White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair has threatened to “take a new interest in the airline industry” after he was left personally aggrieved by two separate flight delays that affected him and his wife on Thursday and Wednesday.
Taking to Elon Musk’s social media platform X, Blair blasted: “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.”
The post then added: “I’m going to take a new interest in the airline industry.”
The 36-year-old political consultant made a name for himself in his home state of Florida, where he founded the political consulting firm Rapid Loop Consulting.
In 2024, he was appointed the political director of President Trump’s election campaign, and he has been the White House Deputy Chief of Staff since Trump took office for his second term last year.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has rolled back several key initiatives of the Biden years aimed at improving passenger rights.
In November, the White House officially killed off plans to introduce European-style compensation rights for airline passengers hit by significant delays or last-minute cancellations.
The legislation would also have mandated airlines provide a minimum level of care and assistance to delayed passengers, including refreshments and hotel accommodation for overnight delays.
Explaining its decision to ditch the rulemaking, the Department of Transportation argued that the airline industry already has strong incentives to look after passengers, and voluntary measures adopted by many airlines show that the current system is working just fine.
The Trump administration has consistently taken a far more industry-friendly approach to enforcing air consumer protections, which includes delaying enforcement of a landmark set of regulations designed to give disabled American air travelers more rights.
U.S. airlines had lobbied hard to hollow out the regulations and even filed a lawsuit in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, accusing the DOT of overstepping its rulemaking authority.
Another Biden-era proposed rule to require airlines to seat families together for free, even if they purchased ‘Basic Economy’ fares, has also been kicked into the long grass.
Just talking about the issue had been enough for some airlines to change their family seating policies, although the administration later said an official rulemaking was required due to the “reluctance by the majority of the largest U.S. airlines to amend their family seating policies to guarantee family seating at no additional cost.”
Blair’s post on X was not lost on former Biden admin Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who replied: “You could begin by restoring the passenger rights work you rolled back – and then seriously enforce airline laws, like we did.”
Buttigieg added: “Trust me, it gets results!”
Boo-hoo.