New motorcoach that connects Rockford airport to American Airlines flights makes debut

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A premium motorcoach service that connects you from the Chicago Rockford International Airport to American Airlines flights out of O’Hare made its debut Monday.

Some of the first passengers praised the ease of passing through security at RFD, cheaper parking and avoiding the drive into Chicago. Officials at the airport hope to see high ridership, which they say could spur additional services or flights from RFD. So far, there have been about 95 tickets per day, according to RFD.

“It’s just a much more convenient, direct flight from Chicago without having to go through Chicago and get to Chicago,” said Becky Kleppe of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. She and her husband, Bob, were on the third bus of the day as they headed to Kentucky. “This is just a lot simpler for us.”

Q&A: Breaking down RFD’s new service | Check-in at Rockford airport and fly American Airlines out of O’Hare

The single-itinerary service operated by The Landline Company allows you to book your departure on American Airlines from RFD and then connect to more than 150 destinations served by the airline. You check in and clear security in Rockford, and then are taken directly to the airside terminal at O’Hare. Your bags are transferred automatically.

The fee for the motorcoach is built in to your flight ticket, and in most cases it’s similar or identical to the cost if you had flown directly out of O’Hare.

“I travel to Denver every three months so this saves me from traveling to O’Hare and paying for parking,” said Jessie Diamond of Belvidere.

Diamond said she appreciates the ability to work from the motorcoach, which has high-speed internet, rather than drive through traffic to O’Hare. She said she cleared security in Rockford in less than 10 minutes.

She hopes the service gets enough usage for RFD to add more bus departures. There are now five round trips per day, seven days per week. But that can mean long layover times at O’Hare depending on when your motorcoach and flight depart.

“The only holdup for me is the holdover time, but I really do like being able to come here, do security here and then I can work on the bus on the way there instead of driving,” Diamond said.

The first Landline motorcoach left the Rockford airport at 5:55 a.m. Monday and was about half full, said Zack Oakley, executive director at RFD. The bus has 35 reclining leather seats.

Reporters and photographers were welcomed onto the tarmac for the 11:05 a.m. departure. That’s when the motorcoach got the ceremonial water salute from on-site firefighting teams, which sprayed the bus down as it left the terminal.

Oakley said the airport hasn’t had a major branded network operator since United made twice daily flights to Denver in 2007-08. All operators will be able to see the ticket data from the new service and use that to make decisions about flying out of RFD.

“We’re starting to see good, good understanding of the service. Tickets sales are starting to tick up,” Oakley said. “It’s now growing. Once that happens, that will hopefully trigger additional services with not only Landline but additional air services to other locations.”

Oakley said the benefit for Landline passengers is a hassle-free trip.

“For anyone who wants a more laid back feel, traveling through Rockford is a lot more simple than driving into the large hubs,” he said. “To be able to be taken right to and from RFD, hop in your car and be home in 10 minutes, 15 minutes. We’ve had that advantage with Allegiant, with their service. Now, being able to offer that with American, it’s great for the local community.”

The Kleppes, who were using RFD for the first time, said it took only two minutes to get through security in Rockford.

“It was wonderful,” Becky Kleppe said. “We’ve stood in lines for a long time at O’Hare. So it was great.”

They said traveling out of Rockford could become a regular thing in the future.

“We hope it works because we’re going to go other places if this works out well for us,” Bob Kleppe said.

Bus schedule

Departing Rockford

Departing O’Hare

Breaking down RFD’s new service: Check-in at the Rockford airport and fly American Airlines out of O’Hare

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas