Delta Air Lines CEO Sparks Outrage With Comment About Prices

The cost of air travel in the United States has surged in recent weeks as a result of soaring oil prices due in large part to the conflict in the Middle East. While the war might be the reason for the increased travel cost, that doesn't necessarily mean those costs will be coming down once the conflict ends.

Last week, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian issued some comments that appeared to throw cold water on the idea that air fare could go down in price once the conflict ends and oil prices return to normal.

Travel Prices Surge

On Feb. 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint offensive against Iran. As a result of the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through, has been effectively shut down.

Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt, founder of the Atmosphere Research Group, recently warned that he is already seeing commercial air ticket prices increase as a result of the conflict.

Harteveldt said that some carriers are already beginning to add “fuel surcharges” to fares for some long-haul international routes.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has warned customers to expect higher ticket prices and American Airlines CEO Robert Isom made it clear that American Airlines would respond if this turned into a long-term issue.

As a result, several major airlines have already begun raising checked-bag fees to help cover the soaring fuel costs.

Don't Expect Prices to Come Down

While travel costs are on the rise as a result of the war and the oil shortages, that doesn't mean airfare is going to go down in price as soon as the conflict ends or the oil supply normalizes.

During the Q1 2026 Delta earnings call last week, Bastian was asked a question about what would happen if oil prices suddenly dropped considerably. In his answer, the Delta CEO made it clear that even if that were the case, Delta would like to "retain any pricing strength" that it gained as a result of the energy crisis rather than decreasing prices.

"We’re not in a position given how dramatic the fuel swings have been to really answer that," Bastian said via One Mile At a Time. "We do expect, hopefully, that fuel settles down. Now, it’ll settle down, I think, at a higher level than where we have in the plan. Fuel recapture is going to be important no matter what we do, and the degree to which we can retain any of the pricing strength that we talked about from industry rationalization, that will certainly help us boost our margins this year and clearly into next year as well."

Customers Not Happy

Needless to say, customers were not at all happy about these comments from the Delta CEO,.

"Delta CEO saying the quiet part out loud: They are going to use the oil price spike from the Iran War to permanently raise prices," said Josh Miller-Lewis, founder of More Perfect Union, in a post on X.

"Inflation works one way and one way only. Prices go up and they stay up. These people's greed will never be satisfied and they will never miss a chance to price gouge," one person wrote in a post on X that now has over 24,000 likes.

"They should've never received any bailout money," wrote another user in a post that has more than 7,000 likes.

"All these people want to do is rob you," someone else wrote in a post that has over 4,000 likes.

While Bastian was likely trying to provide some assurance to investors, it's clear that these comments struck a chord with people.