On Oct. 7, American Airlines will offer bus service from Wilmington Airport to Philadelphia International.
American Airlines, the dominant carrier at Philadelphia International Airport, on Oct. 7 will launch a service where passengers can park and clear security at Wilmington Airport and ride a bus to the Philadelphia airport.
With this arrangement, American says it will be the only U.S. airline serving all 50 states.
American and and The Landline Co. in 2022 began offering the service to Philadelphia from Allentown, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
âThis service will provide a seamless, premium motorcoach connection to passengers with flights out of Philadelphia,â said Michael Sharer, Northeast operations lead of the Landline Co. âPassengers can book their trips on AA.com by searching Wilmington (ILG) to their final destination.â
The announcement said nothing about the cost of the service, but a random search of one itinerary showed it costing more than $100 roundtrip, which could be offset by cheaper parking and less hassle.
There will be six daily round trips between Wilmington and and a secure gate at Philadelphiaâs Terminal F. âCustomers will then disembark at the gate and proceed to their next gate to continue their connecting flight,â the Delaware River & Bay Authority announcement said. Other key details:
Those luxury motorcoaches feature 35 premium leather seats in a two-by-one seating configuration and offer 36 inches of seat pitch, comparable to the premium cabin on a regional jet. American’s main cabins have pitches running 30 to 32 inches, Nerdwallet reports.
Passengers get free WiFi and in-seat power at every seat.
The schedule figures that the rides will run 50 to 55 minutes.
Customers can earn and redeem AAdvantage miles using these new connecting Landline âflights.â
Bags are handled as with any flight: passengers check their luggage in with American Airlines agents on arrival at ILG, and the airportâs baggage handling system takes over from there. Check-in also works like any other American Airlines flight.
Customers should book their flight through American Airlinesâ website or mobile app, entering ILG as origin and selecting the destination from there.
The bus schedule
Wilmington (ILG) to Philadelphia (PHL):
Depart ILG at 6:45 a.m., arrive PHL at 7:35 a.m.
Depart ILG at 8:00 a.m., arrive PHL at 8:50 a.m.
Depart ILG at 11:00 a.m., arrive PHL at 11:50 a.m.
Depart ILG at 1:30 p.m., arrive PHL at 2:20 p.m.
Depart ILG at 4:00 p.m., arrive PHL at 4:55 p.m.
Depart ILG at 6:00 p.m., arrive PHL at 6:50 p.m.
Philadelphia (PHL) to Wilmington (ILG)
Depart PHL at 8:30 a.m., arrive ILG at 9:20 a.m.
Depart PHL at 10:30 a.m., arrive ILG at 11:20 a.m.
The Delaware River & Bay Authority, which runs the airport, will work with American and Landline on a final service agreement to support the start of service and associated terminal work.
Representatives of American and Landline were asked about pricing.
The estimate above was used by arbitrarily pricing roundtrips between Wilmington and Orlando and Philadelphia and Orlando, leaving on Friday, Oct. 11 and returning a week later.
A trip that landed in Orlando at 11 a.m. was $451 from Philadelphia and $559 from Wilmington.
A trip that landed in Orlando at 4:06 p.m. was $323 from Philadelphia and $495 from Wilmington.
