By Andrew Tangel

Posing as a flight attendant on reality television could land you in hot water -- just ask airline CEO Bryan Bedford.

While running Frontier Airlines more than a decade ago, Bedford appeared on the CBS television show "Undercover Boss." He took on a variety of tasks, including serving drinks and assisting passengers as a flight attendant.

Regulations require special safety training for actual flight attendants, and the Federal Aviation Administration conducted a probe after the episode aired in 2010, examining whether Bedford violated air-safety rules. The probe, which didn't result in any penalties, hasn't been previously reported.

Bedford, who has run airlines for decades and is currently chief executive officer of regional carrier Republic Airways, was nominated in March by President Trump to run the FAA. If confirmed as the nation's top air-safety official, Bedford would oversee such investigations and other safety matters.

He disclosed the investigation this week in a notice to the Senate, ahead of his confirmation hearing scheduled for June 11, according to a notice viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

As part of the vetting process, Bedford earlier had responded to a questionnaire that asked about legal matters. This week's notice was filed as an addendum to the questionnaire, and called the disclosure about the TV show an inadvertent omission.

"After Frontier clarified that I did not serve as a crew member on the flight, I understand the FAA dropped the matter," Bedford wrote.

Randy Babbitt, who was the FAA chief from 2009 to 2011, said the agency closed the investigation without pursuing any penalties once regulators learned Frontier had the number of actual flight attendants required on board under federal safety rules. He described Bedford's intent as wholesome, but said Frontier could have done a better job giving the FAA a heads-up.

"To be totally candid with you, I thought it was pretty funny," Babbitt said Thursday.

Bedford didn't respond to requests for comment. The FAA and Republic, the previous owner of Frontier, didn't comment.

A Frontier spokeswoman said the airline's current management and public-relations team had no knowledge of Bedford's earlier brush with the FAA.

Bedford isn't the first Trump nominee with television on his résumé. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously starred on a season of MTV's "The Real World." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a former Fox News host.

In the "Undercover Boss" episode, Bedford said he wanted to check on employees and the operation after the airline had undergone a merger and pay cut for workers. Donning a dark brown hairpiece as "Richard," Bedford learned various tasks: cleaning garbage and vomit from an aircraft cabin, unloading luggage and lavatory waste as a ramp worker, and managing passengers as a flight attendant.

"The flight attendant position is critical, not just for the safety and security of our customers but also in order to keep the airline running on time," Bedford said in the episode.

A colleague at one point in the show complained Bedford was slowing down the operation because he was talking to customers too much. Later, Bedford acknowledged that he fumbled part of the preflight safety briefing.

"Oops, missed that part," he said, holding an oxygen mask while an actual flight attendant instructed passengers to adjust their own before assisting children.

Flight attendants may need to evacuate planes in an emergency. They have played critical roles getting passengers out of harm's way in recent aviation accidents, including when a Delta Air Lines regional jet overturned while landing in Toronto earlier this year.

It remains to be seen whether Bedford's TV turn will come up in his confirmation hearing. He is likely to face questions about air-traffic control, oversight of plane maker Boeing, and his views on pilot-training requirements.

Write to Andrew Tangel at andrew.tangel@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 06, 2025 13:11 ET (17:11 GMT)

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