Sojourner Kennedy Woodard, of South Bend, Indiana, recently returned from an extraordinary journey. Read about her special experience on Landline, a recent service from American Airlines. This new passenger rail service connects eight regional airports in Michigan and Indiana, two of which are commuter‐friendly to residents of Chicago. Woodard’s journey started on March 12th. It took a turn you might not expect when she ended up getting on a bus rather than an airplane.
On the day that she was supposed to travel, Woodard showed up to the airport. So she walked quickly and confidently towards her gate, as anyone would on a normal travel day. Rather than enter by way of a jet bridge to get onto the plane, she walked down the steps. She had not expected to see other travelers shuttling their bags onto a bus.
The bus ride would take about two hours and 40 minutes, busing Woodard all the way to O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Through her employer’s travel portal, Woodard was able to secure her entire trip for $431.72. Now, this unique form of transportation has her asking questions. Yet, in follow-up communications, she explained, American Airlines kept calling the journey a “flight.”
On March 16, Woodard further chronicled her uncommon travel experience in a viral TikTok video. It immediately went viral—in just a few days, this video received over 13.5 million views, over 1.7 million likes, and more than 16,000 comments!
From the outset, Woodard said he was bewildered by it all. She asked, “If we were getting off a bus and going onto a plane, why are they taking our carry-ons?”
The new bus rolled easily across the tarmac, gaining ground on the FAA security booth at the airport’s perimeter. It was in that moment that Woodard knew he wasn’t just connecting to another flight.
Immediately after we cleared the security booth, I was taken by a giddy wave of excitement. That’s when it really sunk in – this is my ticket to Chicago O’Hare,” she added.
Woodard felt empowered to tell her story on TikTok. She went a step further by adding comedic relief with a humorous sound that made the sudden twist of fate seem chaotic and panicked. “I mean, I just spent, like, a large percentage of the day just cracking up,” she stated.
American Airlines has previously underscored that with Landline, customers get the unique convenience of traveling to their final destination through a local airport. Passengers can check their baggage through to their final destination. Plus, they earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points on all qualifying fares ensuring their connection within American’s expansive global network is effortless.
It was that shockiness of Woodard’s experience that struck a chord with people watching online. As one TikTok user joked in the comments, “Did you put your phone in bus mode?” That was the funniest thing about it.
