Jet Blue Leaves Passengers in Jet for 11 Hours

[Gary M]

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=traffic&id=5034846

I had a similar experience with Northwest Airlines last Fall. I flew from Detroit to Tokyo, about 13 hours. The weather was bad in Tokyo so we flew to another airport in Japan, which took another hour. We sat on the tarmac of this airport for 6 more hours. This is a total of 20 hours from take off until leaving the aircraft in Japan. We had to stay in the airport terminal sleeping on the floor with two blankets furnished to us. They would not let us leave the terminal and we didn't leave for another 18 hours. The situation got very ugly. This was NWA flight 11 out of DTW.

 

[Bichon Barb]

I just saw a video on this story and came here to see if anyone was talking about it. I can't believe they made people sit on the runway for 9 hours!!!! And then take them back to the terminal?

I love JetBlue, but this is a major snafu on their part.

 

[jodifla]

Why is this remotely tolerated. If I'm being held against my will on the Tarmac for nine hours, I'm being HELD HOSTAGE plain and simple.

Why is this even legal?

 

[delmar411]

I bet if someone had tried to breastfeed their toddler and not cover up or let their 2yr old throw a giant tantrum they would have gotten a bus out there.

I find it difficult to believe that not one person on that plane called the airport and asked for help. How many cell phones were in ppl's pockets??? That would have been one of my first calls and I would have kept calling until they got us off that plane.

But of course that free ticket will just make up for it all

 

[jodifla]

I bet if someone had tried to breastfeed their toddler and not cover up or let their 2yr old throw a giant tantrum they would have gotten a bus out there.

I find it difficult to believe that not one person on that plane called the airport and asked for help. How many cell phones were in ppl's pockets??? That would have been one of my first calls and I would have kept calling until they got us off that plane.

But of course that free ticket will just make up for it all

There were people calling routinely for help! But the STUBBORN airlines and airport, who now think that they are all-powerful, prefer to see people suffer than to manage their business effectively.

Worse than taking off is the people who had LANDED, but were not allowed to DEPLANE for nine hours!

How psycho is that!

 

[delmar411]

There were people calling routinely for help! But the STUBBORN airlines and airport, who now think that they are all-powerful, prefer to see people suffer than to manage their business effectively.

Worse than taking off is the people who had LANDED, but were not allowed to DEPLANE for nine hours!

How psycho is that!

in the article the airport is claiming no one called for help and they didn't know. Just someone else passing along the responsibility.

 

[K9pal]

And there were people on the plane who needed medication, too. How inhumane is this??? Wonder what would happen if the passengers opened the emergency exit? I just can't imagine not only being treated that way, but tolerating it as well. And it's not like it's the first time it's happened. Unbelievable.

 

[CarolA]

AA did this not too long ago in DFW. Happens more then you may realize..

 

[jodifla]

AA did this not too long ago in DFW. Happens more then you may realize..

Yes, that story made the Wall Street Journal....I think a call to my congressman to revive the Passengers' Bill of Rights is in order!

 

[bg4]

Yesterday 02/14 there was an ice storm in NYC and Long Island.

Jet Blue probably should have cancelled the flight and/or airport should have been closed but once plane pulls away from gate there is no guarantee of a return gate. You certainly cant just deplane on the tarmac in a ice storm and take-off would have been extremely dangerous probably impossible cause the plane needed to be de-iced.

Blame Port Authority mostly and airline slightly - and it does happen more than you think especially in bad weather.

 

[iluvflorida8]

If I was on that plane that landed and couldn't get off........

I would have gotten about 5-6 male passengers that agreed with me, and pulled open the emergency exit doors, and inflate the slides and slide down. Do you really think 2-3 female flight attendents could have stopped us??? Jet Blue would have a media nightmare on ther hands....and everyone would have sided with the "hostage" passengers in the court of public opinion.

I would have taken my chances with airport security. They could have arrested me or whatever. I would have gotten an attorney an sued the airlines for holding me hostage.

 

[safetymom]

I was on a flight with Jet Blue last spring where we were diverted and sat on the tarmac for 5 1/2 hours. You could see the terminal but we couldn't pull up and deplane.

The crew was fantastic!!!! They eventually ordered out for pizza. They served it twice. They also had numerous rounds of drinks and snacks.

I wrote a letter to Jet Blue praising their actions. Now if it had been 9 hours I would have been frustrated. They did tell us that if any one deplaned they wouldn't have been able to get back on board when the flight was allowed to leave.

 

[Tasmen]

Ugh..that sounds like a total nightmare. I cannot even fathom what it's like to be stuck in a plane on the tarmac for that long.

