Mississippi’s newly elected Democratic senator got a firsthand look at the air travel meltdown this weekend, and one airline worker had a pointed suggestion for fixing it.
Senator-elect Scott Colom posted on social media late Saturday that he was stuck at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as his Delta flight kept getting pushed back.
“I’m at the ATL airport and my @Delta flight has been continuously delayed because they can’t find another pilot,” Colom wrote. “It’s midnight and they don’t know when or if they’ll find another pilot but won’t give out hotel vouchers until the flight is cancelled, which they can’t say when that’ll happen. This is a hot mess for Americans.”
Then he shared what one worker told him.
“One of them just said, ‘pick another flight...pick another transportation secretary,’” Colom wrote, adding a shrugging emoji.
The post was viewed more than 1.4 million times and was reposted by conservative attorney and Trump critic George Conway.
Airlines are still trying to recover from Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop, which left planes and crews scattered across the country. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed overloaded routers and outdated equipment for the shutdown and has pressed Congress for billions to overhaul the air traffic control system.
Colom’s replies quickly turned on Duffy.
“Pick another Transportation Secretary,” one user wrote, alongside an image of the secretary.
Former Obama White House aide Arun Chaudhary suggested Colom put the wait to good use.
“Do some man on the street in the airport interviews!” Chaudhary wrote.
“You know me, always listening. Just don’t have a mic,” Colom replied.
Colom, a former district attorney, won his race this month and will become Mississippi’s first Black senator in 150 years, The Atlantic reported.