B6 504 EWR-FLL diverted to BDL, calling for police on board the aircraft
 

Lots of diversions today into BDL.

Listening to Liveatc.net for BDL and B6 506 just requested air stairs and the sheriff. Evidently, too, the sheriff just went to the wrong Airbus.

Normally a 12:24pm EWR arrival, now 8:34pm ET at BDL.

Not a good day/night to fly.

8:44pm... diabetic on board without meds, paraplegic needs attention... fire fighters on board. Captain asking for a tug and towbar from the tower because "he can't get any help from his company." Captain sounds calm but under tons of pressure on board. Must be ugly.

BDL tower asking lots of questions of B6 pilot on behalf of "Washington."

Captain reporting:
off the gate at FLL 1407Z
on the ground BDL 1724Z.... been at BDL for 7.5 hrs.

Now B6 372 can't get ahold of B6 operations. "Frozen in place." Jet bridge not pulled.

Busses now arriving to offload B6 504 pax.

Oh boy.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/l...132862693.html

Didn't Jet Blue violate the new law?
 

I thought the new law was to tow the plane if it has been diverted and has been sitting on the runway for more than 2 hours with no food and water . Why couldn't they at least park at a remote stand and shuttle everyone to the terminal?

Furthermore why didn't Jetblue reserve hotels, give food vouchers etc? Since it was at Bradley why couldn't Jetblue get water/beverages/food from LSG Skychefs? Or at least bring all passengers to the terminal for pizza soda etc.

I think all passengers are owed a refund+violation of the new law.

The governor of Connecticut just drove up there at 2300 tonight (from Hartford to Bradley, 13 miles north) and his staff is arranging 1000 cots plus food and water.

Bradley closes more or less around 6pm. (only arriving flights after then, and the retail shuts down)

I have a house in the Hartford area, and we are dealing with severe problems, as the leaves haven't yet fallen, but we've received a foot of wet snow. Predictably, half of the state is without power and there are trees down everywhere. I'm surprised Bradley stayed open after Noon at all.

This sounds like a major JetBlue SNAFU plus the usual BDL lack of gates situation.

The rule is 3 hours.
The rule does not address compensation to the passengers, only a fine against the airline.

JetBlue talked a big game earlier today on Twitter, stating that they intended to run a full schedule today. Looks like that didn't work out so well for them.

Seems to me like this is a tailor-made case for a big fine.

Yes, they could get civil penalty for that. They should be offload immediately. They cannot have to spent more time on tarmac for an hours. That's not good at all! They should have followed the rules. Must be obey the law!

the operating cert should be pulled for this.

B6 and BDL
 

There may be reasons why the cannot do remote deplaning in the storm. It may be more dangerous to walk do the stairs then to stay on the plane . BDL had 30 diversions so I suspect they were overwhelmed by the other planes.
They may not be able to tug do to unsafe ground conditions (got this from the B6 twitter ).

B6 and BDL
 

I suspect there is more to this then we know.

The weather reports had changed drastically during the day with the
winter storm warnings being expanded and the storm path changed. Phone lines were also down , making communication difficult. If there was no gates available and the ground conditions made in hazardous to disembark (except in an emergency) then B6 will not be fined. I suspect that when they diverted to BDL (maybe they were low on fuel) they did not expect the weather to change as it did (perhaps they should have gone to IAD or BWI or someplace south of the storm). I suspect there is more then 1 person to blame for this . Of course if they did disembark via stairs and someone got hurt, then B6,BDL and everyone else would have gotten sued.

Thats no excuse to keep people stranded on a plane without the basic necessties for 7 + hours. They were essentially caged animals. Where's Steven Slater when you need him?