Meet the new Air Bus

[Hektor]

Kennedy Woodard-Jones checked in for her flight home from a work trip 24 hours in advance earlier this month. Her emailed reminder from American Airlines referenced her “flight to Chicago O’Hare,” for which she had chosen a seat. She went through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint as usual.

 

A bus sat outside, with workers loading bags underneath. She figured the bus would take them to the plane. But the American Airlines-branded motor coach rolled down the tarmac and off airport property.

 

“It wasn’t until we were on the highway that I realized this is my ride to O’Hare,” said Woodard-Jones, 27. “There’s no plane. It took me a second for it to really lock in that this is not a plane ride.” Workers laughed when she asked how they would get to the plane, which she also found odd.

 

She said that when she booked the round-trip flight, the bus of it all was not apparent to her. She even got an email confirmation asking whether they wanted to upgrade to first class.

 

“We’re upgrading to first class on a bus?” she said.

 

Travelers book the bus ride — which gets a flight number — just like they would a flight. American’s website notes that the route is “operated by The Landline Company as American Eagle” and “includes travel on luxury bus,” and it shows a bus icon during booking. But some travelers, especially those who reserve on third-party booking sites or corporate tools, have said the bus travel portion of their trip was not obvious.

 

The Landline Company, founded in 2018, operates routes via bus for three airlines from small communities to larger hubs that might have once been served with the type of small planes that have fallen out of use.

American said the vast majority of Landline service customers are using it for connecting flights. The buses make Philadelphia connections to and from five smaller airports in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware and, as of October, Chicago O’Hare connections to and from Rockford, Illinois, and South Bend.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2026/03/26/american-airlines-flight-bus-ride/

[Fly]

Honestly, these are great and I hope to see expansion. Going through a TSA checkpoint at a small town is almost like a private security lane. The bus isn't leaving without you, since everyone standing in the TSA line is there for the obvious reason of getting on the bus. Avoids the hassle of driving to the bigger city, avoids the hassle of long TSA wait times in the hub, cheaper parking, etc etc. 

 

But yes... the "upgrade" to first class on the bus is laughable.