Running an airline is a grueling business, with many companies either folding shop or merging with rivals to survive. Being an airline passenger isn't a walk in the park either, for a litany of reasons that anyone who has ever been in an airport can easily enumerate.

Landline, a four-year-old, Fort Collins, Colorado-based transportation startup, thinks it has struck on a way to create a better experience for both airlines and their passengers. The big idea? To distribute the check-in process by processing people in many smaller hubs, closer to their homes, well before they get to their departing gate.

If all goes as planned, its customers will eventually get dropped off just a hop, skip and a jump from the plane they're about to board.

Of course, big ideas often start with the execution of smaller ones, and right now, Landline, founded by Stanford grad David Sunde, is largely a bus service, transporting people from regional hubs to major airports. It sprung up after Sunde spent nearly four years, on and off, with the aviation outfit Surf Air, where he saw some of the challenges of regional airline carriers, from their expensive operations to pilot shortages.

Still, Landline already does more than just punch tickets for passengers. It has already struck partnerships with American Airlines, United Airlines and Sun Country Airlines, whose passengers unknowingly book travel with Landline, which operates as a white-labeled service. As far as travelers are concerned, they're hopping onto an American Airlines bus -- if that's the provider -- replete with AA programming and appointments, and that ride to the airport from the hub nearer their home is simply built into the overall cost of their ticket.

Meanwhile, because of these partnerships, Landline is able to check in both the passengers and their luggage so when they reach the airport, the last remaining step is walking through airport security.

Of course, addressing that last step is not minor. The worst part of most passengers' experiences are the long security lines. But Landline is working on this, too. Indeed, Sunde volunteers it would be "game-changing," and says that not only would Landline become the first ground transportation company in the country to receive the blessing of the Transportation Security Administration, but that he expects its approval will come.