United Airlines is telling its reservation agents that customers who no longer want to fly to Palm Beach because its airport has been renamed for President Trump can switch to Miami or Fort Lauderdale for free.
There’s no published travel waiver. It is an internal customer service instruction obtained by Live and Let’s Fly. Agents are told to use their “empowerment” to offer either Fort Lauderdale or Miami as an alternative and process the change as an “even exchange.” United even gives agents a sympathetic script:
“I understand that you’d rather not fly to this airport anymore.”
Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach are different destinations, and normally changing which one a passenger flies to would require repricing the ticket and collecting any fare difference. United is now willing to absorb that difference when a passenger invokes the name ‘Trump’.
Passengers Are Threatening A Boycott
People promising a broad boycott, but I do not see any evidence that they’re actually undertaking one. Message submitted through the airport’s public contact form during the first five days of the new name show dozens of complaints, and indeed at least a dozen specifically promising to use Miami or Fort Lauderdale in the future instead. One person wrote,
“I will NEVER FLY INTO THERE. NEVER! You have 100% lost all my family’s business.”
In contrast, only a handful of the messages praised the new name. That strikes me as just a reflection that people express complaints far more than satisfaction. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition opposing the rename collected more than 1,300 verified signatures.
Since the change only happened a week ago, it’s too early to look to real booking and travel data to extrapolate an affect on passenger traffic. However, United’s memo was certainly prompted by real concerns.
United Is Playing Both Sides
American Airlines gave agents a script explaining that the government changed the airport’s name and the airline was following the official designation. American even broke its usual gate-display format to show “Pres DJT”.
United is taking a different approach: acknowledge the objection and move the customer somewhere else. Is United pandering to opponents of the President? Sure. But United also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, and CEO Scott Kirby has publicly defended administration policies even when they increase costs for aviation. He’s expressly pandered to the MAGA movement as well, just as he had been woke under Biden. Here, heavily-regulated United chooses to flatter the President in Washington while flattering his opponents on the telephone.
A Cheap Way To Avoid A Political Fight
United serves all three airports, and many passengers traveling to Boca Raton or points south may prefer Fort Lauderdale anyway. For someone actually going to Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale is about 50 miles away and Miami roughly 70 miles away. United will waive the difference in fare, not cover ground transportation.
Regardless of political views this is just virtue signaling by insecure people
Do they actually think anybody gives a crap?
Reminds me of the fat ugly lesbos that shaved their hair when trump won
Nobody, absolutely nobody cares
Don’t move to Florida libs. We don’t want your politics here. Go back to New York, Kalifornia, Illinois, Jersey, etc.
Oh no… Scott’s gonna get a 3AM rage-tweet from the President calling him ‘woke’ now….
Can we assume they won’t fly to Reagan International either?
Will this work for Harry Reid Airport?
What the hell is wrong with people. It must be exhausting to be in a state of rage 24/7
Given how much the rest of the civilized world (and most of the uncivilized world as well) loathe the Mango Metamucillini, I would expect that this airport could become a target of terrorists, more so than any other airport. That reason alone is a good enough reason to avoid PBI.
@Coffee Please — Ah, yes, you sure ‘owned’ those libs! Nothing says ‘winning’ like paying triple the national average for property insurance that loses its storm/flood coverage just before hurricane season. Of course, that is assuming you can even find a carrier who hasn’t already pulled out of the state. By all means, keep Florida ‘pure’ for those billionaires fleeing NYC; though, you may want to check your latest property tax assessment before you prematurely celebrate. Uh oh! Another condo just collapsed. Good riddance, silly building codes; after all, they’re mere suggestions in FL.
Who cares! Libs need to stay out of conservative States! Keep their BS amount other loons!
I opposed the name change for a sitting president. I almost certainly will oppose naming anything after DJT after he’s out of office. But, I find AA’s and UA’s actions to be appropriate, reasoned responses.
don’t fly to DJT, problem solved
@Jay — Deal. Much better beaches and food, elsewhere. Palm Beach? Psh. Is this the 1920s?
