United Airlines adds Chicago-Thunder Bay flight

Visitors wishing to fly to Northwestern Ontario now have a new option. United Airlines started a direct Chicago-Thunder Bay, Ontario, flight on Feb. 14.
Using a 50-passenger Canadair jet, United departs Chicago at 6 p.m. and lands at Thunder Bay at 8:40 p.m. There is a time change involved here. The flight is actually just one hour, 40 minutes long.
It departs Thunder Bay at 6 a..m. and lands at Chicago at 6:35 a.m.
Thunder Bay is virtually the same distance from Red Lake as is Winnipeg, the Manitoba city where most of our flying customers land. Both are approximately six hours driving time away.
Rental cars are available at the Thunder Bay airport, just like at Winnipeg.
The night arrival of the United Airlines flight to Thunder Bay will mean travelers will need to stay in a motel the night they arrive, doing all or most of their driving the next day. Many of the U.S. flights to Winnipeg arrive there in early afternoon, allowing the drive to occur in the day and letting them arrive at or near Red Lake motels in the evening.
The early morning departure from Thunder Bay will mean travelers must spend a night in a motel on their way home too in order to catch the 6 a.m. flight.
There are also regular scheduled flights from both Winnipeg and Thunder Bay  to Red Lake via Bearskin Airlines and Wasaya Airlines. These regional carriers use small, turbo-prop aircraft and provide good service but their cost is frequently a negative factor. Expect this last 45-minute flight (the time of the flight from Winnipeg to Red Lake, for example) to cost as much as the rest of the trip, even from distant locations such as Texas. Almost all of our guests who fly directly into Red Lake do it on points. Bearskin is an Aeroplan member.