Jet Blue Leaves Passengers in Jet for 11 Hours

[misseulalie]

That's when you call 911 and tell them you are being held hostage on a plane and they won't let you off.
Or you call CNN while on the plane and do a live report. (CNN loves when regular people call to report "live" news) You know the plane would find a way to let people off if Jetblue was getting that kind of bad press...

 

[Jestocost]

The incident was ridiculous and any airline or airport that lets it happen is idiotic. I remember the situation with a Northwest flight in Detroit a few years ago where a similar problem was solved only after a passenger obtained the airline CEO's home telephone number and he was contacted directly. Even so, this is a very, very BAD idea:

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.

You would not be up against only the airline or airport security in the end, but would have to face the federal government through the FAA. Given today's security environment, they are not too concerned with the court of public opinion in these cases. "Unruly passengers" who interfere with uniformed crewmembers in the performance of their duties can be fined by the FAA or prosecuted on criminal charges. The FAA can propose up to $25,000 per violation for unruly passenger cases and one incident can result in multiple violations.

 

[justmestace]

I would have gone totally insane. Truly, I probably would have had a panic attack.
At least then maybe they would have let me off the plane.

 

[WldWcnWmn]

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

That Bill NEEDS to pass.

That's when you call 911 and tell them you are being held hostage on a plane and they won't let you off.
Or you call CNN while on the plane and do a live report. (CNN loves when regular people call to report "live" news) You know the plane would find a way to let people off if Jetblue was getting that kind of bad press...

It would have been me. Yes, the Feds would have removed me first and taken me to a little room for a few hours, but after about an hour, I would have called 911. Call me crazy, but it is unacceptable to sit on the tarmac that long; I am not even sure how they can justify an hour?!?! Clearly they know before loading the plane how backed up the taxi line is, right? I would have been the crazy lady freaking out. Yup.

 

[AQW]

We were stuck at O'Hare yesterday, flying JetBlue trying to get home to Long Beach (CA), with all kinds of problems because of the weather in Chicago and at JFK. They did a poor job communicating with us, which is unacceptable, but what they did to those people on the tarmac at JFK is absolutely inexcusable.

Yesterday I was complaining that they kept telling us not to leave the gate area, that our flight would board/depart "at any time"... when in actuality they knew the plane we were boarding would be AT LEAST two hours late arriving at O'Hare (ended up being almost 3 hours late). I could have taken my kids to the Children's Museum exhibit/playground 150 yards away instead of trying to keep them entertained in about two square feet of space at the gate, but noooooooo. They insisted we stay put, trying to scare us into thinking they would leave without us if we stepped away from the gate for more than two minutes.

Then when I woke up this morning and heard what happened at JFK, I stopped complaining. Suddenly my little inconvenience didn't seem so bad.

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

I would have gone totally insane. Truly, I probably would have had a panic attack.
At least then maybe they would have let me off the plane.

Me, too!!! They would have taken me off in a straight jacket!!!!!! I haven't flown since 1999 and have no plans to in the near future thanks to this mess!!

 

[iluvflorida8]

The incident was ridiculous and any airline or airport that lets it happen is idiotic. I remember the situation with a Northwest flight in Detroit a few years ago where a similar problem was solved only after a passenger obtained the airline CEO's home telephone number and he was contacted directly. Even so, this is a very, very BAD idea:



You would not be up against only the airline or airport security in the end, but would have to face the federal government through the FAA. Given today's security environment, they are not too concerned with the court of public opinion in these cases. "Unruly passengers" who interfere with uniformed crewmembers in the performance of their duties can be fined by the FAA or prosecuted on criminal charges. The FAA can propose up to $25,000 per violation for unruly passenger cases and one incident can result in multiple violations.

I would still do it.....

I am talking about reaching my DESTINATION already. I paid for a tx to get me to my destination. I think making a paying passenger wait 8 hrs to get OFF at my destination is ludicrous. I am not interfering with any crew member......they aren't doing ANY work....they are just sitting on the tarmac like the rest of us passengers!!

 

[msmayor]

This happened to me years ago on a flight to NJ from Atlanta. We boarded, pushed away from the gate and got in line to taxi. Then stopped....ultimately turning engines off...and sitting for almost 8 hours because of weather delays in the Northeast.

