February 18, 2007
Jet Blew It Again And Again
JetBlue will cancel another quarter of its flights tomorrow in hopes that it can recover from hundreds of canceled flights since Wednesday's snow and ice storm. A fourth of yesterday's flights were canceled, as were a fourth of today's flights. The airline hopes it'll be back and running at its usual level by Tuesday.
Since the storm, at least 861 JetBlue flights have been canceled out of JFK Airport, and its spokesperson said, “It was turning from an operational problem to a safety and security problem for our workers. We canceled late departures, upset more customers, met overnight and said, ‘This has just got to stop.’” And the NY Times detailed one Friday night incident illustrating why:
Irving Fain, a New Yorker who said that his 6:05 p.m. flight Friday from J.F.K. to San Diego was delayed many times and then canceled at about 10:30 p.m., described a scene at gate 16 in the JetBlue terminal with angry passengers crowding around the gate podium, a gate agent calling security, and then passengers and a security officer exchanging heated words.And why did JetBlue have problems on Wednesday? For starters, JetBlue waited too long before calling planes back to the terminal. The low-cost carrier didn't have enough gates, either, to deal with the influx of passengers, and with other vehicles and equipment becoming frozen to the runway, a bad situation turned worse. And JetBlue also lacks agreements with other airlines that let them shift passengers to other carriers during emergencies. With the stories of the 11-hour waits on powerless and heat-less JetBlue planes at the JFK tarmac now legend, a passenger bill of rights is now a hot topic.“It was really a disaster,” said Mr. Fain, who is 26 and works for a radio station. “Passengers screaming, ‘We pay your salary.’ The security guy screaming back. Fifteen minutes into this ruckus, they finally canceled the flight.”
Aside from nightmarishly long waits averaging around 9-10 hours aboard planes stranded on the tarmac on Wednesday, there are also thousands of pieces of luggage to deal with. One passenger told WABC 7, "From behinds the doors, we did see them laughing at us. The crew members and the help they had with the baggage. They weren't working."
JetBlue's CEO David Neeleman told the NY Times he was horrified with what happened, but remained optimistic (for investors?), "Is our good will gone? No, it isn’t. We fly 30 million people a year. Ten thousand were affected by this.” Which makes us wonder, will you avoid flying JetBlue after this incident? Or do you chalk it up to a freak incident?
Photograph of the scene inside one JetBlue plane on Wednesday and on the way (finally!) to the terminal by passenger Lou Martins/AP
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Yesterday, JetBlue will cancel another quarter of its flights tomorrow in hopes that it can recover from hundreds of canceled flights since Wednesday's snow and ice storm.
they have some sort of time travel device?
people will be mad with jetblue for a few weeks, then when they're booking their next flight they'll realize that jetblue is still the best value, suck it up and start flying JB again.
Grammar Check!
I am certainly more hesitant, and I already was growing weary of JB. I have experienced several extended multi hour waits resulting from mere drizzle in the airports and I realized that it wasn't worth it. Flying other airlines might be more cramped but it is often just as cheap or cheaper, the departure times are sometimes better and I can usually leave from LGA, unlike JetBlue which usually requires me to go to JFK. So, why risk the Jet blue hassle?
But, I continue to read Gothamist despite the constant grammatical and spelling errors. So maybe I will give Jet Blue another try.
I am sure JetBlue would love a time travel machine.
Thanks for the notes, folks.
Ha! Jen, love the headline! I wish one of Jet Blue's competitors would make that into tshirts with a mock of Jet Blue's logo and distribute the shirts for free to all the stranded Jet Blue passengers. They should throw in a $50 off coupon as well!
I was supposed to fly out on Jetblue Thursday night. It got canceled. I waited on hold for four hours Thursday night (their automated system had said it would be less than 20 minutes), and never spoke to a representative--I gave up after the four hours. They finally reschedueld me for Saturday morning. It got canceled, and I didn't even get an email alerting me until SUNDAY afternoon.
My mother has cancer, and needs someone to be home with her at all times. I was going home this weekend so that she wouldn't be alone, as my father had to be out of town for another obligation. They didn't seem to care, and refused to rebook me on another airline. My mother was left sick and alone.
