FLL Flights from Hell
 

Last week I flew from SMF to FLL via LGB and last night from FLL to SMF via JFK... It was my 2nd time flying into FLL because I really never have a reason to go to South Florida... With the exception of the SMF to LGB flight, the 3 other segments were delayed and, to be honest, that was not the worst part of the trip. The crew were extremely friendly and they did meet the expectation I have for jetBlue... everyone on jetBlue's end were really really nice as always... now, the passengers... thats another story. As often as I fly, I have never encountered soo many rude and self centered passengers on one plane in my life. Sure, theres always those one or two... but over 1/2 the plane?! Here's some of the details...

Flight 243 (LGB-FLL)
- at boarding, a few people has no clue as to the concept of assign seating and that caused a longer delay as the crew member have to basically figure out where each person suppose to sit.
- during the boarding process, i observed several passengers grabbing like as much pillows and blankets for them self while other will just take the blanket out and put their bags in the bid.
- again, during the boarding process, two guys decided it was an awesome idea to create a scene because they cant sit next to each other and wanted other people to move just so they can accomadate them. One guy decided to sit at one seat and refuse to let the person that had the seat assigned to to sit there and it took the crew members a few minutes to get everything sorted out, i'm surprise the 2 guys didnt get kicked off the flight.
- right before making to the runway, some passenger rang the call button and kept pressing it on and off to a point where a crew member had to go over the intercom and say that unless its an emergency, they will help them get in the air.
- through out the flight, the call button was pressed at least once every 10 minutes while the plane was airborne, i have really no clue as what they want but it just seem thats a bit odd for a red eye flight.
- just prior to the plane arriving to the gate, i can hear other passengers saying how the bags better be at the baggage claim waiting for them.

Flight 14 (FLL to JFK)
- When they were preboarding, the gate agent told everyone to clear the area around the jetway because its a safety hazard and promised that they will board the plane faster if everyone just move so they can preboard but no one listen and you can tell the gate agent was about to loose her tamper but she pretty much kept her cool. It was by far the longest preboarding process ever. For general boarding they were gonna use both foward and aft doors and told everyone that was seated in rows 13 and higher to use the glass doors and 1 through 12 to use the jetway and no one listened to her and the crowd got bigger around the gate and at that point it made it really hard to preboard some passengers but what speed up the process was when a firetruck pulled up to a plane than everyone left the gate to look at the firetruck... which I found amusing... when they were ready for general boarding, everyone crowded around the jetway while me and my friend just walked through the glass door and onto the plane. took a good 5 minutes before other passengers started to flow into the back 1/2 of the plane.
- The boarding process was pretty much similar to flight 243 but with out the 2 guys causing the scene. instead, I observed a dad tossing every single pillow he can find in the overhead bin and tossing it to his kids seated a couple rows ahead.
- I was seated in row 25 and my friend was seated next to me and a couple came up to us and rudely asked one of us to move to row 13 so they can sit together, and we were like uhhh.. than the guy seem to get angry and knowing what had happen on the other flight and trying to not cause a scene, my friend decided to move to row 13 just so the couple can sit together. On top of that, they were the rudest people ever, when my friend moved to another row, instead of saying thank you, the guy said "that's much better" and said to his travel campaion "see told you that'll work" and went on saying how he force people out of their seats and stuff like that.
It only got worst from that point on, the guy that forced my friend out of his seat also decided it was a good idea to delay the flight by talking on his cellphone right before the safety annoucement and a crew member has to go up to him and tell him to turn off the phone and he just ignored the crew member and just kept on talking and talking... he even has the nerve to tell the crew member that he's almost done with the conversation.... and when he was done, took him like 3 minutes to say bye which delayed the flight even longer.
During the flight, I wanted to get up to get something to drink from the galley so I turned to the person next to me (the women) and was like "excuse me, do you mind if I" and she cut me off and was like "can you see he's sleeping?! what ever you want can wait till you get to new york" I was like ehhh oooook. So I just sat there and waited for a crew member to walk pass so I can request a water and I didnt really want to press the call button cause it seems like every one was pressing it and I didnt really want to make their job harder.

Flight 265 (SMF to LGB) and Flight 171 (JFK to SMF) was your normal jetBlue flight with your typical civilized customers... and flight 171 even have XM Radio which worked perfectly (even though 171 was delayed an hour but no one seems to care). Based on the experiences of the flight to/from FLL and my stay in South Florida and the people I met from South Florida on the cruise ship, I basically came to the conclusion that most people from South Florida are a bit self centered and rude... all I know is that I won't be going to South Florida anytime soon...

People from South Florida are rude and self-centered because about 80% of them are from NY! I am from NY myself, but I am a kind person with manners. The majority of those from NY just don't have any common sense about how to act in public...especially when it comes to air travel. It's like people lose 3/4 of their brain when they step into an airport.

I was once in ORD taking UA or AA (can't remember which) back to LGA. I was speaking with the gate agent about the flight and a passenger rudely interrupted to ask her question. Another agent at a nearby gate overhead the conversation and (after the rude passenger walked away) yelled over to our gate agent "I bet that's the New York flight you're working!"

