H3A3H3

I have a bunch of Boarding Passes from previous jetBlue flights, where jetBlue operations were significantly disrupted by a variety of factors that exceeded the (nominal) threshold of jetBlue.

I think I'll add those flight numbers and dates to my resume, since it appears that a few graduate degrees and a high level of business acumen seem insufficient to establish credibility in your mind.

One need not be a Rocket Scientist to conclude that jetBlue lacks the infrastructure to respond to irregularities like they are regularities.

amejr999

From my experience at B6, this really isn't the case. People are willing to jump in and help each other out all the time. It's a great culture that way.

My suspicion is that this just overwhelmed the crewmembers at BDL-- it's a new station, they probably don't have much pull with the airport authority yet, and they weren't prepared for a bunch of diversions. That's not to try to excuse anyone, but it wasn't a good situation to start out with.

FWIW, apparently an AA plane was stuck on the tarmac for a while also:

Link

DL2SXM

and people get on Delta's case for always being proactive and cancelling flights ahead of time. Hey, FWIW, I'd rather stay at home and be comfortable on my own coach and deal with a cancelled flight then deal with being stuck on a JetBlue plane for 8 hours.

JetBlue is notorious for trying to run a complete operation during inclement weather. Sometimes they pull it off and sometimes they dont.

eventually, going to the well one to many times will one day hurt Jetblue and they'll wind up in a place they don't want to be.

BearX220

Airlines that have fatal accidents don't get their certs lifted, for God's sake.

If the Valentine's Day Massacre didn't scare B6 into writing up exhaustive contingency plans to prevent repeat incidents like this, I don't know what's wrong with those clowns. No, I'm not a logistics professional, and yes, I appreciate the task complexity, but the bottom line for B6 is one critical test failed after another, over and over. Their propensity to collapse during irrops is why I avoid them.

Fanjet

EXACTLY!

This new law is more proof that Congress only does things half-a##, thinking it's solved the problem when it's only created different problems instead. Can those holding jetBlue at full blame tell me how is a flight crew suppose to get the airports to assist them from inside the plane? Should the co-pilot jettison out the cockpit window and commandeer a set of airstairs, a transport bus, and clear the snow off the tarmac (can't forget that part)?

Congress did jacksh*t to set up viable contigency plans at airports when weather rears its ugly head. Which airports should be designated diversionary airports? Are they adequately equiped to handle a large influx of aircraft? I hold the airport authority more to blame for leaving these passengers stranded than jetBlue. But in their defense, no one in Washington gave them any guidance in these matters.

Because this was really a freak storm, this flight would have just been cancelled in FLL right off the bat if we were in January. I remember shortly after this rediculous law became effective having been told by UA that my LAX-IAD flight was cancelled because of impending weather conditions in the DC area. Now my flight was about 20 hours from departing LAX, there wasn't any snow falling in the DC area, and the forecasted weather didn't predict the snow to fall until after 2 hours my flight was suppose to land in IAD. But of course, they were responding to the possible penalties they could incur should they "take the risk".

Analise

So what was the reason for the 7 hour delay on the tarmac? Was it B6's fault? Was it BDL's?

Why did this happen? I looked in the Hartford Courant today and there was no article about why this happened.

jmastron

At least the AA flight was an international arrival, with real customs/immigration issues. The Hartford Courant's version of the story quoted an AA spokesman saying that an airport authority refused their request to deplane to a lounge, saying that the police would intervene if they tried.

This, to me, points to the issue being as much that *airports* don't seem to have contingency plans as the airlines -- which is why I think both need to be held to the fire.

1K-SFO

One passenger -- a journalist for a FL newspaper -- has published his account: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/m...,4484704.story

openflync

So you think it's better to just keep them locked up indefinitely until the weather clears up? Keep in mind the only reason they were let out was because the cops were called in because of the medical emergency. Otherwise they still may have been confined aboard the plane.

openflync

Once you board a plane, you are the carriers responsibility.

To an airline, keeping their pax inside an airplane indefinitely is the most cost effective and most hassle free option available to them.

The 3 hour rule forces them to do something else.

N830MH

Yeah, they could get big fined from DOT. This is violations of DOT rules. They did not follow the DOT instructions. They are worthless for B6 behavioral. Those passengers who had it rghts to offload from the aircraft. They cannot being held the hostage. This is so ridiculous!!!

Good riddance to B6!!!

Fanjet

Doing something else only works if those you're relying upon (i.e. ramp agents, gate agents, airport maintenance) are willing (or capable) of helping you. For example, I was on a US MUC-PHL about a decade ago, and just before landing, the airport in Philly shut down because of snow and bad visibility. So we diverted to PIT. When we landed in PIT, we had to wait just off the taxiway. The pilot told us that we had to wait it out (for things to get better in Philly) because Customs and Immigration at PIT was going home; and being an international flight, we could not just pull up to a gate and deplane. Now this is when PIT was a fully-staffed, major US hub. And the weather was fine, so no physical hindrance. But we were at the mercy of an outside organization. The good thing was that US operations talked the C&I agents to stay on and process us. However, had that not happened, it would have taken a medical emergency for someone to approach our aircraft door.

You want to go where?

I agree that Congress did not do a full enough job - but should we really have to depend on Congress to deal with something that should have been dealt with at a much lower level. I can't agree with the idea of defining diversionary airports, because you don't know in advance what the cause of the diversion will be and how many airports in what areas will be affected.

What airports and airlines and government regulation can do is put passengers health, safety, and comfort first, rather than cost. Everyone, from ramp, to immigrations and customs, to tower, to airport management should be focused on ensuring that passengers are not left in this situation. . .and it shouldn't take an act of Congress to do this (pun intended).

Let the bean-counters (and yes, I am one) sort out who pays what, afterwards.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

The weather forecast had changed very quickly around NYC Saturday. So likely it was still calling for just a dusting when the flight took off from FLL.

Of course, more of the story will likely come out. However, it would seem as though someone very senior at B6 should have been lighting a fire under the airport manager and speaking directly with the pilots, particularly after the fallout of the last incident.

Second, again the legislation did not address the problem. There should be a requirement that all airport management in conjunction with the airlines have written policy to deal with stranded a/c and acquire any equipment that would be needed to offload paxs away from a gate or get needed services such as food, water, and lav services to a stranded a/c.

Do you really want airlines starting to cancel flights when there is a small chance of a trace of snow?

ian_btv

Nice one, B6 flight ops. Epic fail, and >again< it's you. There is NO reason why emergency procedures couldn't have been implemented. This is the Northeast ... there is >always< a way to get people to safety in a snowstorm/icestorm, whatever. Many, many emergency vehicles and personnel available, and who >would< have been, given the scores and scores of people whose lives were put at risk.

Kudos to the pilot and crew who tried to make the best of a terrible scenario. What a horrible embarrassment for them. Please let's all remember that their performance is what keep us coming back and not running the other way in terror. I hope that fate is kind to them when their current employer tanks ...