New York City Mayor Eric Adams has just been indicted on federal charges. While that’s beyond what I usually discuss on this blog, there’s an absolutely fascinating aviation angle, which I can’t help but cover…
Continue reading: Wild: NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Turkish Airlines Flight Scandal
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Completely different from the topic, but since it seems you have a lot of energy today to post all the goings-on at Southwest… I hope you slept well on the flat beds on the Copa Airlines 737 MAX 9, and I’m looking forward to your experiences shortly! Where next?
I do like Adams' misspelling, "Instantbul". Instant bull is more or less what one expects from a politician. Especially Adams.
@ VT-CIE -- Hah, there's a lot to cover today, eh? I'll have my Copa thoughts soon. Was supposed to be the first thing this morning, but it has been a nonstop news day, so...
Thrilled this clown is finally getting what's coming to him. May it result in a lengthy genpop prison sentence!
So basically doing what Trump does all the time and believes he can carry on working as normal. Another corrupt mayor ( after Giuliani) and an example of people who think that as they have money it’s ok.
Guess TK actually has decent customer service and easy upgrade availability if you’re the corrupt af mayor of NYC
Even if he flew on miles and points, the optics would look bad. "Mayor hacks his way into business and first class flights while his city is losing money".
Don't run for office, Ben.
Hey, I just (yesterday) flew home from France to Seattle via Istanbul on TK in business class. It was great.
Go ahead, indict me, cuff me if you want.
And by the way: while TK did not fly to Chile when the corrupt mayor's wife was shopping for flights to Easter Island, Turkish just recently DID announce a new route to Santiago (coincidence? hmmm)...."Hey Turkish, if you're listening, I'd like some flights to Bora Bora next year, can you guys, you know, set that up for me? See you at IST on the way - Love ya!!!") Sure, I'll connect via IST no problemo, it's right on the way...
For readers outside of the U.S., you are innocent until proven guilty. Then again, the feds (with the SDNY at that with a 90+ conviction rate) does not indict someone (especially a high profile figure such as this and Puff Daddy) unless they have the goods on them.
lol. I flew Turkish Airlines economy in 2016 when I studied abroad for like $630 r/t when the next cheapest ticket was over $1k USD. Old Attaturk airport. Good times!
True. Why would any normal person want to run for politics when they will get dragged through the dirt by the media no matter what they do!
Would have been even funnier if did some kind of "domestic" routing such as NY to Miami via a short detour in Istanbul!
So ~$20k of inappropriate in-kind donations in a ~$20 million campaign? Yawn.
This is pretty thin gruel, especially given the sheer amount of *actual* corruption that has a real impact on people's daily lives. Hard to be bothered by the fact that some wealthy person somewhere gave an in-kind donation to... *checks notes* a lowly NYC borough president.
I'm willing to believe some campaign finance laws were almost certainly broken here, but this is the kind of violation that ordinarily gets a (small) fine from the FEC, not a criminal indictment.
Did SDNY have nothing better to do with its time?
I wonder what benefit Türkiye got from him as Brooklyn Borough President. Maybe they just were betting on his future as US Senator someday.
This case will go to the Supreme Court where Justice Clarence Thomas will scoff at this type of travel bribery as being amateur hour. Flight connections? Bah.
This is only one part of the indictment, Ben is just reporting on the part relevant to this site.
Like you said they obviously wouldn't go this far for ~$20k of inappropriate in-kind donations because it is obviously more than that.
Peanuts but still discusting behavior. Google says he makes 258k as Mayor....seems ridiculously low.
The Turkish government was playing the long game. After he became the mayor-elect he threatened the fire department to sign off on the new Turkish Consulate skyscraper despite fire safety concerns.
I read the indictment. This is the entire basis for it.
The rest is just the prosecution's inflating numbers. Their essential contention is that based on these in-kind donations, he would not have been eligible for matching funds, which he received; therefore the campaign "stole" $10mm.
If the FEC were handling this, they *might* bring a civil penalty. More likely they'd issue an administrative fine.
"traveling from New York to Istanbul via Paris adds 75% to the distance flown"
I think you meant traveling from New York to Paris via Istanbul...
Someone's probably going to make a Tim Dunn reference out of this; Tim's probably saying to himself, "This wouldn't have happened if he just flew Delta"
Did SDNY have nothing better to do with its time?
