"JetBlue passengers endure 25-hour trek from Fort Lauderdale to N.Y."

Friday, June 29, 2007

JetBlue passengers endure 25-hour trek from Fort Lauderdale to N.Y.
By Arlene Satchell and Tom Stieghorst 
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel 

 
A 2½-hour JetBlue Airways flight bound from Fort Lauderdale to New York on
Wednesday turned into a 25-hour odyssey that finally ended Thursday
afternoon, as a chain of problems left 150 passengers staggered by the
mind-boggling delay.

The cascade of problems occurred just four months after a disastrous
five-day period in February when the airline canceled more than 1,000
flights in the New York area. And it again raises questions about how much
of the blame should fall on airlines when flights encounter unexpected
delays.

Flight 62's takeoff at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday was delayed for three hours. The
jet departed, only to be diverted by bad weather to Atlantic City, N.J.,
where passengers stewed on the tarmac for four hours. At 12:30 a.m.
Thursday, they were allowed off the plane. It would be another four hours
until they finally were sent to a hotel for the night. The flight ultimately
arrived at JFK International Airport at 3:21 p.m. Thursday.

"It's a nightmare here," said Boris Shuserman, 61, of Hallandale Beach, as
he waited Thursday afternoon in the departure lounge of the Atlantic City
International Airport.

JetBlue said it would issue a full refund to Flight 62 passengers and would
also give them free round trip vouchers.

All airlines have unlucky flights, but JetBlue has been under the gun since
February when an ice storm in New York led to thousands of passengers
becoming stranded for days. The airline paid $20 million to $30 million in
compensation under a "bill of rights" unveiled in March, but it wasn't
enough to save founder David Neeleman from being replaced in May as chief
executive officer. Since then, the airline's performance has been mixed. It
had the second-lowest on-time arrival rate in April of 20 carriers tracked
by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Only 64.8 percent of its flights
were on time, compared with an industry average of 75.7 percent. But earlier
this month, it was rated ahead of all other low-fare carriers in J.D. Power
& Associates' annual customer satisfaction survey.

Flight 62 passengers said an already bad situation was made worse by the
lack of customer service in Atlantic City.

Azim Khan, of Fort Lauderdale, said he felt abandoned by JetBlue's
representatives there. Kahn said that upon landing around 8:30 p.m.
passengers were told that buses would soon arrive to transfer them to JFK.
The promised buses never came.

Passengers ultimately took taxis at their own expense to a nearby hotel
where JetBlue had secured rooms for the night, he said. The taxi fares will
be reimbursed.

For the remainder of the night, Khan and others went without food because
nearby restaurants already had closed. Les Raye, 60, of Davie, said JetBlue
should have made better provisions.

"I don't think I've ever gone through anything like this in my many years of
flying," Raye said.

JetBlue has a "bill of rights" that entitles passengers to discounts on
future flights for delays under certain conditions. Stories of marooned
passengers on other carriers, including Northwest Airlines and American
Airlines, have also prompted talk in Congress of legislation.

JetBlue spokesman Todd Burke said Thursday's situation was very unusual.
Storms had caused multiple JetBlue delays on the East Coast and led several
planes to divert to Atlantic City, where it normally does not fly.

With no ground crew or staff in Atlantic City, the airline's contracted
representatives did their best to locate buses for the trip to JFK. But
after calling several casinos and about 45 bus companies, they found none
could do the job, Burke said.

Stuart Klaskin, an aviation consultant in Coral Gables, said landing where
it had no operations was Jet Blue's key mistake.

"It might have been better to divert to a different airport where they could
have better accommodated [passengers]," he said.

Klaskin said JetBlue actually is following the public's wishes by trying to
fly even if the weather causes delays.

"People would rather go than be canceled," he said.

Other airlines take a different tack. On Thursday, Delta Air Lines canceled
200 flights, or about one-third of its flights from the Northeast, because
of heavy storms and expected delays. Delta said it made an early call to
cancel the flights in hopes of giving at least 12 hours' notice to
passengers via e-mail and cell phone messages.

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