Furthermore, Jetblue flew Friday, so it's not as if the weather kept them from flying Saturday. Now they tell me I can get a refund or a rebooking of the same flight? If they cancel my flight, and it's not due to weather, shouldn't they give me more than that? I don't care that they said they didn't have enough flight attendents. That's just them messing up, not bad weather.
Maybe people who weren't directly affected by Jetblue's many errors will fly the airline again, but the 10,000 of us who had to experience them directly, as well as our friends and relatives relying on us to get to our destinations, surely will not.
I'm always impressed that the Bluest of the Blue State Liberals moan about the loss of pensions and other bebefits in the American workplace and then seek out the companies that pay less than their competitors and offer fewer benefits. These companies also have fewer if any retirees. Read today's New York Times article about Toyota.
All airplanes have similar problems time and time again. At least jet blue is affordable and usually accommodating. I'm sure even the friendliest customer service employees lose their top once in a while when things get frustrating and overwhelming in any industry. Give them a break and we'll give you one for your obvious writer's block.
I am was a passenger on JetBlue#351 on Valentine's Day that was stuck on the tarmac at JFK for 11 hours.
I don't mean to spam your community, but I was hoping to get my voice heard with the people here.
I started a blog called www.jetbluhostage.com and a myspace profile called myspace.com/jetbluehostage.
I started the blog as a one-stop shop for all news related to this event, but now I'm almst exclusive posting people's experiences and opinions.
I don't believe that we long-term hostages were compensated accordingly. And that's the reason for all of my efforts.
Thanks!
Gen
jetbluehostage@gmail.com
hypocrits @ #8: You won't find me tarring you with such a broad brush, so put down the paint-by-numbers kit, thanks.
As for Jet Blue, I had a great experience with them in 2003, but after this? I'd only fly them in months that don't end in R.
They didn't seem to care, and refused to rebook me on another airline.
It's not that they refused. They can't! In order to deliver you the $0.01 fare that you demand, they do what they can to keep costs down. That means they don't interline with other carriers. No matter how bad the weather, how bad the delays and how many stranded passengers, they CANNOT transfer your ticket to another airline.
I really wish people had some idea what they were talking about before they just started typing away all indignant (and retarded) at their computers.
Jetblue fares are NOT that much cheaper than other carriers. You've seen the news, would YOU want to travel with the people that were shown on TV.
Cons to Jetblue, Not that much a price advantage, kooky flight times, flies out of JFK.
And, add to what jen wrote, that's enough for me.
The big one being no booking on another airline when they cancel 95 percent of their flights.
They say it won't be normal till next week.
I'm confused by people saying that JFK is worse than flying out of LGA. Why? For me, JFK is $11 total using LIRR & Airtain, whereas LGA is at least $30 by taxi. (M60 is an option here, but I have to take the subway to the UES.) Plus JFK has way better concessions and ambience. What am I missing?
As for this situation, it could have happened to anyone. JetBlue still has ample charm and free wifi at their gates.
I was one of the lucky ones who flew out of JFK on the 13th. I was on jetBlue and there was almost an hour delay. They always seem to have delays, lately. This isn't just about this week. My whole family has experienced delays with them over the last month. My incoming flight to NYC was delayed, my sister's flight to NYC from Orlando was delayed a few hours, and my parent's flight to NYC from Ft. Lauderdale was also delayed by hours. I had delays on both flights in August with them. So, people should really understand that this is an ongoing systematic problem with them. I have a feeling that this whole catastrophe was a matter of "when," not "if." Look, I actually like them, but they have gotten way too big for their britches. They are not the cool, little upstart airline they were in the beginning. I remember when their fares never went over a hundred dollars for one-way. They expanded way past their core markets.
They fly to too many ridiculous destinations, now.
This is why they had too many planes and pilots stranded all over the country when they needed them in the right places. They need to get rid of the stupid routes to the far-flung corners of the country, and focus on their bread-and-butter markets.
Easy answer, if its more than 6 hours, just force your way to the emergency exit and use it. If your areasted, you can always sue for false imprisonment, plus how are they going to areast you onboard, is the flight personal going to have the support of the passengers? Watch what happens if a air marshal shoots me.