You have to be kidding me, the peanut gallery on a travel blog is lambasting the SDNY which has a >95% conviction rate?
I hope this inspires a new wave of future law students and lawyers to go into Litigation.
Adams' representation is a bottom shelf law firm which makes it even more certain he is SOL.
Lol define inconvenient. I will take a detour in business class any day over a direct in economy. Hell even a detour in business is great, Jennifer Aniston was so right in the Emirates commercial. In July during an IRROP I called American to rebook my YUL-NYC-CDG in AA business to QR YUL-DOH-CDG with an overnight in Doha. I was going to pay a night in the hotel in Doha just to fly the long way in QSuite and A380. But QR threw in a free hotel and meal voucher and transfer to hotel. Plus all the extra miles I got lol
Turkish certainly is not the ONLY airline that does this.
And Adams is not the only one that takes advantage of this.
US Congresspeople have been doing this for years between DC and West Coast.
I can't tell you how many times I saw members of Congress in the front.
Adams is a bad mayor. Slightly better than the one before the low-life low-IQ incompetent bio-mass (it would be giving it too much credit calling him a "person") who served two terms before him, but still a bad mayor. However, I have two concerns here:
1) Why is he only being charged AFTER he showed opposition to his party's criminal immigration policies, that are sinking and devastating NYC budget?
2) He became mayor in 2021. What in hell his transactions and free upgrades from before that period have to do with corrupt morons from FBI and DOJ?
"I hope this inspires a new wave of future law students and lawyers to go into Litigation."
They'll make tens and tens of dollars, just like you and your wife do!
Back in the day former NYC mayor Ed Koch used to fly TWA a lot and made a scene if he was not upgraded for free.
Glad he’s being held to the same standards as our Supreme Court justices…oops never mind.
I mean that could be the case, but I imagine a lot of members of Congress, especially those from the West, travel enough to earn top-tier status on at least a couple airlines.
Funny enough, it used to be cheaper to go to Western Europe via Istanbul than it was to simply fly to Istanbul using Miles and Smiles! Less than 50k points for J if I remember correctly!
Disgusting is criminalizing telling the truth or criminalizing a Christian not wanting to bake a cake for gay marriage. Disgusting is thugs running around cities and peaceful communities being ruined by forced bussing into school districts. Disgusting is not a politician getting free travel perks for not even doing anything in return.
Adams is an Israel First anti White anti freedom pro lgbt but it is disgusting the government goes after him but not millions of illegals, the judges, politicians, and cops who aid and abet illegals, the violent criminals roaming cities pushing blm, the Israel First politicians aiding and abetting genocide, and the grifters aiding and abetting the other Israel First Ukraine last Zelensky.
The fact that the evil government goes after Adams means he is probably someone who doesn’t deserve it even if he is a pos for being anti White.
Now let's do all the government employees the Chinese have bought off. We will probably need some new jails.
Your mom called.
You need to come up from the basement and empty the dishwasher.
Members of Congress have much more transparent travel. They book federal government negotiated full Y fares, which have historically upgraded quite easily, and they do sometimes end up in coach.
In all fairness, I live in New York and have thought of flying to Paris via IST because East Coast to Europe flights too brief for a good nights rest. The JFK-IST flight is 10 hours, great to catch some ZZZs.
Adams is a public official, so what he did was wrong. But if you’re an influencer, getting freebies like this would be your job!
Listen, I hate to see anyone go down for anything. But this man knew his moves were being watched and he still chose violence.
If I were him, I'd step down, admit fault and aim for a at home sentence plea deal.
Don't comprehend the difference between in treatment between Adams and clarence thomas.
They are both in government and both African Americans. Oh wait, one is from the party of law and order..
I don't align with his politics or like the guy at all, so this is not a political opinion. But what was the payoff from the Turkish side? Was he doing anything that provided benefit to them? Was there any way at all this affected the people of New York?
If not, I really don't see what the issue is here. These indictments of people are for the sake of the prosecutors, not actual justice. Unless you can show me how this actually affected decisions that the people of New York had to pay for, I don't get why we care if he has connections at an airline.
@chasgoose Not to mention they're probably very likely to be given invite-only status with the airlines they fly. I'm sure the rate of CK/GS/DL360 membership in Congress is a lot higher than the general flying public.
A new consulate building, I should say!
Totally quid pro quo. The guy is a crook!
He means Bill de Blasio, whose tenure was so unmemorable that almost nobody can recall he was mayor of New York for eight years!
