A Delta Airlines pilot may be in hot water after blaming Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for the dismal state of American air travel during an announcement on the plane’s intercom.
At least one passenger made the decision to become a political tattletale over the public service announcement, which took place Monday in Atlanta, according to Newsweek.
In a since-deleted tweet, a Twitter user with the account “Stewart Lewis” notified Delta that a pilot had blamed Buttigieg for a ground stop.
“@Delta it is not OK for the pilot of flight 2274 ATL-RSW to blame a florida ground stop on @PeteButtigieg. Completely unacceptable political dig just made twice at gate over loud speaker,” the tweet stated.
“ATL” is the airport code for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “RSW” is the airport code for the Southwest Florida International Airport near Fort Myers.
It wasn’t clear exactly what was supposed to have been said over the intercom, but the Twitter post still caused some turbulence.
The tweet was picked up by Christina Pushaw, a communications aide to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with the comment, “Give this pilot a raise!”
Conclusion: it IS okay to criticize federal officials. pic.twitter.com/WHT4yTJMeL
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) January 2, 2023
In another tweet, she responded to a Twitter user who wrote “Spoiler alert….it is OK.”
“Yeah… this isn’t China, Americans are allowed to criticize our government officials.”
Yeah… this isn’t China, Americans are allowed to criticize our government officials.
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) January 2, 2023
Delta Airlines told Newsweek that it’s actively investigating the customer’s complaint.
“Delta will look into this allegation,” an airline representative said in a statement.
There’s reason to believe that the reported criticism of Buttigieg may be timely and accurate.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday issued a nationwide ground stop to any aircraft destined for Florida, according to Airlive.
The delay on Florida-bound flights stemmed from problems with En Route Automation Modernization, a radar-tracking system used by the FAA.
Flights were snarled throughout the Sunshine State, Reuters reported.
The problem originated with the federal government this time, rather than a private airline. The FAA is part of Buttigieg’s Transportation Department.
Buttigieg’s talked a tough game regarding the airlines amid the holiday dysfunction blighting the nation’s airports, but this isn’t his first month on the job. And it’s his responsibility to fix it.
In fact, he’s threatened consequences for dysfunctional airlines and promised improvement for travelers as recently as this past fall.
[firefly_poll]
Buttigieg was fine with publicly slapping the airlines with blame when they left thousands of American travelers stranded.
Oddly enough, he doesn’t appear to have lined up a series of cable news appearances when one of his own federal agencies is responsible for flight delays plaguing American travelers during the busiest time of the year.
There’s no reason to let the airlines off the hook, but Buttigieg isn’t the guy to call them out.
He’s had two years to improve the gradually declining state of America’s air travel infrastructure, and he’s delivered little but hot rhetoric on television.
Maybe Buttigieg thinks he doesn’t have to worry about criticism, since he’s coddled by an establishment media that ignores his actual job performance.
Plus, he has loyal tattletales to snitch out any critics who might speak about his own incompetence.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.