A $1,000 roundtrip ticket for a Wilmington-Philadelphia bus ride is causing confusion, writes Abigail Covington for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The option shows up in search results for American Airlines flights between the two airports.
American doesn’t want you buying that ticket for just a bus trip. It’s one part of a longer trip
The bus company Landline is partnering with airlines, including American, so travelers from smaller cities can get to major airport hubs without taking short regional flights.
In this case, passengers can clear security at Wilmington, Atlantic City, Trenton, Allentown, and Scranton airports, than take a bus to Concourse F at Philadelphia International Airport for a connecting flight.
Landline CEO David Sunde said they can’t remove standalone bus tickets from third-party search results, so American is intentionally charging $1,000 to discourage people from buying them.
The setup has left some buying the tickets, thinking they are booking flights.
Sunde admits the Wilmington-Philadelphia $1,000 bus ticket looks strange, and he “encourages people to check out what happens when they book a flight from Wilmington to anywhere else but Philadelphia.”
A trip from Wilmington to London, for example, folds the Landline ride to Philadelphia into the $1,054 total fare.
Read more about this high-priced bus ride in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in April 2026.