I wouldn't call it violence, but the message transcripts are undeniably very damaging. He's been well and truly busted, and must resign immediately.
He forced NYFD to open new Turkish Consulate highrise without proper fire inspection. Reason, his dealings prior to him becoming the mayor matter, is because he was Brooklyn Borough president aka still a government employee.
From the released information, it does not seem, NYC residents were directly impacted by his bribery. However, if a typical NYC employee is restricted from accepting any gifts/favors above certain amount irrespective of the outcome, why should their boss get a hall pass? Also, if this is let go, where do we draw a line? Are we saying any corruption that does not materially/financially impact the residents is ok?
By that logic congress(wo)men dealing insider trading is also completely acceptable.
You are your own self-fulfilling prophecy.
Everyone complains about him, but also can't wait to bring him up at any chance. It's tired and boring. Just leave him in the Dunnster and be done with it already.
My darling Alonzo, if flying business class is "violence" then many of us must be serial killers by now..
You knew he was going down when AOC said days ago that he should step down for the sake of the Party.
It's always about the Party and saving the skin of the rest.
and that is not a partisan statement.
NO matter what elections you vote in, FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSON. Example, Giuliani, Adams, Justice Thomas ! Would you accept any of such person as ypur son in law ?!
That is what he gets for going against Biden/Harris. He should have asked China Airlines for the trips and used Hunter as his travel agent.
Just grabbing some beer and chips and watch this comment section turn into a violent political arena with little discussion and tons of baseless claims and accusations on 'the other party'.
Anyway, this is bribery of the clumsiest level. I just hope we can find out one day what Turkish Airlines or Turkey actually wanted out of this simpleton. There must be a reason why they 'invested' in him, and I guess that's a Pandora's Box we maybe shouldn't open right now, not with the rest of the world already burning.
this is why china airlines is a stupid name, people can't differentiate air china and china airlines
Lol I think it's you who needs to update your contemporary dictionary. The things kids say these days
side comment to the story.
The fact that Turkey chose to change its name (in Turkish) does not mean that its English name needs to change.
You still use Spain, Italy, Hungary, Egypt etc, even though that's not the name that are used locally.
He should have learned from AIPAC. They openly decide which candidate should win elections in the USA or which property needs to be built where.
Also some cities in Central Asia via Istanbul required fewer miles than just to IST. Not any more.
There have been 79 comments and it’s all been pretty civil
If you want to start political drama go comment at the Thot Leader’s TMZ From The Wing
They don't want to change it because Taiwan still claims the entire China. Also if they declare independence the PRC has said they WILL invade them, so they're kind of a rock stuck in a hard place.
I'm sure United, Delta and American do this as well. The difference is that it is 'lobbying' if an American company does it, but if it's an international company it's foreign influence and corruption.
Say whatever you want about Trump, but accepting bribes in the form of airline upgrades is definitely not something on his record. He flies private almost everywhere.
They are copying the American play book.
Otherwise we'd all be part of the United Tribes of Native Nations.
DC should be District of Cherokee.
The 13 colonies are occupied invaders who are believed to be terrorists.
But who am I kidding. Y'all are brainwashed.
I imagine politicians all over the U.S. are curious now in how this plays out. You think this is unusual? Any of you, including the OP, are naive to be shocked in thinking that travel perks are not extended to U.S. politicians of both parties on a daily basis. Which is why many are shocked to see Bernie or Mayor Pete almost always sitting in coach. They know better than to fool around with "handshakes."
I mean, even Supreme Court justices are getting nice little (often big) handouts.
For all the "we go high when they go low" this party craps out they're no different than the "holier than thou" attitude the other party preaches. They're all corrupt grifters literally and morally robbing you all hardworking citizens blind and you keep voting the same kind of people in your parties into the highest offices possible. This country deserves a reckoning soon and fast. Too bad people still won't learn.
As a non-American, this is quite interesting in the question of where "the line" is on politicians accepting freebies from airlines. Clearly Adams is particularly egregious, but most of them do it to some extent.
For example, most Australian politicians are given membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge, which is an exclusive invitation-only tier, with access to super-fancy lounges that us plebs can't go into, and also would include free upgrades where available. Like AA Concierge Key, but much better.
This seems to be accepted practice, and is not considered "corrupt" (they do have to declare it on their register of interests). But it does raise questions when, for example, they then vote to restrict Qatar's landing rights in order to benefit Qantas.
