American Airlines customers say flights turned into bus trips without warning

Imagine walking through airport security only to realize you’re boarding a bus, not a plane. It’s happened to some American Airlines customers. 

Grady Trimble with FOX Business Network said American Airlines has a service offering bus rides from a few smaller airports in the country to hubs in larger cities. Those buses service South Bend, Indiana to O'Hare and Rockford, Illinois to O´Hare, as well as six locations outside of Philadelphia to American's hub there. 

When you book the trip directly on American’s website, you’ll get a warning that the first part of your trip is on a bus. But for passengers who book flights on third-party websites, it’s not always clear. It only says that the first leg of the trip is operated by the Landline Company. It doesn’t specify that the Landline Company is a bus operator. 

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What they're saying:

"So in some cases, people are showing up for what they think is a flight and getting on a bus instead," Trimble said in an interview with LiveNow from FOX. "And interesting, though, because this is kind of a way around security at the big airports, because you go through security at those smaller airports, then you essentially get taken straight to the terminal side, post security, at the larger hub airport, so you don't have to go through security again."

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What They're Doing:

American Airlines told Trimble that the buses are offered in areas where there’s no other way to get an American flight without driving. The airline said more than 200,000 passengers have taken the buses since the service launched. They’ve also been in touch with third-party websites and asked them to make the booking process more transparent.