A senior White House official is threatening to “take a new interest in the airline industry,” after he and his wife separately had flight delays on American Airlines, just one day apart…
In this post:
James Blair subtly threatens American after two delays
James Blair is the Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, which is a role he has had since the start of Trump’s second term. Last night, Blair took to social media to complain about American:
Today, American Airlines delays me 2.5 hours because someone failed to notice empty hydraulic fluid before it was time to go down the runway.
Yesterday, they apparently forgot to BOOK A PILOT for my wife’s flight.
I’m going to take a new interest in the airline industry.
Okay, nobody likes to be delayed, but this hardly sounds like the most offensive thing an airline could do:
- Hydraulics issues can arise during pre-departure checks or during engine startup, so as frustrating as it is, that’s not unusual
- American definitely didn’t forget to “book a pilot” (lol), but sometimes the pilot who is assigned to a trip might call in sick, might miss a flight due to a previous delay, etc., and in those situations, a different pilot is required
Either way, having a Trump White House official saying “I’m going to take a new interest in the airline industry” isn’t exactly ideal for any airline (well, unless the interest is exclusively for American, in which case I can think of some people in Atlanta and Chicago who might be happy). Then again, this likely isn’t an area where a Deputy Chief of Staff would have much power anyway, unless he can get something into Trump’s head.
Pete Buttigieg chimes in on Blair airline comments
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg added his two cents to this situation, and responded to Blair’s complaints about American with the following:
You could begin by restoring the passenger rights work you rolled back – and then seriously enforce airline laws, like we did. Trust me, it gets results!
Under the Biden administration, we did see some nice improvements to consumer protections for airline passengers, though admittedly progress tends to be slow, and we didn’t see anything too radical implemented.
The Trump administration has indeed decided not to move forward with some Biden proposals for airline passengers. For example, the Biden administration had proposed airlines offering cash compensation for delayed flights, like what we see in Europe, with EC261. For that matter, airlines have been lobbying to eliminate existing restrictions, and once again be allowed to “self-police.”
Bottom line
Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff is angry with American Airlines, after flight delays impacted two flights. He now claims he’ll “take a new interest in the airline industry.” One could certainly interpret that as a bit of a threat, not that creating policies that impact airlines should necessarily be part of his job.
What do you make of Blair’s comments following the flight delays?
He just wants special treatment.
he just has the expectation of arriving when his flight was scheduled to arrive.
Let us know how many times you have had a different expectation before you boarded.
@Tim Dunn you are gaslighting. First, if this had been DL you’d already have twisted yourself into a knot explaining how amazing DL is for the gagillionth time. Second, why is it he didn’t care about aviation performance until he and his wife were impacted. Typical entitled Chad and Karen BS.
OH really??!? How about the delays caused by what seems like daily ground stops out of DCA caused by the current administration.
well, no.
The reason for ground delays at DCA are because over a decade of far-too-close military operations to a civilian airspace sadly came to a predictable end for 67 people.
Multiple administrations should have fixed the problem years ago - and it is still not completely fixed.
STFU & Release the E* files now!
Geniunely curious. Did you source from a pilot re: hydraulic issues? Or just an opinion? I know something about hydraulics, albeit not in aviation, and if the fluid is low, its low and it's level should be checked prior to startup.
And, yes, its unfortunate re: passenger protections!
Sounds like Blair would be in-favor of air passenger rights legislation like EU261 where a mechanical issue like this (under the airlines' control) would result in compensation for him and his fellow affected passengers... alas, typically, those in his 'party' are against 'regulations' and continue to lick the boots of corporations over people, so... anyway, by White House Deputy Chief Of Staff, I was fully expecting it to be Stephen 'Goebbels Jr.' Miller.
The first three words of the U.S. Constitution are “We the people”. I think it’s time for a rewrite to “We the corporations an billionaires”
Or, we THE PEOPLE can... take back some of that excessive corporate oligarchic power...
Exactly. As a member of a Republican administration, he should be content to let the "free-hand of the market" magically solve all of these problems for him. Just let private corporations manage everything on their own, and everything will be fine!
His bosses name is all over some files and everyone around James seems to not be able to see it. So missing some liquids or booking in a pilot seems like a very small issue.
What an arrogant fella, by his tone, he also seems like the type that will have a go at servers at a restaurant and say sht like "how hard is your job".
Typical response from a nazi. I'm surprised he didn't call AA un-American, non Christian and of course terrorists. Seems like that's their typical shill. Either you with me and for me and the Orange convicted criminal in chief clown or your un-American. Tired of this. Like Steve Bannon said, if they lose the mid terms a lot of people feom the administration will go to jail. Hmm. Sounds like a great idea.
Seems like this has turned into a political blog. No Thanks.
the sad thing is that so many are happy to throw in political comments that they cannot or will not even think about the actual facts of the matter.
AA is subject to the same regulations that every other US airline is subject to. In terms on on-time and cancellation rates, AA trails the big 4 but is only somewhat worse than UA.
and nowhere in the comments that were posted did the Deputy...
the sad thing is that so many are happy to throw in political comments that they cannot or will not even think about the actual facts of the matter.
AA is subject to the same regulations that every other US airline is subject to. In terms on on-time and cancellation rates, AA trails the big 4 but is only somewhat worse than UA.
and nowhere in the comments that were posted did the Deputy Chief of Staff say he wanted compensation. He wanted to get where he was supposed to be on time.
Engaging in a long political discussion while missing the real point is par for the course for aviation social media but the point is why AA can't fix the things that delay its operation as much or more than other airlines.
It hasn't. We'll reach back out to you if we find that we miss you.
