: the airlines’ own seasons.

A change of planes is on one airline (one ticket), with 45 minutes to 4 hours to change, and never more than twice the straight-line miles. A place within 150 miles of home is left out: that is a drive, and the Weekend Getaway Finder plans it. Without red-eyes every flight lands the day it leaves; with them, the flight out may land by 9 am Saturday and the flight home by 7 am Monday. Times are each airport’s own clock, and the flying time counts the time zones. Not in it: foreign airlines, flights abroad, and Spirit, which stopped flying on 2 May 2026. Timetables change, so check the flight in the live search before you book.

Weekend trips from the busiest US airports

Leaving after 5 pm on Friday, home by midnight on Sunday, four hours or less each way, one change at most: the places that fit in the winter and summer timetables, and the farthest of them in winter.

The coasts get fewer: four hours from Los Angeles or Boston does not cross the country, so the long-haul places need red-eyes or a longer flight, both one tick away.

Worked examples

Chicago O’Hare, the usual week. 100 places fit. Charlotte gives you 49 hours: American’s 5:32 pm non-stop lands at 8:34 pm, and the 10:18 pm flight home lands at 11:27 pm on Sunday. Leave after 8 pm instead and 51 places fit; after 9 pm, 28.

New York LaGuardia, out after 6 pm, non-stop only, three hours or less. 40 places fit, led by Washington Dulles (49 hours there), Washington Reagan, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta (48 hours each).

Los Angeles with red-eyes. Four hours from LAX reaches 31 places; tick red-eyes and allow any length and 60 fit. Honolulu gives you 49 hours: United’s 5:10 pm flight lands at 9:08 pm, and Sunday’s 10:50 pm red-eye lands at 6:17 am on Monday, in time for work.

Madison, a small airport. 18 places fit, 14 of them through a change on one airline, almost all in Chicago O’Hare. Non-stop only, four are left: Minneapolis, Atlanta, Washington and Phoenix.

Common mistakes

• Booking the last flight home. If it is cancelled there is no later one before Monday. Each trip says how many flights home fit your week: two or three is a safety net, one is a risk.
• Forgetting the clock. Flying east costs hours: Chicago to New York leaves at 5:05 pm and lands at 8:15 pm after 2 hours 10 minutes in the air. The times here are each airport’s own clock.
• Two tickets for one change. A change on separate tickets is not protected when the first flight runs late, which is why this tool joins only flights of one airline.
• Reading it as a fare search. It shows which flights fit your week. The prices are live on the search sites, and they move every day.
• Checking a bag. On a two-night trip a carry-on is enough, and it saves the wait at the carousel on Friday night.

Before you go

Find the fare with finding cheap flights and the best time to book flights, pack a 3-day weekend in one bag, and if you take the overnight home, read red-eye flights and how to arrive functional. For ideas, see cheap weekend getaways in the USA and the best weekend getaways in the USA.

Plan the trip with the rest of our tools: When to Leave for the Airport times your Friday, the Flight On-Time Record says how often your flight runs late, the Layover Time Checker judges a change, the Flight Time Calculator gives the hours to anywhere, and the Halfway Point Calculator finds where to meet a friend who lives far away.