Delta Fundraises For The DOT Secretary’s Son-In-Law — The Optics Are Brutal [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • Delta hosted a fundraiser for DOT Secretary Sean Duffy’s son-in-law who is running for Congress.

    What possible reason could Delta have for financially backing the 25 year old Wisconsin Republican primary candidate…? Oh, wait. His dad is their regulator That looks like an obvious (albeit legal) payoff, right?

    Duffy, who has been in the midst of trying to execute an ambitious overhaul of the country’s antiquated and complicated air traffic control system, also was slated to be the “special guest” at a Dec. 3 fundraiser for Alfonso, 25, whose background is in the construction industry. That event was hosted by Delta Air Lines PAC as well as numerous BGR Group lobbyists, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by POLITICO.

  • Say you don’t want interchange regulation without saying you don’t want interchange regulation. This month Trump backed Durbin-Marshall swipe fee rules, and Visa clearly wants to get into his good graces.

  • Whoa.

  • A claim that over half of existing Bilt cardmembers have already converted to the new card “which is a little higher than they anticipated.”

  • This was similar to my experience as well, flying Southwest on both Tuesday and Wednesday (the first and second days of assigned seating). Both flights were at least a third empty, but passengers couldn’t get their bags in overhead bins near their own seats.

  • This is true.

  • Cathay Pacific first class buggies at Hong Kong and Heathrow and premium Chinese wines.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  2. I mean, this is child’s play compared to the world’s biggest company paying the first lady $28 million for her “documentary”, or various companies/countries buying hundreds of millions in worthless Trump crypto. Why wouldn’t these people do this penny ante stuff? Who is going to stop them?

  4. Happy February, VFTW! Off topic, but quick reminder/PSA that the Capital One Lounge/Landing access has officially changed as of today:

    They made it super easy. From the Cap 1 app, go to your card account -> Account Users – Manage Access. The second dot for each AU shows their lounge access status – yellow for no access, green for access. Simply click on a user and confirm you want to buy access for them. Says $125 will be charged to your credit card within 3-5 days.

    Now let’s give it a couple weeks to let the dust settle with the new access rules, and open up the LGA Landing in mid-February, yeah?

  5. @ Gary — I’ve never seen FAs ask passengers which movie they want to watch. Granted I didn’t fly much until the late 90s.

  6. Passing over Visa’s sycophancy, would such deposits count against annual contribution limit?

    It should, and most card issuers do count deposits made into IRAs against annual limits. But Schwab claims it doesn’t count towards annual limits, although their logic seems dubious at best.

  8. goes to show that DL knows that Wisconsin is what matters in the Midwest while AA and UA fight over Illinois

  9. @Tim

    Have you asked your mother to donate 500K Skypesos to delta sponsored candidates?

    Given the general value of Skypesos is around .2 to .4 c /mile, this should remain below the annual contribution limit

  10. In a country where Citizens United has legalized bribery, I am sorry to say that this is small change.

  11. Jon,
    I know you think you have me by the …. but your question needs to be raised to Michael Alfonso’s campaign, not me.

    it’s amazing how much some people thought United has bought or will buy because of its $1 million donation to the current WH occupant’s campaign

    I am betting the food in Wisconsin is a whole lot less expensive than in Washington DC. Plus, they do cheese really well there.

  13. AA, DL, UA, and others have had checked bag fees and assigned seating for a long time. If one of their planes is 1/3rd empty, the process of coming and going works without a hitch in my experience. Is WN screwing up, or are these pax who have only flown WN and can’t adapt?

  14. *deep sigh* on all the blatant corruption.

    @L737 — Mid-Feb for C1 Landing at LGA B is exciting! Getting my first look at JFK T4 C1 lounge thanks to SQ J access. Found the loophole! Ha-haa!

  15. @1990 — Wahoo, how dreadfully exciting! They couldn’t keep you out forever. Hope you have enough time for a Cheesemonger experience! Fingers crossed LGA does indeed open in the next couple weeks…

  16. @1990

    the only exciting part about LGA is the landing. New terminal or not.

    @Tim

    I actually didn’t know that united had donated $1m to Trump. Its pocket change though in terms of corruption.

