AIRLINE NEWS
United Airlines
United responds to report about free airport changes over Trump name
Josh RiveraEve ChenUSA TODAY
Updated July 17, 2026, 7:55 p.m. ET
United Airlines is pushing back on a report that passengers could change their destination airport for free if they object to flying into Florida’s newly renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport
Live And Let’s Fly, an airline industry blog, published what it described as an internal memo telling reservation agents they could offer alternatives such as Fort Lauderdale or Miami to customers who did not want to fly into the airport, formerly known as Palm Beach International Airport
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’t allow for changes because of an airport’s name or three-letter code
The statement leaves some room for agents to accommodate travelers under United’s existing change policies, but the airline said an objection to the airport’s name or code is not, by itself, an official reason for a fee-free change
According to memo excerpts published by Live And Let’s Fly, agents were told to “use your empowerment to offer acceptable alternatives” if a customer did not want to fly to the renamed airport
United is offering an unrelated “air quality flexibility” waiver to passengers flying through July 18 to one of the listed affected airports
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