South Bend International Airport (SBN) has announced American Airlines will connect passengers to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) beginning October 6, with a creative land-based service. The service will run four times daily, in both directions, on a luxury motorcoach operated by regional partner, The Landline Company.
The 35-seat motorcoach has many of the features customers expect from the first-class cabin of a regional jet, including in-seat power, Wi-Fi, plentiful legroom, and leather seats.
The travel experience:
- Mobile Check-In – Begin online check-in 24 hours before departure, just like a flight.
- Arrive at SBN – Check your bags and clear TSA security conveniently at SBN.
- Boarding – Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey with comfortable amenities like complimentary Wi-Fi and in-seat power.
- Seamless Connections – Go to your connecting gate at ORD and board your flight. Your checked baggage will automatically be transferred to your next flight.
The SBN-ORD private motorcoach connection is the latest in a growing number of short haul regional air connections that are being supplemented or replaced by services operated by The Landline Company. The motorcoach experiment began several years ago with service from Duluth, Minnesota to MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul) and Fort Collins, Colorado to Denver. Five regional airports are connected to the American Airlines hub in Philadelphia. Rockford, Illinois will join South Bend simultaneously, connecting to ORD in October.
The most attractive and unusual aspect of the service is that passengers clear security and check baggage in their ‘home’ airport and are delivered to the hub airport inside security, with their baggage transferred.
Tickets for travel from SBN to more than 150 destinations through ORD will be available for purchase at aa.com or American’s mobile app from July 21. Passengers will book as they always have by selecting SBN as the departing city and specifying the final destination. This new option offers the ability to easily connect to American’s global network via ORD from SBN. Customer can earn and redeem AAdvantage® miles on these services.
This marks American’s third hub to be served from SBN. Nonstop flights to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) began in June 2018. During the fall football season, American is also operating weekend flights to New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
“We know American Airlines-loyal passengers are driving to O’Hare for flights,” said Mike Daigle, CEO and executive director of South Bend International Airport. “These ‘flights’ offer greater flexibility for all travelers allowing the ability to make use of the drive time doing work or streaming on high-speed Wi-Fi while avoiding the headaches of traffic, parking, and long lines in Chicago. The airside-to-airside operation offers another option for passengers to get where they need to go conveniently from SBN.”
Jordan Pack, American’s Director of Domestic Network Planning. summed it up:
“Customers can clear security and check their bags in SBN and head straight to their connecting flight in ORD all while earning AAdvantage® miles. Complementing our existing service, American is offering local residents comprehensive access to destinations around the world from Hawaii to Greece and everything in between.”
