
United Airlines Retracts Free Rebooking Policy for Flights Avoiding Donald J. Trump Airport
United Airlines has backtracked on an apparent policy that allowed passengers who no longer wanted to fly to Donald J. Trump International Airport in West Palm Beach to rebook for free on a flight to an alternative nearby airport. A couple of days ago, a leaked internal memo sent to United’s reservation agents suggested that the airline was aware that some passengers were uncomfortable with flying to the newly renamed airport, which was previously known as Palm Beach International Airport (PBI). If passengers contacted United’s reservation line because they no longer wanted to fly to Donald J. Trump Airport due to the name change, agents were instructed to say: “I understand that you'd rather not fly to this airport anymore. We can look at nearby airports like Fort Lauderdale or Miami instead. Is that an acceptable alternative?" The memo added that agents could use their “empowerment to offer acceptable alternatives” without needing to get approval from a manager. Flight changes could be made for free, which, in itself, was an unusual move. After the story was broken by Live and Let’s Fly , it quickly went viral, and it didn’t take long for United to start reviewing the memo. Now, the airline says the “message was poorly worded and not accurate.” That’s right, United isn’t denying the memo was shared with agents, or that anyone who read the message would think that passengers could rebook onto flights to alternative airports to deliberately avoid the DJT airport. Instead, United is simply saying that the meaning of the memo was different than what you or I believed it to mean. United Airlines is, however, making its position very clear: “United customers are able to make changes to a ticket without a fee for many reasons. However, our policy doesn't allow for changes because of an airport's name or three-letter code." The name change from Palm Beach International Airport to Donald J. Trump Airport officially took effect on July 9, just a few months after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new law that allows the state to name major commercial airports. Before the airport could be renamed, however, Palm Beach County had to enter into a licensing agreement with the President because he had trademarked his name. The board of commissioners approved the licensing agreement 4-3 in a highly contested vote. Public backlash to the renaming has been fierce, and many people have openly vowed to boycott the airport. United's online booking tool still doesn't accurately reflect the name and airport code change. At the time of publication, a dummy booking allowed us to search for flights from PBI, which is now officially known by the airport code DJT. When you click on any given flight for additional information, the flight is shown as operating from West Palm Beach, FL, US (PBI) and not from Donald J. Trump Airport (DJT). For those in the know, customers can search for flights to and from DJT via United's website, with the online booking tool correctly recognizing the airport code, but it then directs users to a results page that shows PBI.











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