Don’t care what they call it. We have real problems. This name fuss isn’t a blip on the radar
I wouldn’t be surprised if they take a small passenger hit, but I would expect it to be caused by brand confusion much more than the boycott. For example, one could imagine destination customers searching for, or being suggested, South Florida on an OTA or aggregator but ignoring DJT results in favour of MIA and FLL as they don’t know DJT when they would have known PBI. If just a few airlines, OTAs or aggregators don’t make it 100% clear in their fare display that DJT = West Palm, you could imagine a low single-digit percentage decline in traffic, which sounds small but is real money.
(Of course, we’ll never really know without access to proprietary market research. If West Palm specifically declines as a market for another secular reason—eg, some financial jobs move back—I’m sure we’ll see gloating blaming the name change, while I’m sure if it increases for an unrelated secular reason, we’ll be heading about how GREAT and POWERFUL the TRUMP brand is. Difference in PBI/DJT vs MIA/FLL may be more revealing, but even then you have secular factors such as Air Canada cutting its PBI flying.)
I would love to use this on my next flight to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Probably wouldn’t work. The alleged TDS-sufferers probably are too young to even remember why it took about thirty years for Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority to change to that name on signs (signage?) at the Metro stop.
Woke!
Ignore the name, problem solved. Almost as good as all the Tesla owning progressives with the Elon apology stickers I see here in California, and trust me there are millions of them. So childish that you would actually change your flight destination and inconvenience yourself based on not liking the ego maniac’s name being added to the airport. I just marvel and laugh at the meaningless things that trigger people. Adolescent behavior at best.
@D Fray — I’m so outraged… at your lack of outrage… over all this outrage!
So? It seems people chose a point of departure based on what airlines service the airport, fare prices, distance from home, on time departures and arrivals, airport amenities, etc.
If you object to your first choice, well,.fly from somewhere else.
Pathetic
@Matt — For a true awakened ‘premium’ flight experience, please consider Delta. (@L737…)
@1990
Must have taken my meds this morning. But seriously, would you really change flight destinations because you didn’t like the name on an airport? C’mon
This is an incredibly smart move by United. UA has by far the wealthiest clients of the Big 3 and has the best route network being only burdened by one hub in a red state, whereas DL and AA each have at least 2.
Given the rise in premium fare sales over the past several years, air travel has become very much like the US political landscape, with high affluence blue Elites subsidizing the rest of the network.
Whether you like this name change or not, it makes sense to accommodate pax who have concerns, because those pax who lean blue and take an issue with this have disproportionately more affluence and travel more and with higher rates or in higher cabins.
@D Fray — Absolutely! I’m booked to DJT, and can’t wait to take a massive dump there! *not gonna flush*
Only two groups have to mark everything they touch. Dogs and very insecure men.
If you have to fly out of another airport because the name triggers you maybe you should show the therapist on the doll where the airport hurt you.
@Thing 1
You mean like the rage certain people are still in after losing the 2020 election?
Changing your travel plans for this seems crazy, but we know that many Democrats have a strong hatred of Trump that manifests in extreme behavior (TDS, if you prefer). It will be interesting to see if this ACTUALLY impacts traffic at PBI/DJT. Im guessing “no,” because there are usually some very practical reasons to fly to one airport or another (convenience, price, etc). We will have to wait and see
@George Romey – Pure gold! I almost spit out my cornflakes when I read that.
@1990 – Well, I’m sure the Donald will get a “full” report and probably tweet out the photo evidence.
Putting the “snow” in Snowflake. You can’t handle flying to an airport because of its name? Grow up. I can’t stand the guy but I’m not going to alter my travel plans just because of a name change…especially when said name change doesn’t benefit him financially. I could at least understand those people not wanting to do anything that might put money in his pocket though that’s not really an issue for me personally since the things I buy and places I frequent don’t overlap with his financial interests (e.g. his hotels/resorts are out of my price range so booking one was never an option to begin with). But this isn’t that. This is being petty and childish for no valid reason.
