Why did Ivanka Trump fly JetBlue? Cost, security, convenience

A day after the daughter of President-elect Donald Trump was involved in an incident aboard a flight on low-cost airline JetBlue from JFK International Airport in New York City, a question on everyone's mind today is, Why was Ivanka Trump flying on JetBlue?

A fellow passenger, whom some media sites identified as Dan Goldstein of Brooklyn, New York, was accused of harassing her by saying, “Your father is ruining the country.” Goldstein and his husband, identified as Hunter College Professor Matthew Lasner, were removed from the flight and offered a later flight.

But Goldstein also reportedly wanted to know why Trump was on a commercial flight and not a private or charter jet.

While Ivanka could have flown on one of her father’s “Trump” planes, it does cost the president-elect thousands of dollars to run them.

Donald Trump has two jet planes: a Boeing 757, often called Trump Force One, and a smaller jet, Cessna Citation X, The New York Times reports.

To run the smaller jet would cost about $3,200 an hour and the Boeing 757 about $8,000 to $12,000 an hour, according to Conklin & de Decker, an aviation reference company.

That’s a lot of money to fly only a family of five: Ivanka, her husband Jared Kushner and their three children.

JetBlue said the passenger was removed from a San Francisco-bound flight, as Ivanka planned to travel to Hawaii for the holidays. But a few media reports suggests that the flight was headed to Palm Beach International Airport, 3 miles west of Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect's Palm Beach, Florida, mansion where he is spending the Christmas holidays.

A JetBlue flight from New York to West Palm Beach is only about two and one-half hours. To have the president-elect’s daughter traveling on a commercial flight for more than three hours could be a security risk.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 1.3 percent of JetBlue’s traffic is from PBIA to JFK, which is around 300,000 passengers a year. The airline alone flies about 23 million passengers a year.

Also, one out of every 15 passengers at PBIA are traveling on a JetBlue flight to JFK, which suggests JetBlue is a popular choice for those flying to and from the New York area.

And who doesn’t like flying JetBlue with all its perks, like personal TVs, free snacks and drinks, and comfy, spacious seats. The pricing is also less expensive than other airlines, with a round-trip flight from JFK to PBIA starting at about $250.

A spokeswoman for the Trump family would not comment on the incident, but did not deny what took place, according to The Associated Press.

Staff reporter Mike Stucka contributed to this report.