If you are working for a Government that is reducing the rights of passengers and is giving the airlines free hand to do with customers whatever they want
Be careful what you wish for you might get it
STFU, Blair! 130 Republicans in the House voted against the ROTOR Act earlier this week. Apparently a lot of people on the Hill still think it's a good idea to fly Army helicopters into commercial flight paths.
Well, according to the unlamented Vasu Raja, AA's schedule is their whole product. So when AA doesn't keep to schedule and folks (even a White House Dep. COS) get mad, who could blame them?! AA gave itself 'one job' to do, and surprise surprise...it can't even do that 'one job'. Are you listening and learning @TravelinPenis?
Had ‘Blair the scare’ checked out the AA reviews prior to booking two flights, he would have noted that AA languish in the low echelons for customer satisfaction. Better luck next time …. you will certainly need it if you stick with AA.
Mayor Pete scores!!!!!!
That's a good roast.
By the way, I don't think a deputy CoS is anything 'senior'.
Wow
He looks like a Stephen miller mini me
as with every other thing in life, a problem only is a problem when it happens to "me"
AA has not run as good of an operation as other airlines and it is because of not getting so many of the little things right on a day to day basis.
and, no, having more consumer protections doesn't make airlines run better; US airlines as a group run better operationally than Canadian or European...
as with every other thing in life, a problem only is a problem when it happens to "me"
AA has not run as good of an operation as other airlines and it is because of not getting so many of the little things right on a day to day basis.
and, no, having more consumer protections doesn't make airlines run better; US airlines as a group run better operationally than Canadian or European airlines.
It is more significant that Elliott is further selling down its stake in Southwest and AA becomes the only one of the big 4 that is struggling. It was a whole lot easier for AA and WN to hang together with the rest of the LCCs and ULCCs that are not doing well.
As NK makes another run at survival and B6 slowly turning things around, AA stands out more and more as an unfixed airline.
Tim posts:
“No, having more consumer protections doesn't make airlines run better; US airlines as a group run better operationally than Canadian or European airlines”.
This sentence needs some careful consideration and clarification Tim …. Care to elaborate?
statistics are available.
US airlines as a whole have on-time percentages several points higher than European airlines.
and the difference between the best and worst in Europe is far wider than between the best and worst in the US (operationally). Ryanair is a very reliable airline while the legacy flags do far worse. and cancellation rates are similar. European airspace is far tighter than in the US.
and for all of the lauding...
statistics are available.
US airlines as a whole have on-time percentages several points higher than European airlines.
and the difference between the best and worst in Europe is far wider than between the best and worst in the US (operationally). Ryanair is a very reliable airline while the legacy flags do far worse. and cancellation rates are similar. European airspace is far tighter than in the US.
and for all of the lauding for passenger protections, there is ample evidence that US airlines increased their rate of cancellations when tarmac delays kicked in which could have led to fines. Is a 4th hour delay better than a cancellation?
but let's also be clear that AA is subject to the same laws as DL, the best performing predominantly mainland airline.
and WN has made massive changes to its operation as a result of its holiday meltdown several years ago. They run a more reliable airline than AA or UA but also have a smaller operation in the NE than the big 3
Quite obviously, I have no idea from whence comes your argument Tim. I can only rely upon open source information gleaned from the internet for my purposes.
So Tim, from my own research, I do believe it to be only fair to say that U.S. airlines are not clearly “better operationally as a group” than European airlines. However, in some instances they appear to be quite similar.
I can find no evidence that European...
Quite obviously, I have no idea from whence comes your argument Tim. I can only rely upon open source information gleaned from the internet for my purposes.
So Tim, from my own research, I do believe it to be only fair to say that U.S. airlines are not clearly “better operationally as a group” than European airlines. However, in some instances they appear to be quite similar.
I can find no evidence that European airlines, being subjected to regulatory frameworks has any derogatory impact whatsoever on their performance. The often strong operational discipline frequently matches or exceed U.S. carriers on punctuality, etc.
I do however agree that Canadian airlines tend to lag behind both U.S. and European carriers in punctuality, regardless of recent improvements.
I don't post links because many sites block comments w/ links but there is publicly available data to show that US airlines cancel a lower percentage of flights and also operate more on-time.
I have participated in aviation social media long enough to know that some people will reject facts no matter how obvious the facts shoot down their narrative.
and, again, AA is subject to the same laws as every other US airline and...
I don't post links because many sites block comments w/ links but there is publicly available data to show that US airlines cancel a lower percentage of flights and also operate more on-time.
I have participated in aviation social media long enough to know that some people will reject facts no matter how obvious the facts shoot down their narrative.
and, again, AA is subject to the same laws as every other US airline and AA's operational reliability trails both DL and WN and is only better than UA
Lol, Air Canada has had the worst on time performance in North America for 3 years running. Pathetic maintenance and poor management are just part of the problem.
Planes break. Not only do pilots call in sick they miss their flights due to misconnections and they also time out. I've spoken to pilots that said if AA kept crews assigned to the same a/c during their duty time it would cut down on delays and cancellations. In fact, PMAA did just that to try to reduce delays and cancellations. PMAA also debanked hubs as a way to reduce delays. That was all rolled back after the merger.
US airlines are going to be like the old Air India pretty soon. Flights delayed, people downgraded or kicked of flights, etc... to pacify a senator throwing a tantrum. The whole country has turned into a banana republic.
I'm surprised the Deputy Chief of Staff doesn't have his very own Gulfstream at this point, having to slum it on a commercial carrier, my word! Sarcasm aside, there is zero chance the passengers on his wife's flight weren't told exactly what happened. Imagine if he was booked onto Delta after a bad weather event, he'd be stuck for days tweeting out his educated frustrations!
More abusive power by the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States of America.
Is that you, or your willy speaking?
is that you, or just your inner MAGA getting triggered?
why too polite?
May I? ... "the most corrupt [fascist] administration"