I am triggered by my flights from Fresno to Fukuoka because I am overweight. Will UA let me change them?
I’m a bit floored – this just proves TDS is *for real*.
PBIA is such an easy airport to get in and out of, compared to MIA or FLL. Anyone changing their flight to FLL/MIA is insane because I-95 and the turnpike are always jammed (heck, the turnpike just south of PBI is under construction and a mess), so for someone to go thru the hassles of dealing with crossing 1 or 2 county lines over a NAME needs to get their heads examined. The experience at PBIA is soo much better than FLL/MIA.
I’m not a fan of the CODE change – that’s nuts. And the changes that are going to happen in August regarding the PBI sunset is going to be a bit chaotic. The name change has me scratching my head, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
@Homer — You’ll want fly Palm Beach to Sioux City, then Pensacola, allegedly.
@haolenate — Of course The Daily Show is real. Catch Jon on Mondays.
The issue with Palm Beach is that Copa only flies PTY to MIA/FLL, so… no me gusta.
This is Peak TDS !
@rjb — Does “rjb” stand for rim j… oh, nevermind…
FLL and MIA work for me. I don’t need to give my money to that moron’s ego.
The trogs should retaliate by boycotting the NYC airport named for a damned RINO.
So many triggered Republicans in this thread offended by the mere thought of someone not flying to Dear Leader’s airport. Maybe you should go buy some DJT airport merch to support him in these trying times?
HAHAHAH .. nothing like seeing TDS in full bloom.
Ok.. honestly.. it’s pathetic.
United.. what is wrong with you?
John L, perhaps TWS (T Worship Syndrome) that you seem to exhibit is more telling
If you hate anyone that much, You are the problem for all your troubles!
Is this the same @Lori that drones on about hating ‘illegals’ on here? If you didn’t have double-standards, you’d have no standards at all!
1990: The clearer option is West Palm Beach -> Sioux City -> Dickinson, ND. Republitards can’t object because that latter airport is named after Teddy Roosevelt, who, last I checked, was a Republican.
@O’Hare Is My Second Home — Yes, or Pensacola.
Oh the irony, Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive, and his trust-busting, would be seen as a ‘communist’ by today’s Republican party. Likewise, I doubt Lincoln or Eisenhower would be allowed in the party, either. Of course, the Democrats have also swapped ideologies and geographically since those bygone eras, too. (Now, where’s right-wing propogandist @Michael Mainello to try to pitch us on the opposite of all that.)
What’s valuable here is that there’s a reasonable chance that someone changed their opinion on this topic based on commenters’ remarks.
@Matt — For an enlightening premium experience, please consider Delta.
Well, I haven’t flown into Little Rock either since it is associated with an ex=President.
This whole naming thing has gotten out of hand. It should only be used once the President has passed. Otherwise, it looks and smells bad!
@1990 – with FIFA going on, its near impossible to get to FLL/MIA. I’d assume PBI would have the same loads as those airports right now. Even ATL – Latoya Jackson Intergallactic Spaceport & Nail Emporium, is also full.
BLAH.
Be very careful. I was flying from Japan to South Florida and was detained by Border Security agents for 3 hours because of it! This was because I was traveling from Fukuoka to Palm Beach….my ticket said FUK DJT…….(If Trump can lie about the election I can too 🙂
I find it confusing when authority named an airport after someone or something especially ones without city name in it. I’d prefer it if they have city name in front then whatever celebratory name afterwards eg. Sydney Kingsford Smith, Bangkok Suvarnabhumt, Tokyo Narita, etc. Many airports in USA simply use celebratory name without city name and expect people to know where it is.
When I first heard the name Harry Reid International Airport, I was so confused when I discovered it was Las Vegas. My first thought was “What? Isn’t it McLaren?” It’d taken me a while to associate McLaren with Las Vegan. It would help so much more if they use name like Las Vegas Harry reid International Airport.
