AVOID THE STRAIN. The unpleasantness that is Chicago O'Hare (Midway Airport, although listed in the same class, merits no other discussion) leads a Chicago Tribune reporter to consider other options.

Three days a week, things get hectic at Rockford's airport. A whopping three commercial passenger flights depart. But those flights go to Las Vegas, Denver and one of two Florida cities—popular enough destinations to keep the gates busy at Chicago Rockford International—yes, international—Airport. Or as busy as one baggage carousel, two escalators and one ATM can get. Just 70 miles from O'Hare International, Rockford's airport has seen its fortunes rise during the last five years by trying to be everything its hulking big brother is not. Parking, mere feet from the terminal, is free. Hot dogs cost $1. And the long lines, gruff attitudes and O'Hare's terminally stale smell? None of it.

We're not quite in the "Major Strasser's been shot! Round up the usual suspects" mode but if you're not off to a tourist destination or holding a transit visa for Lisbon, you might want to consider other options.

Reasonable flights also can be found at South Bend Regional Airport, which is accessible from downtown Chicago by the South Shore railroad, but rates aren't so cheap as to make the trek worthwhile for anyone west of, say, Gary.

I don't follow the "rates aren't so cheap" argument? Train fare? Is the author treating driving time (and the wear and tear on car and driver) as a freebie? The South Bend airport is pleasant enough, and management respects the tradition that an observation deck isn't de facto for terrorist intelligence-gathering. But whether a cash-strapped Delta operating out of a congested Atlanta will continue to allocate expensive fuel and scarce landing slots to puddle-jumpers to Studebaker country remains to be seen. That brings the reporter to the case for Milwaukee, which regular readers already know.

Similar to Midway in size and feel, Mitchell offers a manageable experience, with one main terminal—clean, carpeted and comfortable—that has three concourses, inexplicably named C, D and E (the absence of A and B is an old mystery but probably rooted in an expansion that never happened, airport officials say).

The terminal houses several impressive shopping opportunities, which, depending on your taste, may or may not include the $30 foam cheese wedge hats favored by Green Bay Packers fans. There is a Brooks Brothers for the business crowd, a PGA shop for the polo shirt crowd and a Harley-Davidson store for the wings and/or flames crowd.

Best is Renaissance Book Shop, a part of the airport landscape for nearly 30 years. With stained wood floors and shelves, it looks like a real book store, not an airport gift shop and certainly not one of those soulless chains.

Look around and you'll find all sorts of unlikely airport bounty: a $900 set of complete O. Henry works, a $200 first edition of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and, for $60, a rare hard-bound version of J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories." Don't worry, there is also plenty of the standard romantic and detective trash-fluff.

That last paragraph says more about the reporter than it does about the bookstore, which is splendid. (I have purchased more than one on-train read on mental health excursions to Lake, er, Milwaukee Airport.) The reporter also doesn't quite get the train.

And that is what most makes Milwaukee a viable option to Chicagoans: Amtrak. A train leaving Chicago's Union Station seven times daily (except Sunday) costs $22 each way and will get you almost to the airport's door (if leaving from Glenview, the cost is $20). A short, free shuttle ride finishes the job.

How that leads the reporter to conclude "As for Milwaukee, people who live in Chicago and don't want to drive might need an astounding price difference (at least $150) to bother with the hassle of a train ride" escapes me. Nominal Hiawatha performance is 55 minutes Glenview-Airport, 75 minutes Chicago-Airport, and a trolley service of beverages and bag snacks is available on some trains. The problem, however, is that Midwest has been reducing its services and Northwest is a major carrier out of Milwaukee, meaning changes at Detroit or the Cities. Proper passenger trains on the Michigan Central and Milwaukee Road have the potential to put paid to that service.