Feb 26, 2007 7:32 pm US/Eastern
Passengers: Another JFK JetBlue Runway Delay
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
A light snowstorm that hit the New York City area created more problems for JetBlue on Monday, forcing the embattled airline to cancel 66 flights and leaving passengers on at least one plane stranded on the runway for hours.
Some customers spoke of delays, poor communications and general frustration, echoing complaints that led to the company's bill of rights following a travel meltdown due to a Valentine's Day ice storm.
The cancellations included JetBlue flights around the country that pass through its Kennedy International Airport hub, including flights to or from Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Maine; and Chicago.
The weather forced other airlines to cancel flights as well, with Delta Air Lines Inc. reporting 175 canceled flights throughout the Northeast. American Airlines canceled 20 flights in and out of JFK Monday and was experiencing slight delays of 15 to 20 minutes by the afternoon, said spokesman Ned Raynolds.
Doug Rosenberg and Segun Akande, both 22-year-old students at Duke University, saw their JetBlue flight from New York to Raleigh, N.C., canceled after being delayed on the runway for hours.
"It was so bad," said Akande. "We were waiting on the plane for so long. You would think they would tell us to go back to the terminal after an hour or two."
Rosenberg said the airline did a poor job telling passengers about what was going on and offering service after the flight was canceled. "I never witnessed this bad of service in my entire life," said Rosenberg.
JetBlue Airways Corp. spokeswoman Alison Eshelman confirmed that the students' flight was supposed to depart at 9:45 p.m. but was delayed until 11:47 p.m.
She said the plane left for deicing on the runway but due to the weather at both airports the company canceled the flight. It was turned back to the terminal by 2:45 a.m., she said.
Airline spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the cancellations were an attempt to make sure crews and planes were situated so the company could quickly resume operations after the storm.
Baldwin said that in accordance with the customer bill of rights, each of the 100 passengers on the Raleigh flight would receive $100 vouchers good for any future flight and their choice of either a refund or a rebooking.
"I'm not upset that the flight did not take off," Rosenberg said later Monday morning after rebooking his flight and finding out about the voucher. "I just wish there was better communication."
Baldwin said any incidents of poor communication were "rare" and called the airline's pre-storm plan a success, with all flights set to resume normal operations by Monday afternoon.
About 2 to 4 inches had fallen by Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Earlier this month, JetBlue was heavily criticized after bad weather stranded passengers in planes at Kennedy Airport, its main hub, for up to 10 1/2 hours.
The company, which had hoped to ride out the bad weather without canceling flights, later admitted it took too long to call airport authorities for help in getting the passengers off the grounded planes. It couldn't resume normal operations for days because flight crews weren't where they were supposed to be.
More than 1,000 cancellations were caused by the Feb. 14 winter blast, and more than 100,000 passengers were affected.
Passengers whose Monday flights at Kennedy were canceled were notified by e-mail and by telephone. They can rebook through Thursday without paying extra or can request refunds or credits for future travel, JetBlue said.
The company also canceled flights into and out of Chicago and the Washington, D.C., area over the weekend. No flights at LaGuardia Airport, where the company has smaller operations, had been canceled.
JetBlue executives have been busy apologizing for the low-fare carrier's Valentine's Day meltdown and subsequent problems getting schedules back on track. The customers' bill of rights promises compensation for passengers facing delays and cancellations, and they have pledged to learn from their mistakes.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
