Snow Day

[Dont call me Shirley]

Multiple JetBlue flights stuck for hours
Planes ran out of food and water as they sat for over 7 hours


(New York - WABC, February 14, 2007) - At JFK Airport today, at least four JetBlue planes are stuck on the runway fully loaded with passengers and children for hours.
The planes were running out of food and water -- and the passengers were running out of patience.

Eyewitness News has confirmed that JetBlue Flight 751 from JFK to Cancun has been sitting on the tarmac with 134 passengers aboard since pulling away from the gate at 10:20 this morning. The airline says it's arranged at long last for three Port Authority buses to get the stuck passengers off the plane.

The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 8:15 this morning, was caught up in weather delays after the airline tried to get the flight off the ground during a narrow takeoff window earlier today. The attempt failed. And because arriving flights left no gates free, Flight 751 sat on the tarmac for about seven and half hours after its scheduled departure time.

Two passengers aboard the flight contacted Eyewitness News saying passengers were unable to deplane, and that beverages were running short aboard the flight. JetBlue says the passengers were held on the flight because "we were operating as if the aircraft would be able to fly." The airline says it was relying on forecast models that indicated there would be a departure window.

JetBlue says it's cancelled about 125 of its 500 daily flights system wide. About 150 flights depart from JFK on an average day. JetBlue says it can't say precisely how many of its JFK flights got off the ground today.

JetBlue says at minimum, all the passengers aboard Flight 751 will get a full refund and complimentary round trip ticket on a future JetBlue flight. Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokesperson, says "the driver of this situation is the weather. The weather just did not play out as forecasted. But we know it does not relieve our responsibilities for our customers' comfort."

Dervin says the airline would never intentionally leave passengers sitting for hours aboard a plane that couldn't fly. "We would never intentionally do that. We would only position an aircraft if we thought we could depart that aircraft within a reasonable amount of time."

And Eyewitness News has learned about another JetBlue flight -- Flight 351 -- at JFK that was scheduled to depart at 6:45 a.m. but has been sitting on the tarmac. A viewer called in to say shortly after 4:30 p.m., the pilot told passengers they will deplane and be transported back to the terminal.

Late Wednesday afternoon, we found out that JetBlue Flight 850, which landed at 9:44 a.m. at JFK, has been sitting on the tarmac since.

(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)
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[RDU Jetblast]

I'm sorry but there is no excuse for this.

 

[whlinder]

Before I left for work this morning I had Good Morning America on; one of their top stories was interviewing some passengers from a B6 flight at JFK that apparantly sat on the tarmac for 10 hours or so. The title of the piece was "JetBlue flight from hell". The passengers had camera phone pictures of what they went through.

 

[RDU Jetblast]

This clearly isn't the first time. I think there is a push in Congress for an airline passengers Bill of Rights. You know things are bad when it has come to this.

Plus, they reported having to open doors to allow cool frsh air into the aircraft. How can you disengage the slides on an active flight? What if there was a fire? I think FARs were violated here.

 

[whlinder]

It sounds like (according to other posters who watched NYC local news) that 10 planes trapped pax for up to 8 hours.

That is absolutely ridiculous and B6 needs to outlay some serious cash to those pax. How many planes did NW end up using to trap pax in 1999? I don't think it was 10.

 

[WNrforlife]

Multiple JetBlue flights stuck for hours
Planes ran out of food and water as they sat for over 7 hours
(New York - WABC, February 14, 2007) - At JFK Airport today, at least four JetBlue planes are stuck on the runway fully loaded with passengers and children for hours.
The planes were running out of food and water -- and the passengers were running out of patience.

Eyewitness News has confirmed that JetBlue Flight 751 from JFK to Cancun has been sitting on the tarmac with 134 passengers aboard since pulling away from the gate at 10:20 this morning. The airline says it's arranged at long last for three Port Authority buses to get the stuck passengers off the plane.

The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 8:15 this morning, was caught up in weather delays after the airline tried to get the flight off the ground during a narrow takeoff window earlier today. The attempt failed. And because arriving flights left no gates free, Flight 751 sat on the tarmac for about seven and half hours after its scheduled departure time.

Two passengers aboard the flight contacted Eyewitness News saying passengers were unable to deplane, and that beverages were running short aboard the flight. JetBlue says the passengers were held on the flight because "we were operating as if the aircraft would be able to fly." The airline says it was relying on forecast models that indicated there would be a departure window.

JetBlue says it's cancelled about 125 of its 500 daily flights system wide. About 150 flights depart from JFK on an average day. JetBlue says it can't say precisely how many of its JFK flights got off the ground today.

JetBlue says at minimum, all the passengers aboard Flight 751 will get a full refund and complimentary round trip ticket on a future JetBlue flight. Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokesperson, says "the driver of this situation is the weather. The weather just did not play out as forecasted. But we know it does not relieve our responsibilities for our customers' comfort."