"Adams’ partner called Turkish Airlines to ask if they fly to Easter Island? Like… is she that bad at the internet, or…?"
The indictment specifically says that he forced her to call to confirm with Turkish that they don't fly from NYC to Easter Island. Why are you trying to blame her for this?
As a 25+ year airline employee in both the front office and front lines (including NYC), this far from unusual at most airlines. Upgrades happened regularly for politicians, vendors, airline colleagues, or other connected individuals.
However, I did work at one int'l airline that made it extremely difficult for upgrades, and you wouldn't believe the pushback I received from former colleagues trying to get upgrades with this airline. They acted insulted when I couldn't get them an upgrade.
The difference is that the official English name approved by the Turkish government is the Republic of Türkiye. Whereas, the official English name approved by the Spanish government, for example, is the Kingdom of Spain.
So there is a difference and the official English name has changed, even if it's a fairly silly bit of posturing by the Turkish government.
Absolutely Rich. Some of the boondoggles that politicians in developing nations are involved in make this "scandal" look like chump change.
Those, who enjoy reading about the MORE charges that ate up against the NYC Mayor should read this.
Very interesting and it looks like GREAT investigation against him, since years!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/09/26/eric-adams-indicted-nyc-mayor/
That's a pop culture reference. It's ok if you haven't watched Game of Thrones or you don't get the reference. You could just move on but you chose to insult him by telling him to get a dictionary. So, today you woke up and chose violence.
Does not surprise me that an ardent Zion*st and genoc*de supporter is complicit in bribery and has been indicted.
Is no one curious about what the Mayor did for Turkey? It all started with the Mayor making express solicitations to act (using his office) on behalf of Turkey to clear regulatory issues on real estate projects. It built from there.
The real issue is that getting certain building inspections scheduled is almost impossible. Entire construction projects are brought to a halt waiting for a routine inspection. Not sure if that makes the Adam's interference right. It is more right than DOJ calculating the costs of the flights involved at 100K when the miles could have been purchased for 5K.
Fredo went against the family (speaking out against illegal immigration) and now they are "whacking him" in a non violent way.
You kidding? The Adams administration has rolled out the red carpet for migrants, at a ludicrous expense to the NYC taxpayer. And the majority of the spend has been through totally shady no-bid contracts that produce very little benefit.
Adams is getting nailed because he is, in fact, a completely corrupt POS. But when you have 21% voter turnout, these are the kind of creeps you get stuck with.
Oh everybody knows the reason, they wanted a brand new NYC consulate in a high-rise building which they were sponsoring and which had some difficulties being approved.
But this is not about his actions being or not illegal or immoral (to me they probably are both, but opinions can vary)... The hypocrisy of the situation is that he never was balmed for this before he started criticizing this Administration's immigration policies at the border.
Icarus, if your posts were a story by Agatha Christie, it would be called "The case of the broken record"...
I had the opposite reaction. This seems like a total false equivalence. If this is how we define endemic corruption, we have one of the cleanest societies on earth. Every law firm and accountant I’ve ever contracted with does worse on a weekly basis and its fine!
It’s crazy how easy it is to piss off the rogue provinces of west Taiwan. As Deng said - I don’t care if the cat is black or white as long as TSMC is still making chips
@N1120A so how is that different from Adams demanding that he be charged a proper economy class fare for his TK ticket (and then getting an upgrade afterwards)?
Completely agreed--crazy how every side assumes that only the other side would and does engage in immoral behavior; "surely, my "team" doesn't do such things since they're the good guys!"
All while the ground they stand on erodes and crumbles beneath their feet while they root and holler for their team and color.
Absolute buffoons and we're all doomed for it.
this is why china airlines is a stupid name, people can't differentiate air china and china airlines
That's more a factor of "people's" stupidity, than the airline's.......
In this case it is not only upgrades. Looks like even for the economy tickets, not the regular current fare was just. Just a nominal amount.
You might have heard of recent Republican Mayors Giuliani (2 terms) and Bloomberg (3 terms).
While I see where you are coming from Julia, for this discussion it doesn't matter if Australia is developed or developing.
Australia derives its laws from UK, a country that built majority of its wealth through bribery and deceit over 400 years. The accepted norms are far more liberal. US companies are subject to far tougher anti-corruption laws. Colonialism and capitalism are just fundamentally different.