In regards to your FLL experiences - it is typical. I fly JFK-FLL roundtrip about 15-20 times roundtrip a year and there is usually much confusion. I have to admit that although PBI is a smaller, somewhat nicer airport I do prefer FLL because PBI's passengers are so much worse! If you think FLL is bad, just check out PBI!

MCO is bad with kids and all but I agree that FLL (especially NY flights) is odd.

Going to FLL is not a flight from Hell, it is a flight to Hell. Not only are flights to south FL dominated by New Yorkers, but it is a vacation destination packed with people who do not fly regularly. On the segments to SMF, lets face it, not too many people go to Sacramento for a vacation, most are traveling for business, so the people are experienced travelers who do not expect more than they know JetBlue will give them.

My two flights in and out of FLL weren't too bad, although I was surprised at the number of kids on board. Fortunately, the TVs kept them entertained.

I flew JFK-DEN last Thursday evening during the rain and wind storm. We were delayed first because of a late arriving aircraft, then we waited for connecting customers (we probably would have had to wait again because of the weather anyway), we had to return to gate because an FA became sick while we were taxiing, and then it took another hour of taxiing to take off. After all of that, I was impressed how calm all of the customers were. The crew did a great job communicating with us and even after arriving three hours late, no one seemed too upset.

I guess customers in different markets will have different types of personalities.

Bill

Sometimes I just want to share some choice words with the rude customers, unfortuately that would just make the crew's jobs more difficult so I bite my tongue.

Let's offer a special thank you to the crew members air and ground of all the airlines for putting up with the crap our fellow travelers put them through. Cheers to you all!

It would seem both the airline and the majority of the passengers would be better off if the passengers making trouble were booted from their flights. Certainly the guy who was delaying the flight with his phone call should have been removed. I don't know the regs, but I'm pretty sure he was in violation of the law as well as common decency. If passengers saw other passengers being removed (or at least threatened with removal) for bad behavior they probably wouldn't be transformed into nicer people, but at least they might manage to behave themselves for a few hours. And if the passengers switch to another airline in a huff, it would make the first airline far better off. Airlines want to have a reputation for being nice, but accomodating unpleasant customers is not really being nice per se - it hurts the other decent folk. My $0.02.

Wow.

You are -- literally -- too kind.
The way to deal with rude people touting imagined rights is firm rejection.
Not doing so emboldens and encourages them to bully other nice people like yourself.

I'll just say that if I had been on any one of those flights, the outcome would have been very different.

I have rarely run into problems on the BOS-FLL runs, hence I fly it several times this month on the shortbus. Aside from the normal demands of customers there is nothing that much out of the ordinary, demands tend to go up during college spring break but the route is no where near as demanding as JFK-PBI.

I'm actually really looking forward to my FLL flight next month!

--Russ

I should just fly to PBI than and bring a video camera and film the flight... I'm sure i'm bound to find something funny about the demanding passengers to put on YouTube!

Short bus You crack me up
 

Sure, the customers on the 190 are soooooo much different than the airbus. Why? Good question. I have no idea why, they just are.

I agree, the flights from FLL to JFK, LGA, EWR are usually filled with drama, but for a good laugh, nothing beats the PBI crowd, who paid less than $100.00 for their ticket, and act like, and treat us, like their on a transcon, $1000.00 a ticket flight. I think their funny, and it certainly adds to a lively discussion around the table at dinner with the crew afterward. Besides, I can put up with just about anything/anyone, within legal reason, for 2 1/2 hours.

My personal motto: You fly, I fly. Period. No question 'bout it. I'm there, cause you all are, so thanks for flying with JB. We love U 2!

I am flying EWR-PBI... for the first time. I flew a FLL-EWR last year for spring break and the flight was late, but the crew was amazing, and because there was a 2hr delay while we were on the plane. But the crew gave everyone free movies on top of the 36 Free channels. It was an awesome flight... but honestly EWR is such a bad airport, there are so many delays because of runway traffic and other unspecified reasons. I landed 3hrs late, but enjoyed the flight non-the-less. So I will brace myself for my r/t to PBI..lol.

TPA to LAS
 

Any experiences with TPA/JFK/Las Vegas? I'm taking that flight soon. Please tell me people are civil!!:rolleyes:

TPA-JFK-TPA is still generally civilized. It is one of the few cities in Florida that is still a pleasure to fly to. I have a couple of trips this month in which I run BOS-TPA which I am generally looking forward to.

JFK-LAS-JFK is going to depend on which flight you are taking. Usually the early morning and mid-morning flights are civil. It's those people that take the late evening flights that tend to cause problems. For the most part they have been drinking in the airport bar, and continue to drink on the aircraft so when they get to LAS they are generally plowed and head straight to the casino.

Ugh....I'm on a late flight
 

Oh well, I'm taking a late flight. I'll keep a head's up for drunken passengers. I was hoping to get some sleep. We'll see!

Thanks for the info. You're right, Tampa is a great city. Enjoy!

Travel safe:p