Passengers were upset, but the problems really lie in the way airline and airport schedules are set. Had we left our spot on the taxiway to offload, we'd lose our landing slot in NJ. There literally was a 'line', on paper, of all the planes waiting to come in. Get out of line, lose our spot. Go ahead and take off, and do nothing more than circle around until the weather cleared, and hope we didn't have to divert because of low fuel. Me? I'd rather just wait on the ground until it was definitely safe to fly and we'd get on the ground without too much delay.

The jetway we were originally parked at was needed for the next incoming flight. Either our plane sits there empty, or the next plane landing has to sit outside and wait for us to move. There were no spots at the airport to move empty planes for 'parking' and waiting until they could be cleared to load and take off...and even if there was a spot for them to wait, what happens to all the planes already scheduled to be in those jetways when the delayed flight is now ready to board?

I will say that the airline did their best, at the time, to keep us comfortable while we waited. Drinks were free, and they served every last food item on board to anyone who asked.

Unfortunately, turning aircraft around and moving about on the ground to return to gates is not as easy as it seems.

 

[NotUrsula]

Staging a great escape from a stranded aircraft is an idea that sounds reasonable to the average passenger when they hear a story like this, but in reality a participant would probably wind up doing some unpleasant jail time as a result.

Not only is it possible that you might get shot by some overzealous security type, but consider this: I've been told that it costs about $20K (yes, $20K) to replace a deployed emergency slide, and sometimes much more depending on the model of aircraft. Added to that, the plane cannot fly again until it is done. It is almost certain that the airline would sue to recover a *h-ll* of a lot of money if a passenger opened an armed door without authorization. I shudder to think about how much schedule disruption it would cause to have 10 of JB's aircraft at once out of commission for several days due to all of them simultaneously having to get new slides installed.

I agree that every airport SHOULD have a mechanism to remove passengers from stranded aircraft regardless of weather conditions, but unless we can get a law passed to require it, and to stipulate how much time on a runway is too much time, we pretty much have to accept that it will happen sometimes. Essentially, the best most of us can do right now is to be sure to carry food and drink when the weather is iffy, and dress in layers so that if the power goes out you can adjust your clothing to stay as comfortable as possible. I always recommend that anyone who travels with small children or who need medications to be sure to always carry 24 hours worth of needed supplies, just in case. FTR, I've been in this situation twice in a serious way, and once just recently that wasn't too bad. (That was this past Xmas day at MCO. We were on the runway when the wind shear sirens went off, and we had to wait 90 minutes for the all-clear.)

 

[LadyShiva]

This happened to me years ago on a flight to NJ from Atlanta. We boarded, pushed away from the gate and got in line to taxi. Then stopped....ultimately turning engines off...and sitting for almost 8 hours because of weather delays in the Northeast.

Passengers were upset, but the problems really lie in the way airline and airport schedules are set. Had we left our spot on the taxiway to offload, we'd lose our landing slot in NJ. There literally was a 'line', on paper, of all the planes waiting to come in. Get out of line, lose our spot. Go ahead and take off, and do nothing more than circle around until the weather cleared, and hope we didn't have to divert because of low fuel. Me? I'd rather just wait on the ground until it was definitely safe to fly and we'd get on the ground without too much delay.

The jetway we were originally parked at was needed for the next incoming flight. Either our plane sits there empty, or the next plane landing has to sit outside and wait for us to move. There were no spots at the airport to move empty planes for 'parking' and waiting until they could be cleared to load and take off...and even if there was a spot for them to wait, what happens to all the planes already scheduled to be in those jetways when the delayed flight is now ready to board?

I will say that the airline did their best, at the time, to keep us comfortable while we waited. Drinks were free, and they served every last food item on board to anyone who asked.

Unfortunately, turning aircraft around and moving about on the ground to return to gates is not as easy as it seems.

I'd buy that excuse, if these planes weren't within walking distance to the terminals, and JetBue kept landing incoming planes, instead of letting these JetBlue planes take off.

Otherwise, JetBlue admin in this situation just come off as jerks. I'd hate to be a pregnant woman or a diabetic on one of these flights!

Brandie

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Me, too!!! They would have taken me off in a straight jacket!!!!!! I haven't flown since 1999 and have no plans to in the near future thanks to this mess!!