  17. “goes to show that DL knows that Wisconsin is what matters in the Midwest while AA and UA fight over Illinois”

    Tim’s view of the world
    “Why go for the big money when table scraps are available?”

    Doesn’t change that delta is still the smallest in the Midwest outside the hub states
    Not changing anytime soon, Timmy
    No matter how much Pimento cheese you eat and cross your fingers 😉

    Go back to your Georgia hole

  18. Yes, @Tim Dunn Wisconsin with not a single airport that cracks the top-50 for passenger enplanements and no significant cargo operations is more important than Illinois with airports that rank #4 and #31.

    Rather than just laying low on this one you had to try a spin it that somehow this is anything other than what it is: political cronyism. If Kirby did this you would have wet your pants pissing a fit.

  19. Oh, @Jon F, cheer up! The new LGA is glorious, whether it’s the expanded SkyClub at C, or the Chase Sapphire in the dungeon, Amex, Air Canada, United Club, Admirals Club, and soon-to-be C1 Landing at B. (We do not speak of A.)

  21. Not a surprise that the people that don’t understand aviation also don’t understand politics.

    Wisconsin is up for grabs Illinois is solid blue

    and, Max, we know you can remanufacture and manipulate any data you want to show an untruth but DL IS the largest airline in the Midwest in part because of its dual DTW and MSP hubs

    Chicago is just a place where airlines and their strategies go to die

  22. @Tim Dunn — Ahh, the ole ‘everyone else is dumb but me’ and ‘those who agree with me are wise’ tropes. And, @MaxPower, please remind TIm what a FIB is…friendly…brother, right?

  23. @Tim Dunn the “I know everything and you don’t,” coupled with your refusal to incorporate data that challenges your doctrine is telling and repeatedly undermines your credibility.

    Look at the facts, DL has donated money to a 25 year-old whose dad has some level of influence over their business. This reeks of (legal) cronyism. And flies in the face of DL’s publicly-facing attempt to welcoming everyone. You can’t be welcoming when you donate to political candidates pushing Christian nationalism.

    One look at this kid (and that’s what he is) shows a track record of riding on his dad’s name for access. His policy stances are straight out of the MAGA playbook.

    And, you do realize, Illinois has elected GOP candidates at the state level. Your statement that Illinois doesn’t matter ignores the fact that you need 218 votes for a majority. It doesn’t matter if they come from WI or IL or anywhere else.

    I know, math is hard.

  24. And how many Democrats has DeltaPAC supported in New York, Michigan or Massachusetts?

    Here’s just the 2024 direct contributions:

    Rick Larsen WA-02 (Ranking Member, Transportation Cmte) $5,000
    Henry “Hank” Johnson GA-04 $5,000
    Debbie Dingell MI-06 $5,000
    Sanford Bishop GA-02 $5,000
    Suzan DelBene WA-01 $2,500
    Raul Ruiz CA-25 $1,000
    Katherine Clark MA-05 (House Minority Whip) $2,500

    But hey, “corruption” over what was probably a couple hundred dollars in cheese trays.

  25. Hey, Timbits, southern Wisconsin is a Chicago suburb. No, really, the Chicago suburb line goes up to County Road KR, the dividing line between Kenosha and Racine counties. So we’re in Wisconsin too, just like we are in Indiana. Stuff it.

  26. @Eric personally, I have issues with ANY corporate money being used to fund political candidates. Citizens United has turned politics and many politicians into the patsies of corporate America. Politicians could care less about their constituents. But, if AMCE comes a calling they get what they want so the donations keep flying.

    Corrupt on both sides and anyway I look at it. So, it’s not a partisan thing for me. It’s a democracy thing for me.

  27. @Parker, @Eric — It’s wild how cheap our politicians can be bought. A mere $1,000? Think, if we had lobbyists for American passengers, we might actually have a passenger rights legislation by now, including compensation for when airlines screw us over… *sigh*

  28. @Eric

    And how many of those have a parent or a close family member who literally regulates them? (exec vs leg branch)

    Oh, and there’s a difference between making contributions and hosting fund-raisers …

  29. I miss the days when Delta was a company to be admired rather than despised for blatant corruption any cronyism.

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