Furious flyers have flooded an airport’s online contact form with complaints after officials in Florida renamed the facility in honor of President Donald Trump.
Palm Beach International Airport officially became President Donald J. Trump International Airport last week, prompting the airport to post a message above its comments form acknowledging the change “may be received in different ways by our passengers” while thanking travelers “for your continued support through this transition period.”
The gesture did little to placate most people who wrote in. NOTUS obtained the messages, sent during the first five days after the new name took effect, through a Florida Public Records Act request.
“It’s truly entertaining that you had to add a disclaimer to this form explaining the renaming of your airport after our racist, xenophobic, misogynistic 47th president,” one person wrote. Another quipped, “Hopefully you’ll have plenty of airbags to catch the barfs from people as they drive up.”
A woman identifying herself as Dawn asked, “How do we continue to get on our knees for such a narcissistic criminal so-called president?”
A recurring theme in the messages was a vow to boycott the airport entirely. A self-described business owner said he “will gladly reroute our travelers to other airports around and within Florida. Our business will not support your choice.”
A woman identifying herself as Jan, who said her family regularly fly in to visit a relative near the airport, wrote, “I am writing to assure you that as long as you are calling this airport anything closely related to ‘TRUMP’ I will NEVER FLY INTO THERE. NEVER! You have 100% lost all my family’s business. Despicable move!”
A Canadian visitor, who called the airport a “pleasant, well-run facility,” said that “once the name is changed, I will never step into it again, despite the travel inconvenience.” At least a dozen people said they’d instead use two other major South Florida airports located roughly 50 and 70 miles away.
Some messages leaned into sarcasm. “I don’t care if your airport pulls an Oprah and gives everyone who flies out of or into Palm Beach a new car. I will NEVER fly out of your airport as long as it has that egomaniac’s name on the sign,” one wrote. Someone identifying themselves as “Donald Trump” asked, “Do you offer complementary flights to Epstein’s Island?”—a reference to the president’s past friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
At least two dozen messages referenced pedophilia in some form. Others called Trump a “fascist,” “felon,” “megalomaniac,” “Nazi,” “thief,” “a--hole” and “senile old man.”
Only a handful of messages praised the rebrand. “Changing the airport’s name was an awesome idea. Why??? Because our President deserves it … President Donald J. Trump has done an awesome job,” one supporter wrote.
The backlash extended beyond the comments form. Speaking at the airport to MS NOW on the day of the renaming, Florida resident Pat Brown called it “disgusting, ridiculous, pompous, and a lot of other bad things,” adding that a newly changed highway exit sign near the airport “makes me sick every time I even see the sign.” Fellow Florida resident Phyllis Malmuth said, “I resent that the name is on every institution that we have, this included.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the renaming bill into law in March. The airport, located roughly five miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, swapped its longtime PBI airport code for DJT. The same day, Eric Trump downplayed the backlash to the $2.75 million rebrand, calling it only “slightly controversial” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.
Trump, meanwhile, appears undeterred by the feedback. On Truth Social on Wednesday morning, he was occupied by news that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s “mystery” dog had landed at the airport over the weekend with its famous owners. Sharing a Page Six article about the massive news, Trump declared, “So cool!!!”
