dinosims

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- JetBlue Airways issues the following statement regarding operational disruptions caused by a winter weather system:

"JetBlue apologizes to customers who were impacted by the ice storm at our home base of operations in New York, specifically at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Of the 505 daily flights operated by JetBlue, more than 250 flights were cancelled, and approximately 10 flights were significantly delayed at JFK with customers on board. These flights were a combination of scheduled departures from JFK that were not able to take off due to the ever-changing weather conditions, and arrivals that we were unable to move to a gate within a reasonable amount of time, due to all gates being occupied.

"This resulted in unacceptable delays for our customers.

"JetBlue sincerely apologizes to all customers impacted by today's weather and will be issuing a full refund and a free roundtrip flight to customers delayed onboard any aircraft in excess of three hours. JetBlue's customer commitment team will be contacting these customers as soon as possible."

http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix....450&highlight=

Bobster

Unacceptable response. It wasn't the ever-changing weather. It wasn't that the gates were occupied.

They were at their hub, with all their resources and employees. No excuse for no water. No excuse for not servicing the lavatories. No excuse for not getting busses to move the passengers to the gates.

I'm a jetBlue fan. I was on a diverted flight where the crew was fabulous and nobody complained (total time in seat was 11 hours). But today they screwed up. Making fake excuses will only make people angrier. The earlier statement from a spokesperson said there was no excuse, which was the honest thing to say. Why did they reverse themselves now?

jetBlueNYFL

I agree that this should NEVER happen. For a flight to sit out on the tarmac for so many hours with people on board is terrible.

However, let's look at the situation in detail:

1. jetBlue, like any airline, cannot be blamed for weather.

2. jetBlue offered customers YESTERDAY the option to rebook travel for free when they saw the storm coming...obviously storms=mess.

3. jetBlue had airplanes with customers on board on the tarmac for hours...absolutely unacceptable. Unfortunately, this is an INDUSTRY-WIDE problem that must end.

4. jetBlue refunded the ticket price AND offered a free trip. Although jetBlue totally screwed up on this one, they did do something most airlines would not dream about - refund AND a free ticket DUE TO WEATHER!

This has been a no-snow season in the NYC-area and the airlines (mainly jetBlue) were not ready. Still, no excuse. Hopefully the problem can be fixed for the future.

CO FF

Stop sounding like a White House Press Secretary. B6 "blue" it today. Big time. And, your excuses make it worse.

For an airline that says they promise "to bring humanity back to air travel", this kind of thing could hurt the most by making everyone treat B6 as "just another airline". Because, let's face it: if B6 is just like everyone else, you have to compete on price - not coolness. And, then, you'll lose.

res1968

Looks like JetBlue does not learn from their past mistakes. This same situation occurred approximately one year ago when several planes from JetBlue spent the night on the taxiways at JFK while empty planes sat on gates. Same situation, same sorry airline.

BearX220

All that's required here is a little creative, sensitive, customer-first operations management. Throw out the rule book and get these planes towed, or get some buses or trucks out there.... get these human beings under cover. It boggles the mind that the airline could manage through the storm this badly, given the firestorm AA just endured.

This is the kind of publicity event that changes the meaning of a brand. If you'd set out to make the JetBlue name synonymous with misery, abuse and chaos, you couldn't have done much better.

Unless you want to be perceived as the next Tower Air, call a big meeting and GET IT TOGETHER.

jetBlueNYFL

Excuse me, what are you talking about!?

Did you not read my post at all!?!?!? I wrote NO EXCUSES!!!!!! I said this is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!! I did point out that jetBlue offered a full refund and free flights but other than that I said this is an industry-wide problem that MUST BE RESOLVED.

Go back and read my post...

wanaflyforless

AA gave affected passengers in a similar situation $500 AA vouchers each. A similar value.

AA also gave those who complained by email AA miles.

Tons of people on the AA board said this was not adequate compensation, but provided AA does not make a habit of it I would take a $500 voucher and miles and be done with it. Same goes for Jetblue had I been there.

Palal

This is the second year in a row this has happened! Last year we had the same thing around the same time of year! ...? Can't people learn?

I guess at least it wasn't "unexpected" this time since we already had a precedent.

SkaterJasp

Agree, its about time jetBlue brings back the Get It Together fare.... that was like one of the best sales jetBlue ever have. It's like how I convince my friends to fly jetBlue. BTW, where is the Get It Together sale? Doesn't it happen around this time of the year?

