{"id":9932,"date":"2026-07-18T21:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9932"},"modified":"2026-07-18T21:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:47:19","slug":"leaked-memo-reveals-trump-hater-discount-for-trump-intl-airport-changes-airline-pushes-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9932","title":{"rendered":"Leaked Memo Reveals Trump-Hater Discount For Trump Int\u2019l Airport Changes \u2014 Airline Pushes Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5743707\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Leaked-Memo-Reveals-Trump-Hater-Discount-For-Trump-Int-l-Airport-Changes-Airline-Pushes-Back.jpg\" alt=\"Leaked Memo Reveals Trump-Hater Discount For Trump Int&apos;l Airport Changes \u2014 Airline Pushes Back\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1005\" \/><\/p>\n<p>United Airlines pushed back after a leaked internal memo revealed agents being instructed to offer free changes to passengers who do not want to land at Donald J. Trump International Airport.<\/p>\n<p>President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/wow-trump-wakes-up-basking-in-glow-of-new-honor-after-going-to-bed-raging-about-assassination-plans\/\">basking in the glow<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/trump-hails-very-big-day-as-floridas-spectacular-palm-beach-airport-takes-his-name\/\">the newly-rechristened<\/a>\u00a0Palm Beach airport, now known as the \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/voters-slam-trump-while-at-new-djt-airport-over-iran-war-an-idiot-couldve-figured-this-out\/\">is happy about<\/a> the change, and aviation blogger <strong>Matthew Klint<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/liveandletsfly.com\/united-airlines-avoid-trump-airport-free-change\/\">revealed this week<\/a> that United gave agents the discretion to let customers divert to another airport for free:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>According to an internal memo shared with <em>Live And Let\u2019s Fly<\/em>, United is the process of updating its systems to rename West Palm Beach Airport (PBI) to President Donald J. Trump (DJT).<\/p>\n<p>But the most interesting guidance concerns customers who object to the airport\u2019s new name.<\/p>\n<p>United tells reservation agents:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf a customer does not want to fly to the airport, use your empowerment to offer acceptable alternatives such as Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) or Miami International Airport (MIA).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The memo even provides a suggested response:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI understand that you\u2019d rather not fly to this airport anymore. We can look at nearby airports like Fort Lauderdale or Miami instead. Is that an acceptable alternative?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Agents are then instructed to process the change as an even exchange.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>United is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/travel\/airline-news\/2026\/07\/17\/united-airlines-change-policy-trump-airport\/90954693007\/\">pushing back<\/a> on Klint&#8217;s scoop \u2014 but seemed to acknowledge the memo by calling it &#8220;poorly worded&#8221;:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>United told USA TODAY the message was poorly worded and not accurate. United customers are able to make changes to a ticket without a fee for many reasons. However, (their) policy doesn\u2019t allow for changes because of an airport\u2019s name or three-letter code.<\/p>\n<p>New signs welcome travelers to Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 9, 2026 in West Palm Beach, Florida.<br \/>\nThe statement leaves some room for agents to accommodate travelers under United\u2019s existing change policies, but the airline said an objection to the airport\u2019s name or code is not, by itself, an official reason for a fee-free change.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But that statement isn&#8217;t mutually exclusive to Klint&#8217;s reporting, which describes an exercise of discretion rather than a blanket policy. After the backtrack, Klint <a href=\"https:\/\/liveandletsfly.com\/united-airlines-djt-free-change\/\">stood by his reporting<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>After that memo went viral, United issued a carefully worded statement saying the memo was \u201cpoorly worded\u201d and \u201cinaccurate\u201d (without denying its authenticity) and adding:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnited customers are able to make changes to a ticket without a fee for many reasons. However, our policy doesn\u2019t allow for changes because of an airport\u2019s name or three letter code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s be clear: the memo was not unclear at all. It may have been written by a lower level manager rather than represent C-Suite policy, but it clearly authorized reservation agents to use their discretion to reaccomodate disgruntled passengers flying into DJT. We are told that the memo, still dated July 8th with the same title, has been updated to remove that language but otherwise left unchanged concerning United\u2019s internal updates for renaming PBI to DJT.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He also noted that &#8220;I understand why United decided to quickly end its surprisingly generous policy of accommodating these disgruntled passengers\u2026it was far too generous in the first place and ripe for abuse for those who may have booked into DJT because it was cheaper than used this unpublished policy to move to FLL or MIA.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/leaked-memo-reveals-trump-hater-discount-for-trump-intl-airport-changes-airline-pushes-back\/\">Leaked Memo Reveals Trump-Hater Discount For Trump Int\u2019l Airport Changes \u2014 Airline Pushes Back<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Airlines pushed back after a leaked internal memo revealed agents being instructed to offer free changes to passengers who do not want to land at Donald J. Trump International Airport. President Donald Trump has been basking in the glow of the newly-rechristened\u00a0Palm Beach airport, now known as the \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Leaked-Memo-Reveals-Trump-Hater-Discount-For-Trump-Int-l-Airport-Changes-Airline-Pushes-Back.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}