It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a….bus????
A New York woman who thought she booked an American Airlines flight was flabbergasted after a bus rolled up instead. She detailed this mother of all transit mishaps in a TikTok video with over 2 million views.
“POV: When your American Airlines ‘flight’ is actually a bus,” user Alex (@she_is.becoming) wrote in the text overlay on the video of her unexpected ride.
The mode of transport was especially confusing as there was a “flight icon” on her boarding pass, she noted in the caption.
Alex explained in a follow-up video that she lives in Upstate New York and typically departs from Scranton, Pennsylvania out of convenience. So when the time came to travel to her friend’s wedding in Colorado, she decided to stick to her routine — Alex used Google Flights to book a flight from there to the Centennial State by way of Philadelphia.
The upstate native then navigated security and arrived at her gate, noting that the flight board showed her American Airlines flight number and an airplane icon, and that travelers boarded according to their group numbers.
It wasn’t until it came time for Alex to board that she noticed something was seriously awry. “I look at a woman nearby, and I say, ‘Do you know how long this flight is?’” the flabbergasted traveler said. “And she says, ‘Do you mean the bus?’”
That’s when it dawned on her that her plane trip was actually a “two-and-a-half-hour” bus ride from Scranton to Philly.
Alex said she was especially confused as while American Airlines makes it abundantly clear that the journey’s first leg involves a bus, Google Flights is a lot more cryptic about it. They simply write “bus” in small text under the airline name sans any giant distinction between the modes of transport.
“I did go back through and see if I totally missed something, and I didn’t,” Alex explained. “There it is not clear on there at all.”
“I also just wanna add to that that when you are looking at a website called Google Flights, I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect to be looking at flights,” she declared.
American Airlines notes on its website that it’s partners with the Landline Company, a motorcoach service that connects Philadelphia Airport with regional flights hubs in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Delaware.
Passenger both check their luggage and go through security at the “bus station,” whereupon their suitcases while be transferred from the motorcoach to the airplane. Best of all, flyers can earn AAdvantage miles on these terrestrial hauls the same way they would on plane trips.
While the preternaturally long “flight time” between cities should’ve tipped her off, Alex noted that she’d had a long day of travel with three different plane trips, and therefore wasn’t in the clearest of headspaces.
Thankfully, she has since learned to see the funny side of her Landline odyssey, which admittedly was more luxurious than she expected — with roomy seats, phone chargers, Wi-Fi, and a bathroom.
“I thought it was honestly hysterical. Like, the entire bus ride, I was just laughing,” said Alex. As compensation for her travel fiasco, American Airlines gave her a $75 travel credit, although she claims it’s unlikely that she’ll use it.
In light of the ordeal, Alex is warning other travelers to be extra vigilant and make sure to read the fine print while booking trips through third-party websites.
Commenters were quick to commiserate with her no-flight plight. “How can they do that?” said one. “Never heard of this…wild.”
“Well, shoot can I have the travel credit?” said another. “These Thanksgiving flights ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, a third observed, “This can happen with any airline. United Newark to Allentown can also be a bus. I’ve taken the bus to Philly before and the gate is in the basement and the bus sitting outside is also a dead giveaway.”
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