PS: also thanks for using Tower Air, I'm personally tired of hearing non jetBlue flyers calling jetBlue being the next People Express.

prhs1989

http://cbs3.com/video/[email protected]

"I believe it wasn't just B6 last night. KL641 AMS JFK, for instance, used almost 13 hours gate to gate for a total flying time of just under 8 hours. Most of the additional time was spent on some JFK taxiways. I'm pretty sure there must have been other flights with similar predicaments. KL643 AMS JFK needed 10.5 hours, AF008 CDG JFK 12 hours. All of those flights have been equally slow getting back out of JFK." (HB-IWC)


"I was scheduled to work aboard an American flight to LHR as a flight attendant last night. We were supposed to use a 777 that was inbound from NRT despite the fact there were 3 other 777s sitting around and 2 other LHR flights had already been canceled. It took over 3 and a half hours for the inbound NRT flight to get to the gate, and then the tug that was supposed to tow the plane into its gate broke down. A tow truck had take away the broken tug and then the flight waited another half hour while another tug was found. We boarded the flight to LHR at around 10:45 pm after servicing, and then the flight was canceled. The LHR flight that was supposed to leave after us canceled a few minutes before ours. The first flight to LHR in the evening was supposed to depart at 6:25, but didn't actually leave the gate until after 10:00 pm, with a full load of passengers on board. The 763 to Paris that was supposed to leave at 5:55 pm sat at the gate for 5 hours after all passengers boarded and then taxied out for take-off, and then returned to the gate and canceled. The reason for the flights' cancellations was "we don't have enough de-icers," a first in my 18 years with this airline." (NYCAAer)
__________________________________________________ ______________

All of the above are quotes and video clips from airliners.net. Jetblue was not the only airline to suffer through these problems. While Jetblue may not have handled the situation as well as they could have, I have to believe that they were doing everything in their power to A) get to the destination B) return to the gate. However, it is easier said than done to get the planes back to the terminal. There is only a finite amount of gates at T6, and they were all being occupied by other planes who were waiting to leave, or arriving from the late night Red-Eyes. So, in theory, they had no place to put the planes already on the tarmac. You can't always move the planes at the gates because there may not be the equipment to move them, or there may be no room in the terminal area to move them too. Also, JFK may not have wanted a bunch of empty planes being moved across the apron when they already had their hands full with planes arriving, departing, and taxiing. Finally, it may not be feasible to get people off a plane in the active taxi ways. First they would have to get the stairs and busses together at one place and one time to deboard. But, again, JFK probably doesn't want 150 people moving around a taxi way with snow plow equipment, and also, the other PLANES, which could put them in harm's way. But, if they do get off, you have an empty plane in the taxi way with nowhere to go.

It is too bad that this happened, but welcome to air travel. Many times, logistics are easier said than done, and this is a prime example.

caj11

You know, living in the NYC area I agree the snowstorm was pretty bad and a lot was out of the airlines' hands but it was nothing compared to the once in a generation snowstorm in early 1999 where all those Northwest planes were stuck out on the tarmac anywhere from 2 to 11 hours. Unlike in 1999, most of the airport and airline employees made it to work. The skies did clear up later in the day and the snow stopped. Couldn't Jetblue and whatever other airline was in this situation yesterday have learned from Northwest's mistakes? I do, however, commend Jetblue for doing its best on damage control and there will probably not be a lawsuit like there was with Northwest (which Northwest settled out of court for $7 million).

whlinder

Industry-wide problem? According to a poster in Newsstand, one of the local NYC stations reported that 10 B6 planes sat on the tarmac for over 8 hours full of passengers. Please let me know of the other instances in the industry where a single airline has had that many planes with trapped passengers at the same time. Sorry, this is a jetBlue problem, and is indefensible.

prhs1989

Even though most of the employees made it to work, they were helpless in the situation. They were probably either A) Spectators to the problems on the grounds B) receiving grief from the customers. Either way, it was out of their control.

Yes, the snow did give way at about 3 P.M., but the roads were still a mess. They were reporting in the paper today that roads like Route 80 (a major highway that leads right to the GWB) wasn't plowed until 2:30 to 3:00. I can only imagine how much of a mess JFK must have been. The crews at JFK were most likely doing their best to keep clear, maybe, 1 or 2 runways, the taxiways, and the gate areas. Not to mention their was deicing going on constantly, and the entire ground was probably in gridlock. The last thing that JFK needed was a bunch of empty planes being tugged around the airport to clear room for more planes, in the midst of this ongoing confusion. Jetblue did their best to slow down the arrival rates of their flights, as the put a groundstop into effect via FAA, but it was too late for the planes who were already making their way into JFK. Ultimately, there were too many planes with not enough places to put them. It was unfortunate experience that ended with a generous compensation to each customer.

plat

For you to emphasize this is an industry wide problem is ridiculous. It's not, and shows you are only trying to distract from the real issue.