Woman books American Airlines flight to Chicago, gets 2.5-hour bus ride instead: ‘We were driving besides planes’

A traveler from South Bend to New York was unexpectedly transported by motorcoach instead of flying, resulting in humorous confusion.

A woman who thought she had booked an American Airlines flight from South Bend airport in Indiana to New York, with a stopover in Chicago, was shocked when she was made to board a bus at the airport.

A woman found herself travelling on a bus after booking a flight (Representational image)

TikTok user Krista Moats found herself in this funny situation after failing to read the fine print while booking.

Here’s what happened

Moats explained that she booked a work trip to New York from South Bend, Indiana. The South Bend airport is a small one, with no direct flights to New York, so she had to choose her trip with a connection in Chicago.

“I booked a work trip to New York and the airport I fly from is really small so I had to connect in Chicago (other options to connect were Atlanta or Minneapolis- so I picked Chicago that time),” she wrote.

On the day of the flight, she reached South Bend airport, checked in her bags and went through security as any flyer would normally do. But when her boarding announcement came, Moats and her fellow passengers were put on a shuttle bus and driven all the way from South Bend airport to Chicago O'Hare International.

It was a bus journey that took 2.5 hours, according to her TikTok video. “We were driving besides planes taxiing on the runway,” the bemused passenger revealed.

@kristamoats

I booked a work trip to New York and the airport I fly from is really small so I had to connect in Chicago (other options to connect were Atlanta or Minneapolis- so I picked Chicago that time). The day of my flight I checked my bags, went through security, and after my zone was called to board - we all got on a bus and were driven all the way from SBN - ORD. This is a new service previously only available in Philadelphia, so it wasn’t exactly on my radar to look for “bus” while booking. Literally that option didn’t exist previously, so I wasn’t looking out for that. I was booking according to total trip time and wasn’t paying a ton of attention, but I’m also not complaining bc I was happy with the service. This was the first trip on the first day of service, an inaugural trip. I made a post about it because regionally it’s a very cool new offering, and some people were disgusted that I would try to fly from South Bend to Chicago…. Guess I shouldn’t have assumed people knew how that worked but hey! Lesson learned.

♬ original sound - kristamoats

Why the bus ride

Landline is American Airlines’ premium motorcoach (bus) service that acts as a connecting “flight” between certain regional airports and major hubs like Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Philadelphia (PHL). Essentially, instead of taking a short connecting flight, the passenger travels by a high-end motorcoach that operates like part of the airline itinerary.

The American Airlines website pitches the bus service as a “new and convenient way to travel”.

“This is a new service previously only available in Philadelphia, so it wasn’t exactly on my radar to look for ‘bus’ while booking. Literally that option didn’t exist previously, so I wasn’t looking out for that,” Moats explained.

While some criticised her for booking a flight from South Bend to Chicago, which is only a short distance, others saw the humour in the situation.

“I still do not understand what happened. You bought a flight, then at the airport they loaded you onto a bus and drove you to Chicago instead of flying you? All these words you used and still don’t know what happened,” wrote one commenter.

“No because if I paid airline prices and had to go through security at an AIRPORT I expect to be getting on a plane. If I wanted to take a bus I’d go with a greyhound and avoid all of that hassle,” another said.

“I was just thinking how wasteful a plane ride from Southbend to Chicago is,” a viewer added.