EWR Woes
 

So my parents recently flew jetBlue from EWR-PBI RT and their flight was delayed by a couple of hours. When I did a little research this time slot (6:15p Dep) is consistently delayed by 30min or more, in fact I was hard pressed to find on-time departures for this flight. I understand that EWR itself has lots of delays, whenever I listen to the radio during the traffic report they always mention EWR arrival delays after about 5p. Could B6 do anything to remedy this situation at all? I mean my parents don't ever want to fly from EWR ever again after this last experience, they said they will take the hike to JFK from now on, but this EWR situation must adversely effect jetBlue's overall on-time performance stats right? Flights leaving in late afternoon, always being delayed, because of airport traffic, any idea what, if anything can be done?

EWR is delayed
JFK is delayed
LGA is delayed
SWF and HPN are delayed because of incoming flights from JFK/EWR/LGA
The closest airport that B6 flies to with no delays would be...uhh...nowhere

In reality, the whole NE is delayed and the best bet for minimal delays would be early morning flights and loads of luck

I can't see why JFK would be any better than EWR for delays.

If your parents are really concerned about delays they should drive to PBI, drats, delays on I95

Humorously True...

Let's try and laugh about it a little, especially having the knowledge that in the spring when all 3 airports (and the operations of the airlines that fly from them) should become alot more reliable.

The OP echoes what thousands have been saying for at least a year and the government finally had enough of the shoddy reliability and complaints and is introducing caps on hourly arr/dep at the remaining 2 uncapped major NYC airports.(EWR and JFK)

Early mornings is best for now, but tell your parents they should be able to travel with abandon once again come mid-March.

What can Jetblue do? They operate, what, 20 flights a day, if that. Continental (including Express) operates the majority of the flights, so they realistically control the ops of EWR. There are no slots, so they can put in as many flights as they want. They will continue to throw 3 RJ's a day to Podunk USA and clutter the airspace. The airspace around NYC is a mess right now, and it will take government intervention to fix it. I live in northern Jersey, and the people around here are in an uproar that they are changing the flightpaths over Bergen County to put more planes in the area. Personally, I couldn't care less about the change. I already live under the approach to Teterboro, so it won't make that much of a difference. But this area is a huge catchment area for CO, so you know its their passengers who are saying "Get rid of these delays, this is ridiculous, blah, blah...What, you found a solution that can help? Alright. Wait, planes 2 miles high over my house? Not going to happen! I am going to fight this for years so no progress can be made! Hmmph!!"

Vicious Cycle

First off, I grew up underneth a landing pattern for EWR. My parents bought the house without know it was there. It has not bothered them one bit in the 25 years they have lived there. Then again, They lived under the pattern for PNS (Pensacola) for a year and a half in the late 70's which they said was worse (they moved to NJ for job oppurtunities).

Secondly, if a two hour delay is the worst of their complaints, they need to find something occupy their time a little better. I've been stuck overnight at DFW when I've had to be back at my office the next morning. The people who have job commitments or important family obligations (weddings, sick family, etc...) might be the only ligitimate thing to complain about when you get stuck with a delay or cancellation but still won't accomplish anything.

Flight delays and cancellations are a part of air travel, especially during the winter. Going into things thinking it will not happen ever is foolish.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that there are delays that are out of the control of the respective airlines, I should have been more specific in mentioning B6 547 which is more often delayed than ontime. Even so, I know there are so many things that could contribute to this type of a delay, I know first hand that JFK is just as bad with all the taxi delays and such, I just wanted to see what you all had to say about. I guess we can wait and see what happens with the FAA slot caps, hopefully this improves things a bit. I would love to see overall on-time preformance rise, that would be awesome, it would probably force some airlines to use bigger aircraft sometimes and decrease frequency.