Joe Biden Says Airlines Charging Extra For Legroom On Planes Affects People of Color

With the midterm elections around the corner, President Joe Biden is making regular public appearances. He has been using his social media presence to highlight his administration's attempts to create financial breathing room for families.

Biden called out "junk fees" levied by banks, cable companies, and other industries, in an address at the White House Wednesday. During the speech, he also slammed airlines for levying additional charges for seats with extra legroom, turning it into a race issue.

Maintaining that such surprise costs affect people of color and impoverished citizens the most, he said his administration is working on eliminating resort fees, processing fees for concert tickets, and other charges that eat away at Americans' savings, AP reported.

Several Americans perceived the airline statements as off-color, finding it hard to look past them.

"Some airlines if you want six more inches between you and the seat in front, you pay more money. But you don't know it until you purchase your ticket," Biden said in the speech, billed as "remarks by President Biden on protecting American consumers from junk fees."

"Look folks, these are junk fees. They are unfair and they hit marginalized Americans the hardest, especially low income folks, and people of color," he added, Travel Tomorrow reported.

Biden indicated billions of dollars could be saved if airlines eliminated these add-on fares.

"These are billions of dollars. It doesn't add up to billions for the individual, but it adds up to two, three, four hundred bucks for average families," he said, affirming that this move could benefit a lot to people during Thanksgiving travel.

However, his comments appeared to have offended a section of Americans who criticized him on social media.

"According to Biden in this scenario, POC are fat, broke and stupid," perceived a Twitter user. "Is Biden saying black people are fat?" asked another.

"Add 'most fat poor airline passengers are black' to the list of racist remarks by Joe Biden," a third wrote, recognizing the comments as prejudiced.

"Joe Biden thinks that a lack of legroom on planes is racist! Obviously, a lack of legroom is uncomfortable & inconvenient - for all of us - not just for people of color. But Biden is such an idiot that he thinks it's racist. Had enough of the idiocy yet?" another user wrote.

"How about the 'fee' for extra legroom on airplanes. Biden once again singled out 'people of color' can't afford or don't know how to choose airplane seats. Biden did the same thing regarding 'people of color' don't understand the internet & computers," opined one of the users.

Biden was also flanked by Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is planning guidance to expel charges levied by banks on overdraft withdrawals and bounced checks.