A nightmare for JetBlue passengers at JFK

[leobold1]

7Online.com: New York City and Metro Area Traffic on WABC-TV

Planes ran out of food and water as they sat for over 8 hours

(New York - WABC, February 14, 2007) - At JFK Airport, at least four JetBlue planes were 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 reporter Phil Lipoff is at JFK with the story.

It was a nasty commute for a lot of people Wednesday morning so we'll keep this in perspective. But think about it -- hours and hours on a plane.

We have pictures from inside JetBlue Flight 751 on its way to Cancun. One hundred and 34 passengers sat on the plane for more than nine hours today. Passengers didn't get off until 5 p.m. And as you would imagine, all that time never getting to Cancun had passengers furious.

"There was no power and it was hot. There was no air. They kept having to open the actual plane doors so we could breath," a passenger on the flight told us.

"Nobody gave us any answers. They kept telling us we know as much as you do. And I said, I don't work here, you work here, give me answers," another passenger said.

"Everybody is incredibly tired and frustrated and we didn't expect to be in New York tonight, so it's ridiculous. Just sitting there and sitting there and them saying they were going to pull us into the gate and they never did. There was very little food. It was just a nightmare," a passenger told us.

JetBlue told these folks that they were getting off their plane that they will get reimbursed for this ticket, and also get a free round trip ticket anywhere JetBlue flies.

A JetBlue spokesperson said, "We did not do our best ... no excuse for why we allowed those passengers to sit on the tarmac." The spokesperson adds that a total of six aircraft were waiting for departure at JFK today and were eventually cancelled. They say the problem was that there were no free gates to bring the planes back to, that's why they had to rely on buses.

Airport officials say if JetBlue had told them that they had people needing rescuing on planes out on the tarmac, they would have sent buses. They said JetBlue didn't call the airport to tell them that until after 3 p.m.

Other flights stuck:


JetBlue flight Flight 351 was scheduled to depart JFK at 6:45 a.m. but had 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.

JetBlue Flight 850 from Ft. Meyers, Florida landed at JFK around 9:44 a.m. and had been sitting on the tarmac since.

Jet Blue Flight 1060 from Austin landed at 11:14 a.m., was also sitting on the tarmac for hours. A passenger on board told us that the bathrooms were overflowing.

(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)

[Woodmonkey]

I'm trying to imagine being stuck on a plane for 8 hours with a hungry, thirsty young child, or an infant that is bottle fed and you're out of formula.

They can't help the weather or that there were no gates because of the number of planes stuck, but there is no excuse for not sending for buses to get those passengers off the plane.

[milmor_1]

Surely there are Health and Safety, Never mind security issues that must be raised with regards to this incident.

Planes sitting on runways loaded with passengers for so long. That raises a lot of concerns in my mind.

[Carnage_59]

JFK International Airport is a flustercuck and I've been stuck on the tarmac as long as 4 hours. I avoid that airport whenever I can.

JetBlue really screwed up here. That is unconscionable.

[Scrappy]

formerly known as AirTran?

[las47032]

Reason why I won't fly during the Winter.

I have encountered an experience the JetBlue flight, but the conditions were not as bad. Flew on United Airlines, winter 1969 flying from Salt Lake City to Chicago, stopped in Minnieapolis to catch another flight to Chicago, plane landed skidding on the runway. Fortunately the pilot managed to stop the plane, and the aircraft was towed to the terminal. Connecting flight to O'Hare was able to take off, and landed safely in Chicago. A week or so later, return nonstop flight from O'Hare to Los Angeles, taxied out to take off. Sat there for a loooooong time, taxied back to terminal, then back out to take off. Finally took off. After that experience, I decided not to fly during the winter.

Airline brass should channge policy when planes are not able to take off in a reasonable amount of time because of bad winter weather conditions. Yet, every winter we hear stories like JetBlue. Seems like common sense would tell you, you're taking a chance flying during the winter.

[Carnage_59]

Originally Posted by Scrappy

formerly known as AirTran?

No. The Airline formerly known as AirTran became ValuJet.