Instant replay? JetBlue passengers stuck on planes for over 9 hours
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Here we go again. Just weeks ago, American Airlines was criticized for leaving hundreds of passengers sitting onboard their planes for hours and hours, instead of letting them disembark and return to the terminal. Now, jetBlue repeated the mistake. At least three planes — flights 751, 351, and 850 — were kept on the tarmac for as long as nine hours.
In a statement, the airline admitted that it was not solely due to snowy weather, but also because of “arrivals that we were unable to move to a gate within a reasonable amount of time, due to all gates being occupied.”
Again: Why can’t they call for a bus to bring passengers back to the terminal?
Anyone affected directly by these delays by sitting on the tarmac for more than three hours will at least receive an apology, a full refund, and a voucher for a free flight. (Clearly, jetBlue’s public relations staff learned from the American Airlines debacle recently.)
Though this was awful for the passengers on board these flights, the fact that another incident like this has happened so soon after the last one potentially gives a bit of momentum to the Passengers’ Bill of Rights. (Petition here.)
Related:
- Recent posts on the proposed passengers’ bill of rights
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February 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pm |
If an airplane is anticipated to be stuck on the ground for more than 1 hour; why not use the emergency stairway for evacuation if a portable stairway is not available; what would be done if there was a fire on-board?
February 15th, 2007 at 4:17 pm |
FYI - There are no portable stairs on a airplane except for a few old dinosaur airplanes. Not to mention that it is against the FAR (federal aviation regulation) to let people walk on the tarmack. The way they get off an airplane in a fire is going down the escape slides, which if you blew the slide I can tell you, will take the airplane out of commission for a while. What is really amazing is that most people wouldn’t be caught dead driving in the conditions like we saw on Wednesday, yet these passengers are shocked and pissed that they are delayed or cancelled. The airlines do their best to get everyone to where they want to be. Mother Nature of course is in charge of that schedule which some people seem to forget. Clearing runways, roads is not an exact science so there is no way to tell someone exactly when they are going to leave when is as unpredictable as it was on that day. Do people really think the airlines enjoy putting people throught this much agony? There only other choice is to cancel every single flight. And that is a no win situation for everyone and again the passenger is pissed off and has no chance of getting to where they want to go for days. So if you are lucky enough to get on a flight when weather is bad be prepared, hope for the best and don’t complain if it doesn’t go well. You could have just stayed home.
February 15th, 2007 at 4:36 pm |
Victoria,
I have been stranded on several flights over the years due to weather. I don’t think anyone is “shocked” about a weather delay and no one is complaining because things don’t “go well” in bad weather. The exception, of course, is malcontents. You need to get a grip. Nine to eleven hours on the tarmac (no k) is as much about poor planning as it is about the bad weather. Most sensible people know it is about both.
February 15th, 2007 at 6:43 pm |
I’m sure that these people were more interested in getting off the flight rather than taking off in terrible conditions. Why couldn’t the traffic be stopped to let these passengers escape being held prisoner. Too bad about the plane being taken out of commission if the slide is let out. These passengers were taken out of commision against their will. There were reports that the water had run out and they had limited snacks available. Why couldn’t the airline at least arrange to get food and water to these people? Basic consideration for these passengers would have gone a long way. Sympathy for the airlines is getting old. Read their fine print. They accept responsibility for NOTHING with one disclaimer after another. Poor management of the airlines is what has caused their decline, yet they continue to deliver fewer and fewer services to the passengers. Nonrefundable tickets was first, requiring Saturday night stays was next, then cutting out meals, now they are getting ready to cut the number of allowable checked bags in half. These passengers were held against their will. A refund and a ticket for future travel is a joke.
February 15th, 2007 at 6:44 pm |
Oh by the way….Vickie….travel agent for 25 years!
February 15th, 2007 at 8:08 pm |
Victoria: Your response is remarkably flippant. “You could have just stayed home” ?!!? Sure, and you would have lost your ticket’s value, when the flight took off without you.
And please: This wasn’t just a function of bad weather. The airline refused to let the flight return to the gate, while newly-arriving flights were allowed to head to a jetway. This was poor weather compounded by bad decisionmaking.
Besides, JetBlue, in their press release, effectively admitted that this was their mistake, and not just the weather’s fault. Don’t give them a free pass.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:29 am |
Can’t be that hard to fake a medical emergency if it becomes clear you’re going to be stuck on that plane for eight hours. Little heart rhythm problem or something.
Victoria’s comments are outrageous. It’s quite obvious that gates can be made available. While I cannot imagine that the airline staff deliberately let people sit on those planes for up to nine hours, it sure demonstrates incompetence and utterly poor planning. I would have expected more from JetBlue.
February 16th, 2007 at 8:27 am |
Mark Ashley’s comments above are dead on and I’ll push it one further. Clearly, line operations at airlines are not being given enough guidance on how to handle these situations and that blame rest squarely with the airline. Continued issues like these are going to cause lawmakers to try and fix something that the airlines should have a long time ago. Perhaps this will be the incident that pushes a passengers bill of rights…for better or worse…into existence.
February 19th, 2007 at 2:26 pm |
Ah, write it in your journals. Welcome to life. No one makes bad decisions on purpose, but we all make them. In most decisions not all the information is available. When you make a bad one, apologize like crazy, make some changes and move on. Hopefully those employees (on and off the plane) were doing everything they could to help. The desired result, whether in the customer’s or the airline’s best interest, is the same result. Get the plane in the air! Better luck next time. I am glad I was not there, I would have had to render myself unconscious with my laptop after the battery died! -Out
April 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pm |
Hey! I took that pic during the banned liquid scare!
I was on that delayed flight. Four hours in a terminal with my two year-old!
(I don’t care that that pic is here, it was just far-out to see it!)
May 14th, 2007 at 6:41 am |
[…] JetBlue founder and CEO David Neeleman, who took a beating for the way his airline kept passengers stuck on board its planes for hours on end back in February, may have won some sympathy for his incessant […]
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:31 am |
Oh please, there is no excuse, get the people off the plane asap. MY GOD 9 hours!
Air ports should be ready with special gates that are NOT used normally.
I mean if the president in the U.S. landed, I’m sure he can get off on the tarmac.
Listen, don’t fly unless you REALLLY have to it’s the worst possible way to travel, and aside from it’s speed, has NO benefits. you come out feeling like you just rolled around on the floor of an grease factory, and usually never on time.
If you have to travel for business (in this day and age of computers…who the heck needs to actually see one another) well…you’re boned.
October 29th, 2007 at 1:37 pm |
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