"Worst of Both Worlds" — Woman’s American Airlines Flight to Chicago Was a Bus Ride

Whenever you're booking your travel, make sure to take a close look at your itinerary.

Krista Moats found herself in a tricky situation, that included an unexpected bus commute.

The TikToker shared how she took a flight from South Bend airport in Indiana (SBN) to New York, which had a stop at Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) via American Airlines.

What she wasn't expecting was that the "flight" from South Bend to Chicago was actual a shuttle bus that took folks to the ORD airport. She explained in a caption for her TikTok post that documented her journey how the whole trip went down.

"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.

Continuing, Krista stated: "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," the TikToker penned.

Moreover, she wrote that this selection wasn't available while she booked prior flights, either. "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 because I was happy with the service," she said towards the end of her write-up on the American Airlines South Bend to New York trip.

Furthermore, she expounded upon the trip in her 44-second video, stating that this was actually the first day of this new shuttle service being offered from South Bend to Chicago.

"It was so wild that like, when we got there," she states, recording a slew of airport personnel on the tarmac while she was riding around in the bus.

"Crew and stuff were like taking pictures. So this morning I had a flight from South Bend to Chicago. And when I exited like the gate, to get on the plane, it was a bus," she says.

At this point in the video, an image of the bus in question populated the screen. Surrounding the vehicle were a number of airport employees wearing yellow visibility vests.

Also, fellow travelers can be seen waiting outside of the bus. One of them had a carry-on bag at his side while he was rocking a backpack. Another man wearing blue jeans and a baseball cap could be seen walking in the direction of the vehicle with his hand rooted in his back pocket.

"Apparently, the very first of American Airlines gate to gate bus service from South Bend to Chicago. And we were like driving beside planes when they were taxi-ing," she narrates off screen. Throughout her video, she shows footage that she took from out of the bus window as the vehicle drives parallel to planes on the tarmac.

Afterwards, she films herself stepping off of the bus and speaking with airport workers. "This is so weird right," she says after one of the employees greets her. Shortly afterwards, Krista's video comes to an end.

As the TikToker mentions, there are other airlines in other parts of the country that have engaged in this practice.

One Reddit user expressed their surprise upon learning that a connecting flight on American Airlines ended up being a bus.

"I was given a bus ride instead of a plane," they stated at the onset of their post. They detailed how they had a flight from Charlotte to Philadelphia, and that they were then set to travel from the City of Brotherly Love to Atlantic City.

However, upon arriving in Atlantic City, they noticed that the "flight" was a bus ride, similar to what Krista encountered. Unlike the TikToker, they weren't all that jazzed to discover they were being driven to the beachfront gambling haven instead of taking an airplane.

"I paid for a flight not a cheap bus ride with no food or drink service. Really frustrating to try and figure out if I should raise a stink about it or not," they penned.

Folks who replied to the Reddit user's message stated that they were informed of the bus transfer when they booked their ticket but that they probably just didn't pay attention to their flight details.

Would you be miffed to take a bus to an airport to make your connecting flight or your final destination? According to Google Maps, the drive between Philly and AC is about an hour.

So taking a short jaunt on an airplane may not make sense and could, with boarding and waiting around, actually take longer than just hopping on a vehicle and carting everyone over there.