 

[K9pal]

I would have gotten about 5-6 male passengers that agreed with me, and pulled open the emergency exit doors, and inflate the slides and slide down. Do you really think 2-3 female flight attendents could have stopped us??? Jet Blue would have a media nightmare on ther hands....and everyone would have sided with the "hostage" passengers in the court of public opinion.

EXACTLY what my DH said!!

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

If I was on that plane that landed and couldn't get off........

I would have gotten about 5-6 male passengers that agreed with me, and pulled open the emergency exit doors, and inflate the slides and slide down. Do you really think 2-3 female flight attendents could have stopped us??? Jet Blue would have a media nightmare on ther hands....and everyone would have sided with the "hostage" passengers in the court of public opinion.

I would have taken my chances with airport security. They could have arrested me or whatever. I would have gotten an attorney an sued the airlines for holding me hostage.

I agree!!! I would also do that and deal with the police/security OFF the plane.

 

[tvguy]

I know that DIS board members speak VERY highly of Jet Blue, so this sure comes as a surprise to me. And this wasn't just one plane, it was TEN

(CBS) QUEENS JetBlue Airlines apologized late Wednesday to dozens of passengers who were kept sitting on planes at New York's JFK Airport for 10 hours or more without ever taking off.

The airline said half of its 550 flights were cancelled because of a winter storm that also caused massive traffic and transit delays throughout the Tri-State area.

Ten JetBlue flights, however, were loaded with passengers on board. Some made it to the runways only to run into icing problems that kept them grounded. Some of the planes at the gate became frozen to the ground and passengers weren't able to disembark.

One couple told CBS 2 News they thought they were about to honeymoon in Aruba. Others were dreaming of the sun and warm waters of Cancun. Instead, many said they felt like hostages being held on the tarmac.

"We had very limited toilet usage while we were on the plane," said Elizabeth Regale, who logged 10 hours of what she described as hell on a trip to nowhere.

"To sit on a plane for that long to be pulled into a gate for nine hours was horrible," said another passenger.

Early Thursday morning, the airline's Web site warned that other "flights to and from New York City (JFK, LaGuardia, Stewart and Newark, NJ), Boston, Washington D.C. and Upstate New York (Rochester and Buffalo) may be delayed or cancelled." It urged passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to their local airports.

JetBlue's apology said anyone stuck on one of its flights for more than three hours Wednesday would receive a full refund and a free roundtrip ticket for a future flight.

Some, however, were in no mood to accept that apology.

"Disorganized. No one knows anything. It's all chaos," said one.

 

[mommasita]

I saw this on CNN 360 last night. How awful that must have been. I can not even begin to imagine that...Completely unacceptable. I agree the weather was/is awful, but why load the bloody plane at all.

 

[Skuba2]

One thing you have to remember is that JFK is one of Jetblue's hubs. They were probably trying to do their best not to cancel all their flights--imagine the mess. Trying to avoid one mess made a whole nother one. They were probably hit very, very hard by that storm and any delays at JFK. Not sure how high on the priority list Jetblue is ranked when battling for services and/or runway access. I also can't believe that an airline would let that happen knowing how much bad publicity it would get.

I can't imagine being on a plane for 10 hours. We were stuck for a little over 2 hours last month and by the end of our flight (5 hours became almost 8)--I was getting very clausterphobic. I was in a middle seat and felt like I could jump out of my skin or the plane--whichever was more convenient. Could you imagine 10. Yikes. We stayed at the gate for an hour and then out on the tarmac in line for another. The pilot told us we were number 25 in OUR line with 2 other lines ahead of us. Gees. I do believe on our flight the crew was particularly tolerant of us getting up---probably way more than they were suppose to be since we were on the tarmac.

On a bright note, there is someone trying to legislate a bill that would make it illegal to hold passengers on planes for more than 3 hours or the airline pays a penalty.

Oh the joys of winter travel.

DG

 

[Mickey_loves_Minnie]

Oh, I'd be pissed too. I hope those people take advantage of the free flights, though.

 

[cats mom]

Saw an interview with one of the passengers. When they asked the head flight attendant what was going on and what the plan was his/her reply was: "you know as much as we do"
umm, ok not the passengers job - but it IS the flight crew's job to know what is going on AND to advocate for that plane full of passengers!

Bad management all around IMO

One of the couples that is trying to get that legislation passes was on the AA flight that suffered the same fate not long ago.

Great - and I'm letting my dd fly as an unaccompanied minor this weekend.
Her flight time is under an hour and we're on the West coast so less chance of weather delays... but now I'm more nervous about it than I was before.
Sheesh