My number one pointer would be to book on an airline that has a later flight to Rapid City (if one of your options does). Thus, if you are late getting to your connecting airport and miss your flight to Rapid City you should still be able to get to Rapid City on the later flight. I myself would not book anything that is less than 1 hour between flights.

O'hare has gotten better, but still has quite a few flights that are not on-time. It is my home airport, so I have never connected there. I do know many business traveler that avoid connect via O'Hare. I am not sure when their next new runway is scheduled to open, and this should help O'Hare improve it's on-time performance. At O'Hare United uses Terminal 1 and 2, so a connection on them could be a long haul. American at O'Hare is not as bad.

Minneapolis is surprisingly big, as Delta has a ton of gates that can be quite far apart.

I have not been in and out of Denver for a long time, so I can not comment on Denver.

I currently fly every week on a small regional jet, and they are fine.

I like going thru Denver to the smaller airports. MSP is a nightmare. You can end up arriving on one side of the terminal and leaving on the other. They have no rapid rail or tram system and sometimes you literally have to run to catch your flight. We have flown thru MSP when flying out of another small airport in the area- Billings.

the planes to rapid city from denver are turbo props. not jets. does that mean they are very old or ??

any comments???

whether we go thru chicago or denver how much connection time should we allow.? assuming over an hour - it is possible. just gives us less choices.

Like we've all said, allow at least an hour regardless of where you are connecting. As for the prop planes, it's tough to say how old they would be. I'm sure they are inspected regularly, regardless of age. Rapid City is a small airport, and the connecting flights in there are typically served by small planes. The main thing I never liked about the props was the noise. However, I would not worry to fly on them again if it was the only way of getting there. You might be able to find a Canadair plane. Although still small, they are nicer than the props and definitely quieter.

I've flown out of all three many times. I would always choose Denver, even though you will fly past Rapid City and come back. An hour in between in any of those can work. I've done them in less. It just depnds on how far gates are, if you land on time, etc. Those prop planes are used around her all the time. yes, they are a little loud and you can keep your camera equipment with you even if they ask you to check your bag. Enjoy your trip!

Peachbelle - I agree. We have run through Minneapolis several times. Because of the difference in size of the planes, the gates aren't close together.

They are Q400 planes, you can hardly tell the difference.

If you don't like small planes, you can catch a flight from Chicago to Sioux Falls on a jet. You could then rent a car and drive the rest of the way, which would be about five hours. It's easy interstate driving with little traffic, although the terrain is isolated once you cross the Missouri.