There are no direct flights from Chicago to Australia or New Zealand. There are several daily direct flights to the U.K. by British Midland, United, and American.
Aer Lingus (888/474-7424. www.aerlingus.com). Air Canada (888/247-2262. www.aircanada.ca). Alaska Airlines (800/426-0333. www.alaskaair.com). American (800/433-7300. www.aa.com). British Airways (800/247-9297. www.britishairways.com). BMI British Midland (800/788-0555. www.flybmi.com). Continental (800/525-0280. www.continental.com). Delta (800/221-1212. www.delta.com). Mexicana (800/531-7921. www.mexicana.com). Northwest (800/225-2525. www.nwa.com). TACA Airlines (888/337-8466. www.taca.com). United (800/241-6522. www.united.com). US Airways (800/428-4322. www.usairways.com).
America Trans Air (ATA) (800/225-2995. www.ata.com). America West (800/235-9292. www.americawest.com). Comair (800/927-0927. www.comair.com). Frontier Airlines (800/432-1359. www.frontierairlines.com). Independence Air (800/359-3594. www.flyi.com). JetBlue (800/538-2583. www.jetblue.com). Southwest Airlines (800/435-9792. www.southwest.com). Spirit Airlines (800/772-7177. www.spiritair.com). USA 3000 (877/872-3000. www.usa3000airlines.com/).
To Chicago: From New York, 2 hours; from San Francisco, 4 hours; from Los Angeles, 4 hours; from Dallas, 2 1/2 hours; from London, 7 hours; from Sydney, 17 hours.