Many other airports are in similar situation regarding naming. People’s name without city in it.
@claire — Be honest. That’s not because it’s named after both Bill AND Hillary; it’s because there’s not much to do in Little Rock or Arkansas, in general, unless you work for Walmart corporate, and if so, you’d probably fly into Fayetteville, anyway.
@haolenate — Bah! That’s probably the Jackson that @George Romey thinks ATL is named after. (So, Spain or Argentina for this Sunday? Just hope the smoke clears by then. It’s been pretty bad up here the last day or so. Canadian wildfires. I see Chicago and Detroit are far worse.)
@Dos — I go out of my way to call BKK “Suvarnabhumi” (sic), first because it’s a fun word to say aloud (go ahead, try it), and second because there are two airports in Bangkok, the other being Don Mueang (DMK). Kind of like in NYC, you wouldn’t say “New York City airport” (you’d probably say La Guardia/LGA, Kennedy/JFK, or Newark/EWR.) Then again, you do you.
They should allow those who want to fly there to also change their tickets for free. The likelihood is that the name change will revert in a couple years so some will probably fly there on purpose.
So basically your first choice destination could be FLL or MIA, but the rate is less to PBI, so you book PBI knowing that you can change it to one of the others just because you suffer from TDS. How interesting. I guess people do not get the concept that the extra 50 to 75 mile trip will be costly.
And the get dimmer and dimmer every day.
@Dos. Of the presidential ones, JFK has no city name in it (nor did IDL). LIT is “Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport,” but the predecessor name didn’t have Little Rock in the name either (Adams Field). Of the presidential airports renaming prior to this year, only JFK had a code change (IDL to KIA, and later to JFK). Whether you like the renaming or not (I’m “not”), this is unusual. DCA went from Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and kept DCA. PBI went from Palm Beach International Airport to President Donald J. Trump International Airport with the new DJT code. This is 62 years after IDL ==> KIA in a much different political world.
If it’s therapeutic in curing The Syndrome it’s a good thing.
Wow. Ladies and gentlemen we have a new symptom for TDS !
I laugh at these pathetic people.
Enemies of America know it’s too difficult to defeat us militarily, so they deploy other techniques like fentanyl to kill our young people, election rigging, promoting socialism/communism, and destroying brains with the Woke Mind Virus.
@OnePatriot77 — “Oh no! He’s onto us!” — China/Iran/EuropeanUnion /s
Wow! TDS is for real!!
Personally I can’t wait to fly from Palm Beach FL to Sioux City IA to Fresno CA to Dickinson ND:
DJT SUX FAT DIX
It’s sad that people harbor such hatred for a person, especially the democratically elected President, that they would avoid landing at an airport with all the inconvenience that causes them. There are places named after people I didn’t vote for and I can’t imagine avoid visiting those places if I need or want to visit them. What even more ironic is that many of those people accuse the President of the very behavior that they are exhibiting.
@BMG — *gasp* Hypocrisy?! Next, you’ll suggest “shame” still has an impact. While we’re at it, do tell us your thoughts on the 46th President… Is Brandon still let’s-going?
I can’t wait to take a massive dump in this dreadful airport.
Hopefully the stench will make the Trumpers eyes water.
@1990 this isn’t about politics and my views about number 46 or number 47 are not relevant. Had the airport been named after number 46 instead of number 47 I would not be changing my plans just as I wouldn’t be changing my plans now if I were to be flying there.
@1990 – amazing I made it to TIA.. err TPA. Got off the tram and finally saw that damn flamingo. Someone should paint crocs on it
I mean, what is it about airport names that gets people sssoo sensitive. Heck, the entire OAK/SFO name change was fun to watch, this one is just horrific.
It will always be PBIA to me.
And about ATL, I think the Spaceport is still the #1 tag on Facebook when people check-in there *smirk*
I object to the fact he trademarked the name so he gets a kickback everytime somebody uses that airport! No I don’t fly into National airport either.