needdealsnow

My minor son was scheduled to go on a school trip to Ecuador. Trip was arranged for the school by a major tour operator . This trip was booked in Nov, 2022 for departure in June 2023 and was rather expensive

Jetblue flight was supposed to depart at 9 AM so we arrived at the airport at 6 AM. When we arrived, we found that the flight was delayed to 2 pm. Kids would have missed the connection flight but gate agents said that connection would wait.

At about 12, kids were given boarding passes for the two flights with luggage checked in through to destination.

We left them at the security and went back home. At 230 pm they started boarding and at 330 pm they deplaned the kids. We had to go back to the airport to get our son. We got back at about 6 pm. Flight left at 4 pm. Later that night the school said that the kids could go on the flight next day. So back to the airport at 6 AM and this time it worked.

Kids lost one full day of the trip, Everyone spent 24 hours trying to figure out what to do and worrying about what would happen to the expensive trip if it were cancelled. In addition there were extra trips to airport, parking fees etc. In all this time, Jetblue did not offer any explanation or compensation

Pretty bummed out at this experience and wondering what can be done. Anyone here has experience with compensation in such cases? Looking for suggestions on what can be done to pursue compensation

nomiiiii

If you saved all the parking etc receipts just go on JetBlue's website and send them a message with all of it. Most likely JetBlue will give you a voucher of a few hundred dollars for the inconvenience which your kid can use for a future flight within 1 year.

jjbiv

Did the tour operator book the flights? If so, I would take your case to them first. Why were the kids deboarded? Did they receive denied boarding compensation?

Out of my Element

Where was this?

If you don't get good answers from the tour operator and satisfaction from Jet Blue you should contact the media. They love stuff like this

needdealsnow

Jetblue said that there was a mechanical issue before kids were deplaned. But the flight left 30 minutes later. Next day a gate agent was saying a business group came and asked for lot of tickets so they deplaned the kids.
Tour operator deferred to Jetblue
No compensation was offered

needdealsnow

Called Jetblue and shared this issue. Was transferred to group bookings team. Rep said that JB team is reviewing the mess for compensation and would let the group coordinator know if any compensation will be offered in 10 bus days. They will not discuss with individual travelers.

zrs70

I’m skeptical that Jetblue would every hold a flight. Odd that they said that.

Better the kids were deboarded rather than stranded at the connection airport.

jjbiv

If a mechanical issue put their connection in question, this was a good decision. You should receive at least some compensation since mechanical issues are controllable causes of delays.

notthatdeadyet

I've been on 2 flights this year to LGW which have been held for large group connections. Maybe it's an international thing.

GW McLintock

They will do it if it's more than a certain count or percentage. I don't know what exactly it is but I've seen it happen more than a handful of times over the years (especially on once-a-day routes and last flights of the day).

Once in SDQ I saw a crew and the local manager decide to leave about 20 people behind stuck in security, with the reasoning that if they waited another minute or two they would time out and the flight would cancel. Allegedly the flight left with less than a minute to spare.

-J.

nerd

For five hours??

needdealsnow

The original flight left after 7 hrs delay so it is not impossible. Still I don't think they meant to hold the connection 5 hours. They were trying to get a replacement plane in sooner. The connection was 2.5 hrs. So total delay might not be more than 2 hours. In any case this did not happen.

sethMCOflyer

I’ve been on a non-JetBlue flight that timed out right as the got to the runway, one of my worst travel experiences as it was the last flight of the day and everyone at the terminal was clocking out as soon as the plane left the gate.

Better to not time out than to wait.

GW McLintock

I agree 100%. I've had your experience as well where the crew timed out as we turned onto the runway, but in that instance they decided to extend and not abort the takeoff. Fun times.

-J.

Roswell Dawg

Something worse happened to my 20 year old son.

Flight was supposed to depart at 5. Gets to the airport before 3. Due to weather, and then crew shortages, and then maintainance, the flight was delayed multiple times and didn't departy until after 1am!!! Jet Blue had very poor communications to the pax all along. A group of 3 pax including my son asked the gate attendant for the status or when they would cancel the flight. Gate attendant became surly and then involuntarily denied board at 1am.

My son had to get a hotel, uber, and a replacement flight and never got the flight he paid for. What recourse does he have in this situation? It seems grossly unfair that an airline can make you stay at the airport waiting for them to get their act together until the wee hours of the morning, and then they can deny you boarding but you are unable to cancel or even recevie reliable informatoin about the status.