14 hours on the tarmac at JFK

[snowbunny]

What, no tar and feathers for JetBlue this time....?


March 18, 2007 New York Times:

"Fourteen hours after boarding a flight to North Africa to take part in a 151-mile marathon across the Sahara, Jeremy Colgan completed an endurance feat of a different kind yesterday. He got off the plane, which never left Kennedy Airport....

Passengers on a SwissAir flight to Zurich were stuck onboard for eight hours, only to be let off at 3 a.m. A Virgin Atlantic flight to London left 9 1/2 hours late, according to FlightStats.com, a Web site that tracks takeoffs and landings.

The Associated Press reported that a Cathay Pacific flight to Vancouver, British Columbia, was finally canceled yesterday after more than nine hours of waiting at J.F.K. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/nyregion/18jfk.html?hp

 

[Jestocost]

Well, since those weren't JetBlue flights, uh, no. Not quite sure what your point is.

 

[bg4]

what you mean ice storms affect other airlines besides Jet Blue?

 

[snowbunny]

Well, since those weren't JetBlue flights, uh, no. Not quite sure what your point is.

My point was that JetBlue was excoriated on these boards at length last month when it didn't cancel flights early enough and some passengers sat in planes on the tarmac at JFK for a long time. Militant calls for a passenger's bill of rights and so forth. People really seemed to have it in for JetBlue. Now where's the outrage?

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

My point was that JetBlue was excoriated on these boards at length last month when it didn't cancel flights early enough and some passengers sat in planes on the tarmac at JFK for a long time. Militant calls for a passenger's bill of rights and so forth. People really seemed to have it in for JetBlue. Now where's the outrage?

Could be wrong, but thought I saw on the news last night that tons of JetBlue planes AGAIN left people stranded inside their planes. Was actually commenting to DH that I couldn't believe that JetBlue did it again.

 

[goofy4tink]

Could be wrong, but thought I saw on the news last night that tons of JetBlue planes AGAIN left people stranded inside their planes. Was actually commenting to DH that I couldn't believe that JetBlue did it again.

Nope, no folks were left stranded on JB flights. JB was proactive this time, although there were complaints that they canceled flights due to the snow. They had equipment, and personel, in the right spots this time around. At least we heard on our news reports that JB was not impacted this time around.
As I said before, in other posts, every airline has had it's share of bad press and bad handling of different issues. It's only if it becomes the standard operating that it becomes an issue for me. JB accepted responsibility, and they had it worked out for this storm. Now, if they landed a plane, but couldn't get to a gate because another plane was still there and trying to get out, then I guess you can't blame JB.

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Nope, no folks were left stranded on JB flights. JB was proactive this time, although there were complaints that they canceled flights due to the snow. They had equipment, and personel, in the right spots this time around. At least we heard on our news reports that JB was not impacted this time around.
As I said before, in other posts, every airline has had it's share of bad press and bad handling of different issues. It's only if it becomes the standard operating that it becomes an issue for me. JB accepted responsibility, and they had it worked out for this storm. Now, if they landed a plane, but couldn't get to a gate because another plane was still there and trying to get out, then I guess you can't blame JB.

Oh, you are right, now I remember, the new story mentioned that JetBlue was being proactive and cancelled something like 400 flights on Friday. People were mad that they did that, too -- tough call these days I imagine.

 

[MouseGirl]

We flew JetBlue home from Orlando to Syracuse yesterday with a transfer in JFK and experienced the impacts of the storm firsthand. The flight from Orlando to JFK left over three hours late because of the bad weather in New York City and the northeast in general. There were 39 passengers on the flight to JFK (including us) that were supposed to be changing planes and heading on to Syracuse. The problem was that because of the delay leaving Orlando we weren't supposed to arrive at JFK until over an hour after the time the flight to Syracuse was due to depart.

We all asked the agent at the gate if they would hold the flight for us at JFK, and they said that Operations at headquarters wouldn't allow it. There was no availability on the later flight that night, or on flights today, so we would have been stranded at JFK for at least a day. We were really glad that they changed their mind and ended up holding the flight at JFK for all of us, so we were able to make it to Syracuse last night. Phew!! We sure were glad to get home...

There were a ton of people at the gate in Orlando yesterday who had had their flights cancelled on Friday trying to rebook or travel standby into the northeast (Boston, JFK, etc.) and most of them were having no luck since all the flights were fully booked. Some were being told that the first available flights were on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Air travel in the winter is always a crapshoot, isn't it?

 

[CarolA]

Well personally what Swiss Air did was just as bad... However, when people wanted to Tar and Feather JetBlue I did point out that contraray to the postings this "waiting" on the jetway was not that unusual.

IMHO JetBlue's STUPID move was that several days after the storm they seemed to have NO idea what they were doing and had to continue to cancel ALL flights to some locations. None of the other airlines were still sitting there three days later going "we can't fly a full schedule, because we don't have a clue where our crews and planes are" (Which is in effect what JetBlue said. That was just plain incompetence, not weather)

 

[Jeanne B]

Air travel in the winter is always a crapshoot, isn't it?

Yup, that's why I always avoid traveling in the winter if at all possible!! I've always planned our vacations in spring, summer or fall and the one time I decided to take a chance with a cruise vacation two winters ago it was a fiasco from beginning to end due to weather issues on both ends of our trip...never again I said to myself after that trip was over (although fortunately we had trip insurance).

 

[LadyShiva]

What, no tar and feathers for JetBlue this time....?

No, we just contribute to Kate Hanni's campaign to get a Passenger Bill of Rights passed in Congress, instead of wasting our time getting angry on such a pro-Jet Blue and pro-airline industry board.

http://strandedpassengers.blogspot.com/ for more information.

Brandie

 

[bradk]

maybe i'm missing something, but HR 1303 doesn't seem to offer really anything, least of all accountability. JetBlue's self inflicted passenger bill of rights definitely offers that along with precise penalizations.

it seems mostly aesthetic and double speak to me. but the PDF on that website seems pretty empty for any sort of bill, so I'm probably missing something key.

plus this chronically late terminology, is what? late 40% over the past 3 months? did i remember that right? i'm looking at the 2006 AQR and i don't see a single airline that would qualify as such for either 2005 or 2004.