One of the passengers aboard a 
Southwest Airlines flight departing 
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) yesterday on December 24th filmed Donald Trump Jr. being dropped off by a motorcade on the tarmac to catch a ride.
The son of the President of the United States stepped out of the convoy of black SUVs and walked up a private stairs onto the Southwest Boeing 737. As a member of the immediate family of the executive office, Secret Service escorted Trump Jr. every step of the way.
The Trumps Fly Coach
Donald Trump has personally owned a Boeing 757 private jet for some years, but it’s not uncommon to see members of the family flying coach. Ivanka Trump was seen on a JetBlue flight and caught some flack from members of the public along the way. Donald Trump Jr. even posted a trip report from Emirates first class last summer on TikTok.
Trump renovated his 757 using funds provided by small donors. They use a jet that was previously owned by Paul Allen, which became operational in 2022 after refits. Since he was elected to do a second term in 2024, he is putting miles on Air Force One and pushing to get new government-funded private 747 jumbo jets added to the fleet.
Travel review website, Live and Let’s Fly, actually shared a flight with Trump Jr. in 2018. Riding along in economy class on United Airlines, Secret Service escorted Junior directly aboard the plane before boarding began. Air travel reviewer Matthew Clint made this remark in his story on the experience, expressing his surprise and confusion at the celebrity passenger seat in one row ahead of him in economy seating:
“I entered through Door 1 and expected to find Donald and Kimberly in the first row of business class. But they were not there… guess who was seated in the aisle and middle seats directly in front of mine?”
Skipping The Terminal
Obviously, Donald Trump Jr. being directly related to the person in the highest office of the land incurs a great deal of extra security precautions. That alone is enough to justify the private car service from curbside to the jet stairs. At the same time, it’s not that uncommon to see such a service for celebrities and first-class passengers at many airports around the world.
Lufthansa’s first-class terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, is famous for its service of transporting VIP travelers from the private landslide facility directly to their aircraft in a Porsche or Mercedes. Air France does the same thing at Charles de Gaulle, and there are a number of airports in the United States that have very similar options available.
Naturally, since Junior is under the protection of the Secret Service, he was transported in big Chevy Suburbans with government security officers riding along. That is a little bit different from what you might see provided to other VIP guests.
In the video and pictures posted online, he appeared to walk up the service steps to the jet bridge used by staff. No special entrance or access, and while he did board ahead of the other passengers, the plane was by no means exclusively chartered or booked for any other kind of special service plan.
Trump Force One
Donald Trump Jr. does routinely ride the 757 the family owns, dubbed “Trump Force One,” such as when he visited Greenland in January of this year. At the time, his father, President-elect Donald Trump, was musing about the possibility of purchasing Greenland from Denmark. Junior reassured the press that he was not on a trip to pursue such a mission, but rather simply taking a leisurely vacation.
During President Trump’s first term, Junior also said that he never tires of flying on Air Force One in a Facebook post. Earlier this month, he flew to the Doha Forum in Qatar, the same country that “donated” a privately configured 747-8, which is currently being considered for retrofit to a new Air Force One aircraft that will be a place filler until the next generation VC-25B is completed by Boeing.
