Do you want the speed of a bus with all the fun of serious airport delays? If so, LEX is the way to go. I didn't want this to be true, since I find the advertising campaign against LEX by its rival Suburban Express to be trashy, but it was indeed as bad as I heard.
First I got in a shuttle and went from the mall to the airport. The driver on the shuttle was speeding the entire time. At the airport I waited for the big bus, but when it came the driver decided to go to lunch.
- minus 30 mins
After that he personally loaded on everyone's luggage rather haphazardly (don't pack anything breakable) and checked everyone's ID with all the speed and style of an immigration official in a corrupt third world country. Then we went to another gate and repeated the process.
- minus over an hour!
Four and a half hours later I arrived at Champaign.
Yes, the ticket cost less, but if time is money then it was an expensive journey indeed.