I doubt anyone would have been able to hold me down long enough to get a straight jacket on me. No joke. Escort me off to jail - just get me OFF.

 

[msmayor]

I'd buy that excuse, if these planes weren't within walking distance to the terminals, and JetBue kept landing incoming planes, instead of letting these JetBlue planes take off.

Otherwise, JetBlue admin in this situation just come off as jerks. I'd hate to be a pregnant woman or a diabetic on one of these flights!

Brandie

Again, just being in walking distance means nothing. There are specific regulations in place that do not allow passengers to disembark an aircraft on the tarmac unless it is an emergency.

As for allowing other planes to land, that's easy to answer. Those planes needed to get down on the ground. With weather less than desirable, and their fuel situation, I'm sure they felt it was best to get them down.

And again...if there were icing issues on the planes awaiting takeoff, that is a serious issue. While I'm not completely versed in the timeline, I believe a plane has less than one hour to get off the ground after de-icing, or it needs to be re-done when icing is a problem. If I'm sitting on a plane, the last thing I want to worry about is whether they've squeezed the timeline on deicing...could be the last thing you ever worry about.

 

[Skuba2]

I also thought of another thing---how would any of these planes "turn around" when they are in line on the tarmac. With so much traffic, you can't just hang a Louie and coast back to a gate that you have no clue is open anymore.

There is just way too much traffic at the airports--especially during crummy weather. The government should require that every airline eliminate some of its scheduled flights to ease the problems. That way not any one airline is hit harder than the other.

DG

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

[Merged threads]

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I just watched this on the NBC evening news. I thought there was only one Jet Blue plane that had this problem. They gave out 3 or 4 different Jet Blue flights that sat on the tarmac for hours and hours! Even the CEO of Jet Blue said it was unacceptable. I agree!

 

[brooke1]

WOW WOW WOW is all i can say, I have a 14 yr old son who is ADHD and mildy mental retarded, we had a three hr layover at MCO waiting for the plane to arrive and it was hard keeping him entertained....

To be totally honest i dont know what i would have done, my son would have been going nuts it really would have been a bad scene...

brooke

 

[TDC Nala]

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.

When you fly, you should always bring any medication you need for at least a couple of days on the plane with you.

This stuff doesn't happen too often, but airlines lose checked luggage quite a lot.

 

[snowwite]

What if someone called 911 or had chest pain would they have helped then? I am so afraid to fly anyway I would have had a complete meltdown if I was stuck that long. Plus I have a medical condition which predisposes me to blood clots if I had to sit that long. That is inhumane and definitely hostage since they were not free to leave.

 

[bg4]

You guys have great ideas - escaping - sliding sown escape parachute-
opening emergency doors - does Federal Prison mean anything to you?

As I said Airlines involved - I guess mostly Jet Blue should have cancelled flights or at least not pulled from gate and JFK should have closed airport.

THERE WAS AN ICE STORM LAST NIGHT - I had an inch and a half of ice on my driveway to prove it. People were killed in motor vehicle accidents on Long Island and NYC. Roads were a sheet of ice so imagine what runways were like. Airplanes cannot sit for very long in an ice storm/freezing rain without de-icing or they will not fly. Simple Physics. So the planes had nowhere to go - couldn't fly and no gates available. Maybe they should have driven the plane up the Van Wyck to LaGuardia to get a gate?

Blame the airlines - they are at fault. But also blame JFK/Port Authority and the complicated Air Traffic system. Once you leave the gate that gate belongs to another flight. Basically if there is no gate you wait on the tarmac and it is not kidnapping. Kidnapping is being held against your will and this does not apply - at least in a criminal case. Civil court is another matter and passengers will likely win judgements.

It is also possible that they wanted to get those planes on the ground ASAP as opposed to circling because of icing problems. Of course those planes landing in NYC should have never taken off but I believe the weather was worse than predicted and everyone was caught off-guard.

 

[Edd]

The commercial jetliners do not normally do a U turn and head back down the tarmac, unless a taxiway is wide enough to accommodate the plane returning. It is just as easy to put them on an active runway and send them down the active runway to the appropriate turn off at the airport. While the plane is using the runway probably another would be taxing into position and holding for take off clearance. Either that or clearance to land for an approaching aircraft would not be given until the aircraft is off the active runway.