Dervin says the airline would never intentionally leave passengers sitting for hours aboard a plane that couldn't fly. "We would never intentionally do that. We would only position an aircraft if we thought we could depart that aircraft within a reasonable amount of time."

And Eyewitness News has learned about another JetBlue flight -- Flight 351 -- at JFK that was scheduled to depart at 6:45 a.m. but has been sitting on the tarmac. A viewer called in to say shortly after 4:30 p.m., the pilot told passengers they will deplane and be transported back to the terminal.

Late Wednesday afternoon, we found out that JetBlue Flight 850, which landed at 9:44 a.m. at JFK, has been sitting on the tarmac since.

(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)
Print story E-Mail story Newsletters RSS

This does not bode well for JetBlue. It will be interesting to see how they handle this fiasco and try to regain the stellar image that they once held. :huh:

 

[nostradamus]

Pax on airplante 8 hours

Making passengers stay on board for more than a few hours should be against the law. You better believe if anyone on board had any political connections they would have returned to the gate.

They should make the members of the board of the airline sit on an airplane in similar conditions and when they get off give them a free ticket.

I also blame the pilots, the rules are thrown out the window when these things happen, find a mechanical situation and get these folks back in the terminal. A little more creativity and assertiveness is needed during these situations.

 

[nostradamus]

Jet Blue ceo is scheduled to be on the closing bell program on CNBC today at 4pm. Get your hankie out when he apologizes
and then blames everyone else in the world but his airline.

In fairness this was not the only airline that kept passengers kidnapped on airplanes in the last few months.
Spin control spewing of words will be the same.

 

[Itestwell]

Aww, what's the big deal? I mean, these people had live TV for their $99 investment. Can't you watch TV for a few hours while we sort this out?

 

[RDU Jetblast]

I also blame the pilots, the rules are thrown out the window when these things happen, find a mechanical situation and get these folks back in the terminal. A little more creativity and assertiveness is needed during these situations.
[/quote]

What's the pilot's incentive? Brakes off, doors closed, beacon on= flight time pay. May not be the situation here but that has happened before.

 

[nostradamus]

Great, explanations are the passengers do not pay enough, the pilots are not paid enough, so lets put a bunch of unsuspecting people in an aluminum tube and seal it for 10 hours.

Maybe if there is a heart attack victim you can just turn your head, if it is a passenger, heck they only paid 99 dollars. I then hope you are treated the same in the store you shop in without sympathy for their low paid workers, while you are saving money on a daily basis.

 

[Atlantic]

There was no where to return to. Gates were taken, inbounds cloged the allys.

 

[nostradamus]

There was no where to return to. Gates were taken, inbounds cloged the allys.

Verb 1. ally with ally with - untie formally; of interest groups or countries
unite, unify - act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief

Speaking of allies, I am glad Gen Patton did not allow excuses like yours.

 

[citrus jock]

My intent with this post is not to condemn nor defend the actions of JetBlue. I don't have enough facts to do either. I would like to offer my perspective as a pilot when I was in a similar circumstance:

I was caught up in the debacle in ATL when a knuckleheaded UGA fan bolted past security in October (I believe) 2001. Both terminals and all 6 concourses were emptied of passengers and employees. All passengers and crew on aircraft still at the gates were ordered off and out onto the streets outside the terminal while police (this was prior to the advent of the TSA) and dogs "resecured" the terminal and concourses. ATL only has one security checkpoint, so this made things really fun. I landed in ATL just after this happened, and was instructed by ATC to park our aircraft on a taxiway. We sat for 6 hours. During this time, I had an aircraft in front of me and one behind me. Had I been able to move the aircraft (which I couldn't), I had no gate to go to (aircraft still on them), nor anyone to drive the jetway ( all employees outside of security waiting to be screened). Once employees and passengers were rescreened, boarding of aircraft at the gates began. Once aircraft began leaving their gates (this was about 4 hours after we landed) we finally started making our way to the terminal. The airplane I fly doesn't have its own stairs (external stairs must be used). There are 4 ways I can think of to get people off of an airplane. Jetway, stairs (internal or external), "people mover", and evacuation. In the situation I was in, there weren't employees available to utilize the first three options. The fourth option I can only order in an emergency, as it usually results in numerous injuries.

The purpose of my post is to inform passengers who may be reading this, of the many factors involved when situations like this arise. I would also like to solicit suggestions as to what could have been done differently. I realize that my situation and the one with JetBlue were somewhat different, but sometimes we find ourselves in situations like this where our choices are to sit and wait, or to evacuate.

My opinion is that these things rarely happen, but when they do there's little that can be done differently to make it better. Congress can pass a "passenger bill of rights" if it wants; but until it elimanates knuckleheaded UGA fans and bad weather, and invents a different way to deplane, this is going to happen again.

 

[StraaightTaalk]

I guess when the you-know-what hits the fan, JetBlue is just like any other airline.