A traveler who was expecting to fly from Philadelphia to Allentown, Pennsylvania—because his ticket showed it was an American Airlines flight—was surprised to see a bus pull up instead.
What happened?
News of the flightless flight came from creator Devan Donahue (@devandonahue), whose video has gotten more than 377,000 views as of Thursday after being posted on Wednesday. She tells of her husband’s business trip and how, when he got to Philadelphia International Airport, expecting the connecting flight to the city popularized by a 1982 Billy Joel song.
But, when he got to the gate, a bus pulled up instead.
“His boarding pass shows a flight,” she points out. “Up here, there’s a flight number, and this is what he shows up to. So, I said, maybe the bus is just taking you to the plane because sometimes we’ve been on shuttles before.”
But the bus pulled out of the airport, took off on the 74-mile drive to Lehigh Valley International Airport, and, as she revealed in a follow-up video, actually drove up to a gate at that airport to let the passengers out.
“He proceeds to send me videos, and this,” she says, showing a text exchange with her husband. “We even have a flight [attendant] for a takeoff announcement!” She noted that a safety card was also included.
The kicker is that the 6’5″ traveler attempted to move to an empty seat but was told he couldn’t because they needed to keep the weight distribution on the bus even.
“He said he’s still just as cramped,” she assessed.
@devandonahue A much needed laugh #americanairlines #fail #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Devan Donahue
Is this unusual?
As it turns out, American Airlines has been doing this for over two years now. An April 2022 NPR story revealed that for short commutes from the Philadelphia airport—both Allentown and Atlantic City, New Jersey—the airline would utilize buses instead of planes.
“We think of it as as close to flying as you can get without ever leaving the ground,” said David Sunde, CEO of Landline, a bus company contracting with American to provide the service to its passengers.
American pointed out that it’s more economically feasible to use a bus instead of a plane for such a relatively short distance, considering both the cost of jet fuel and the staffing required for even a small regional flight as compared to a bus with a single driver and single attendant. Also, as the story noted, “Greenhouse gas emissions from a bus are far lower than that of even a small regional jet.”
A Reddit post on the r/lehighvalley subreddit discussed bus service from both American and United Airlines out of the Allentown airport. Reactions were mixed: One depicted it as “such an easy experience,” while another remarked, regarding a trip to Newark International Airport, “Some woman demanded we make a bathroom stop in the middle of NJ and was almost murdered by half the bus.”
What commenters thought
Still, the video was news to some, and it brought some jokey reactions to the mix.
“Did he have to put his phone in airplane mode?” cracked one.
Another pondered, “Could you imagine being a new pilot hired by American and you are assigned to be the bus driver?”
“Do THEY know it’s not a plane?” one asked.
“Let’s hope Spirit doesn’t see this,” said another, referring to the budget airline.
However, one was there to set the record straight. “It’s very clearly marked as a bus upon booking. I take this bus all the time. It’s an hour bus ride from PHL to ABE. It’s actually a great service!” That commenter, when pressed on whether it was really great, noted that passengers boarding in Philadelphia don’t even have to go through security upon boarding.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via email and TikTok direct message and to American Airlines via email.
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