A high-ranking White House official said he’s “going to take a new interest in the airline industry” after he and his wife experienced difficulties with American Airlines.
James Blair, a political advisor who serves as deputy chief of staff, voiced his frustration with the carrier in a post on X.
“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,” he wrote Thursday. “Yesterday, they apparently forgot to BOOK A PILOT for my wife’s flight.”
“I’m going to take a new interest in the airline industry,” he continued.
Blair did not elaborate on that point, and it is not clear if the White House will take any action based on his complaints.
So far, the second Trump administration has been mostly friendly to U.S. airlines. Over the last year it has voluntarily canceled a number of proposed consumer protection rules put forward by the Biden administration, which the carriers were fighting in court.
Among them was an order creating a compensation structure for passengers whose flights are delayed by issues within their airline’s control.
Other proposed regulations, including one that required airlines to disclose all of their ancillary fees up front, were struck down in court, and the White House has made no attempt to revive them.
The federal government has taken a harder line when the nation’s broader economic interests appear to be threatened, however. Last summer, the U.S. Department of Transportation moved to cancel Delta’s joint venture with Aeroméxico. The administration accused the Mexican government and regulators of illegally intervening to help Delta and Aeroméxico while pushing other U.S. carriers out of Benito Juárez-Mexico City International Airport.
