If you receive my daily travel tip newsletter (you can sign up for free here), then you know I’ve been ragging on a few airlines for the way they mishandled their operations this past weekend. Specifically JetBlue, since my sister has been in the middle of the debacle since Friday and still hasn’t been able to get home so I have firsthand knowledge of that experience.
First, JetBlue sent her an update stating that her nonstop flight from West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) to Westchester, NY (HPN) was going to be 19 hours in duration (they did it again today, saying flight time was 24 hours). Then they delayed her flight by two hours, moved it up by an hour, delayed it again and then canceled it.
My sister said there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in line with only three agents working at PBI. No one had answers and it took over three hours to get her checked bag back and another three plus hours to get a hold of a representative on the phone to change the flight the system had automatically rebooked her on for two days after to a different airport. That flight then canceled, too.
I understand that thanks to the pandemic, the airlines cut capacity and flights are full so if one flight gets canceled, it can throw a massive wrench into operations. But come on. At least offer a call back like American Airlines does so you don’t have to sit on hold for hours or have an app like United, where you can make an edit to the rebooked flight or speak to an agent via chat. But most of all, hire more agents at the airport and call centers to speed things up. It’s ridiculous.
To add insult to injury, yesterday, JetBlue announced they’re expanding their international flights to London and they made international headlines when it was leaked that they had just put in a bid to buy Spirit Airlines throwing a wrench in Spirit’s merger with Frontier. If you’re going to spend $3.6 billion, how about investing in your own operations first before expanding?
I think JetBlue customers would be excited about the news if it wasn’t for the mishandling of their operations. JetBlue has always been a fan favorite but when you strand customers for days and refuse to reimburse them for hotels or transportation and then make a $3.6 billion offer, it stings.
The bigger story is he took the train instead of flying JetBlue https://t.co/tRasIqOqhT
— JohnnyJet (@JohnnyJet) April 6, 2022
Also in the news: JetBlue’s CEO took the train from New York to Boston when the news leaked. Which begs the question: Why would the CEO of an airline that operates a flight between New York and Boston take the train instead? That says a lot about how reliable JetBlue has been lately.
RELATED: How To Reach an Airline’s Reservations Agent Without Waiting
Sounds like a whiny “influencer” thinks his sister’s flight should have been special and not one of the 10,000 flights the industry (and that means Delta, AA, WN, NK, etc Johnny) cancelled over the weekend.
Pbi as of right now 5 canceled flights 5 delayed flights. Depending on the aircraft 200 seater ..approx 1500 /1800 displaced customers.
Btw nothing to do with FAA. More like not enough staff.
I’m sorry, Johnny… Every single airline in this industry has its had issues in the last week. We have ALL stranded people everywhere and been in IROP for days. We’ve all left pilots, FA’s, and customers without flights and hotels. Because of spring break there were none to be had. If you fly to 20 countries a year, how do you not know high season yet? How do you not know when the other airlines have had issues too? Maybe you should research a bit more, instead of complaining as if you fly once or twice a year and stop bragging about how much you fly.
Sorry auto fill my previous message No vouchers issued and 90 day visa was 2 days over then fined.
Kip
My wife and I were delayed 5 days in guayquil ecuador. We arrived at airport 3 hours early on Friday 4/1 kept getting emails flight was delayed after 2 1/2 hours flight was canceled due to no crew to fly from NY.
We got vouchers for a room and 3 meals told to return Saturday at midnight, returned and waited kept getting the same flight delayed notices. Now the terminal is filling up with new plus 2 days of passengers were delayed.
Again canceled my flight and told no more flights for 3 days putting g us at a Tuesday departure. This time with hundreds in line jet blue refused to issue any volumes and people almost rooted.
Finally Tuesday might night we checked in had to get a new covid test to enter the USA. Then we get to i.migration and were told because we were 2 days over our 99 day visa that the Fine was $224 each and we couldn’t return to exuador for a year. Now we showed them all our flight vouchers that clearly showed that jet blue caused our problem and this was not fair.
We just agreed to pay the fi e adding that to all our extra bls for hotel food etc, then to add insult to injury jet blue sends an email issuing a $50 credit towards my next ticket yeah fat chance.
Piss poor customer service and you want to spend millions to buy another airline and you can treat those customers like crap also, glad to be back in CT.
Kip
LOL, if your sister flew anyone except for United last week, she would have been canceled or at least delayed substantially. Stop crying about it, and this Spirit move is about survival and expansion. They will double their fleet and have move coverage in PBI so we don’t have to hear about how long your sister is on her phone with customer service!
Should read AND THE TIME I WASTED!
My comment should have read the time I wasted.
What a nightmare! Still out Uber, cancelled hotel and food. Hundreds of dollars I wouldn’t have spent but, did and went nowhere! And the time I wanted!
April 3, 2022
2:30 PM Outgoing Call
3 hours 31 minutes
2:25 PM Outgoing Call – disconnected
1 minute
2:24 PM Outgoing Call – disconnected
1 minute
2:22 PM Outgoing Call – disconnected
I was stuck that weekend 36 hrs on Jet Blue trying to fly fr Charleston to west Palm 7:30 am flight cancelled for lack of crew, waited for 4 hrs and rerouted to Boston Logan waited another 32 hrs overnight for an ultimately cancelled flight to Ft Laud. No pilots avail it since they had incurred their 10 hrs.now all food places closed. I asked desk people for water and the idea spurred them to search out water bottles and snacks for us. Many families with babies and tots and seniors waiting.I asked for a supervisor and none available. It was a perfect storm of storms in Fl. , diminished crews and pilots and reservationists, and planes. Ultimately departed at the 36th hour in a JETS corporate jet either borrowed or bought plane (yes, still with green “Jets” logo exterior). Go Jets!
I just quit from working in jetblue reservations , they do not care about their customers or employees , employees are force to work with no days off ofcourse you will have an awful customer service when your employee is working against his will , secondly they don’t give a crap about people they will offer you 25dls credit and they will no pay for anything even if it’s the airlines fault that your flight was cancel ,PEOPLE DO NOT USE JETBLUE !!!
I also want to add, in addition to weather the news also cited technology and spring break. There were other things going on as well! There customer service is lacking.