Traffic & Transit
Hundreds Of Delays Hold JetBlue Flyers 'Hostage' At JFK Again
It's the second time this year that JetBlue flyers said they felt held "hostage" at JFK after facing hours of tarmac and airport delays.
QUEENS, NY — As rain and winds hit New York City on Thursday, hundreds of JetBlue passengers were held "hostage" at John F. Kennedy International Airport — a situation that the airline has already contended with this year.
Some people waited on the tarmac for hours, others were rerouted to out-of-state airports, and many still were stuck in the airport, waiting into Friday morning as flights took off around them.
"I'm sure it's less expensive to keep an entire plane hostage past 1AM rather than put the passengers up in a hotel," tweeted one person, whose girlfriend was stranded on the tarmac for over five hours Thursday.
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Another traveler, who was still stuck waiting in the airport come midnight, was exasperated to see other flights take off.
"Every other airline is taking off at JFK. You can’t use weather as an excuse," she wrote on Twitter.
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All told, over 500 flights were delayed at JFK Thursday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware, but JetBlue flights amounted to about 40 percent of all delays — or 210 flights.
While over half of its flights were delayed, JetBlue also dealt with nearly 50 cancellations, plus some flights that were rerouted or faced route issues.
One passenger on a flight from Burbank to JFK reported waiting 4½ hours in California before making a pit stop in Albuquerque "for cheaper gas. And now we have lost over six hours. Shameful," the passenger tweeted.
Another person who was on a flight from Jacksonville scheduled to land in JFK said that they were rerouted to Connecticut.
"Never made it to JFK," the flyer tweeted. "They recommended we find own transportation to NYC."
JetBlue didn't immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.
This isn't the first time JetBlue has contended with delays at JFK during inclement weather.
In January, after a major nor'easter snowstorm pummeled the city, JetBlue passengers reported hourslong stints on the tarmac and the airport, with some customers losing luggage and others even facing panic attacks, Patch reported.
The chaotic situation, which took a couple of days to fully resolve, was reportedly worsened by staff shortages.
Related Article: Delays Hold JetBlue Flyers 'Hostage' At JFK
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