Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Midwest life is interesting when it comes to travel and honestly we have a lot of choices just not all of them are right next door. For me SBN or South Bend International Airport is my home airport. But I also have a number of other choices that require some extra driving like AZO, GRR, FWA (Google if you don’t know the codes). But for the best prices, many times, I have to consider Chicago.
Most of us Midwesterners have a love/hate relationship with the dual Chicago airports. O’Hare is the farthest away but has lounges etc. Midway is tiny but closer but can be a bit of a pain to get to. I have flown out of both countless times in my life and had great and horrible experiences at both.
Getting to either airport means either a train from SBN or in the past a bus making endless stops or getting a friend to drive you (not so easy and a BIG ask) or renting a car one-way. The last choice is often the one I go with because I can get the car the day before, load it up, and drop it off before my flight inside 24 hours and gives me the most flexibly and control. But I also HATE driving so there is that. Well check out this new choice from American Airlines:
While not new to other markets Landline bus company is brand new to the South Bend area and offers something VERY different from the old “United Limo” of days gone bye. You basically “fly” the bus to O’Hare because you check in like a normal flight, clear security at SBN, and your luggage is checked through just like you were getting on an airplane – but you are on a bus.
The seating, as you can see from the photo above, is 2-1 and large leather seats. Not just that you are going direct from the SBN airport to ORD and do NOT have to re-clear security again – just love this idea.
There are a number of ways to book these bus fly seats. Paying for them can be, shudder, expensive but using points is a good value. First up, if you are booking an AA ticket, the bus can be your first leg and not really cost you anything extra. If you simply want to buy a separate ticket they are currently 7,500 AA points each way per person or 4,500 ATMOS points from Alaska (plus booking fee) or 11,000 AVIOS points via British Air. Even if not flying onward with AA this is still an interesting new option for me and my travels.
I will be testing this service this winter and will be sure to share my thoughts but for now this looks simply amazing and I can not wait to try this fly bus for the first time! – René
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I believe American has been doing this for a few years now from Atlantic City International to Philadelphia. Definitely unique but it works for certain markets.
Taking Landline on Thursday on its second day of travel, it was cheaper to add it to SBN-ORD-PVD, than booking ORD-PVD as a non-stop independent segment!
The most interesting thing about this market is the fact that United Airlines also flies it, its the only market where Landline buses are competing with non-stop flights on another market. United has just upped its frequency from I think it was 5 daily non-stops to 8 daily non-stops as part of its attempt in Chicago to become the dominant carrier at O’Hare.
Thanks for the tip to potentially use Alaska Miles to book Landline as a separate ticket.
Wow, great new alternative!
Love this- great idea @american! This will be useful for me
SBN just built Gate 10 to serve the bus.