November 25, 2025 at 4:49 am

A Traveler Thought She Was Taking A Flight To Chicago, But It Ended Up Being A Bus Ride

by Matthew Gilligan

woman talking about a bus ride

TikTok/@kristamoats

Have you ever thought that you booked a flight…and ended up on a bus?

It happened to a woman named Krista and she took to TikTok to talk about what went down and how she was caught off guard by the whole process.

woman talking to tiktokkers

TikTok/@kristamoats

Krista told viewers, “This morning I had a flight from South Bend [Indiana] to Chicago and when I exited the gate to get on the plane, it was a bus. Apparently, the very first of American Airlines gate to gate bus service from South Bend to Chicago. And we were driving beside planes when they were taxiing.”

In the caption, she wrote, “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 continued, “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.”

bus at an airport

TikTok/@kristamoats

Krista then wrote, “This is a new service previously only available in Philadelphia, so it wasn’t exactly on my radar to look for “bus” while booking. 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 bc I was happy with the service.”

She added, “This was the first trip on the first day of service, an inaugural trip. I made a post about it because regionally it’s a very cool new offering, and some people were disgusted that I would try to fly from South Bend to Chicago. Guess I shouldn’t have assumed people knew how that worked but hey! Lesson learned.”

Well, now ya know!

people on a bus

TikTok/@kristamoats

Here’s the video.

@kristamoats

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). 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. 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 bc I was happy with the service. This was the first trip on the first day of service, an inaugural trip. I made a post about it because regionally it’s a very cool new offering, and some people were disgusted that I would try to fly from South Bend to Chicago…. Guess I shouldn’t have assumed people knew how that worked but hey! Lesson learned.

♬ original sound – kristamoats

And this is what viewers had to say.

This person was confused.

Screenshot 2025 10 23 at 8.10.36 AM A Traveler Thought She Was Taking A Flight To Chicago, But It Ended Up Being A Bus Ride

And so was another individual…

Screenshot 2025 10 23 at 8.11.27 AM A Traveler Thought She Was Taking A Flight To Chicago, But It Ended Up Being A Bus Ride

And this TikTok user weighed in.

Screenshot 2025 10 23 at 8.11.59 AM A Traveler Thought She Was Taking A Flight To Chicago, But It Ended Up Being A Bus Ride

Well, that was an expected twist in her travel plans!

If you liked that story, check out this one about a 72-year-old woman was told by her life insurance company that her policy was worthless because she’d paid for 40 years. 🙁