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…
Eric Adams’ amazing Turkish Airlines arrangement
Eric Adams has just been indicted on five federal charges, including bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, with the 57-page indictment having been unsealed this morning.
While Adams became New York City Mayor in 2022, this corruption scandal dates back to 2014, when he was Brooklyn Borough President. Over the past decade, he has reportedly had close connections to government officials in Turkey (now Türkiye), and many of the privileges he received involved travel. According to the indictment:
“For nearly a decade, Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”
Part of this scandal involves Turkish Airlines, as Adams reportedly received travel benefits on the airline worth tens of thousands of dollars. According to the indictment, Adams flew Turkish Airlines even when doing so wasn’t otherwise convenient (okay, that’s something us miles & points people are familiar with). 😉
Here are some of the accusations:
- In October 2016, Adams and his partner traveled to India; they purchased two economy class tickets for $2,286, and two days before their flights, Adams accepted upgrades to business class for the entire journey, worth around $15,000
- In July and August 2017, Adams, a close relative, and a member of his staff, traveled to Nice, Istanbul, Colombo, and Beijing, and he accepted free business class tickets from the airline, worth more than $35,000
- In October 2017, Adams and a liaison traveled to Nepal and Beijing, and accepted free business class flights, worth more than $16,000
- In January 2018, Adams and his partner traveled to Budapest; several months earlier, Adams’ partner had purchased two economy tickets for $560 each, and then one of his staffers asked the airline manager to upgrade the tickets to business class, which was done for free, with the tickets being worth more than $14,000
The indictment talks about how Adams flew Turkish Airlines even when it wasn’t convenient:
For example, during the July and August 2017 trip, Adams’s Partner was surprised to learn that ADAMS was in Turkey when she had understood him to be flying from New York to France. ADAMS responded, in a text message, “Transferring here. You know first stop is always instanbul [sic].” When Adams’s Partner later inquired about planning a trip to Easter Island, Chile, ADAMS repeatedly asked her whether the Turkish Airline could be used for their flights, requiring her to call the Turkish Airline to confirm that they did not have routes between New York and Chile.
Even later on, once he became New York City Mayor, this behavior continued. In June 2021, a staffer of Adams requested a Turkish Airlines manager book tickets to Istanbul for Adams. In order to conceal the favorable treatment, the staffer requested that the airline manager charge Adams what appeared to be a “real” price for economy, while also providing a free upgrade to business class. Here are the messages that were exchanged:
Adams staffer: “How much does he owe? Please, let them call me and I will make the payment.”
Airline manager: “It is very expensive because it is last minute. I am working on a discount.”
Adams staffer: “Okay. Thank you.”
Airline manager: “I am going to charge $50”
Adams staffer: “No”
Airline manager: “That would work wouldn’t it”
Adams staffer: “No, dear. $50? What? Quote a proper price.”
Airline manager: “How much should I charge? :)”
Adams staffer: “His every step is being watched right now. $1,000 or so. Let it be somewhat real. We don’t want them to say he is flying for free. At the moment, the media’s attention is on Eric.”
So he ended up paying $1,000 for the tickets, and they were immediately upgraded to business class.
He received similar deals for hotels, also through connections at the airline. Another discussion between an Adams staffer and the airline manager went as follows:
Adams staffer: He is also asking where else they can go in Turkey. Do you have a recommendation?”
Airline manager: “Four Seasons”
Adams staffer: “It’s too expensive”
Airline manager: “Why does he care? He is not going to pay his name will not be on anything.”
Adams staffer: “Super”
Adams should’ve just gotten into miles & points!
I mean, I don’t even know where to start with this. First of all, kudos to investigators for what they uncovered, and I’m happy to see that he has been indicted. The behavior described is disgusting, yet all too often we don’t see accountability. Regardless of politics, those who break the laws — and especially elected officials — should be held accountable.
What’s kind of shocking is the extent to which these charges stem from the travel perks he accepted. It’s not like he was pocketing millions of dollars in cash from foreign governments, but instead he was largely accepting free, heavily discounted, and/or upgraded flights. Ironically, Turkish Airlines doesn’t even offer its best business class product to New York, at least on most frequencies.
He would’ve largely just been better off if he could have found an airline employee to add him as their registered companion, or if he had gotten into miles & points. That way he also wouldn’t have had to make huge detours to many of the places he was traveling to.
For example, traveling from New York to Paris via Istanbul adds 75% to the distance flown, and roughly doubles travel time, and that’s assuming you have an efficient connection.
A couple of other things stand out:
- It’s kind of funny how Adams’ partner must’ve been on the lookout for cheap Turkish Airlines fares (based on their trip to Hungary), and basically viewed any Turkish economy ticket as being a confirmed business class ticket
- Adams’ partner called Turkish Airlines to ask if they fly to Easter Island? Like… is she that bad at the internet, or…?
Turkish Airlines used to have the motto “Globally Yours.” And I guess until recently, that rang true for Adams… Turkish Airlines was indeed globally his!
Bottom line
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has just been indicted, and this largely centers around bribery and accepting contributions from foreign nationals. The biggest player in all this seems to be Türkiye, with a bulk of his benefits being free and heavily discounted flights on Turkish Airlines. What a story…
What do you make of this indictment?
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