[eaw13]

My wife and I were vacationing in St. Maartin. On the day of our return (03/24) to Boston, JetBlue texted us that our connecting flight from JFK to BOS had been canceled. When we arrived at the St. Maartin airport, JetBlue advised us that they had rebooked the JFK-BOS leg, with my wife leaving the next day at 5pm, and with me leaving the day AFTER that, at 9am. When we inquired about compensation, we were told the cancellation was due to "winter weather" in NY, and we would therefore not be compensated.

When we arrived in NY, it was a balmy 58 degrees outside, clear skies, with occasional wind gusts of 20-25mph. This was according to the pilot. My wife and I decided to drive to Boston that night rather than wait 1-2 days at JFK. Other stranded JetBlue customers had already grabbed all the rental cars at JFK, so we had to take a $ 40 cab ride to LaGuardia. According to our cabbie, the weather had been beautiful all day. "JetBlue cancels flights because there are tarmac issues at JFK," he told us. "Rather than face federal fines for leaving customers on the tarmac, they just cancel the flights, and screw the customer."

If JetBlue cancels a flight for FINANCIAL reasons (to avoid fines), they should compensate their customers for both the inconvenience and expense this cancellation causes. My wife and I spent more than $ 300 to get back home, and we didn't get home until 4am (and my wife had to work only a few hours later!). Furthermore, there should be strict guidelines governing when an airline can - and CANNOT - cancel flights for weather-related reasons. I would go so far as to propose that such cancellations be based on ACTUAL weather conditions....

[Gromit801]

Why is anyone surprised at this?

I feel badly for your hassles. But the public screamed for heavy fines on airlines for delays getting out of very busy airports. Now one of the busiest airports has it's main runway shut down for several weeks. That's going to create delays no airline has any control over. Except to cancel flights, or even delete flights from the schedule entirely.

Now you want the government to decide when it's appropriate to cancel a flight due to weather reasons. The FAA/ATC makes the weather calls usually. So the government has for the most part, already assumed that role.

You're taking the word of a cabbie, about what airlines do or don't do. Where does he get his info from? His fares, and most of them are probably unhappy. Do they KNOW what they're talking about? Probably not.

Going back to the weather. What were the wind gusts at the time of cancellation?

Suggestion: Don't fly out of JFK for a couple months.

[eaw13]

A quick rebuttal:

(1) I am not taking the cabbie at his word. The cabbie offered an alternative explanation for the cancellation that was consistent with the facts on the ground. Indeed, Gromit801 has provided further information concerning runway construction that tends to confirm what the cabbie said rather than refute it. JetBlue, on the other hand, offered an explanation that made no sense whatsoever. The flight was canceled a day in advance due to "winter weather" that seems to have effected only JetBlue flights, and only those out of JFK. Strange weather...

(2) The fact that the source of the cabbie's information may have been angry passengers does nothing to decrease his credibility. To the contrary, even.

(3) If it was because of runway construction rather than some kind of miraculous winter storm that the flight was canceled, was JetBlue somehow caught unaware? Were they not advised well in advance about the runway construction? Or did a pilot notice it for the first time on his way in?

If - as seems likely - they knew there would be runway construction and that consequently they would have to cancel flights, why did they continue selling tickets for these flights? Why not simply reduce the number of flights going in and out of JFK until the construction was completed?

(4) I am sympathetic to the plight of the airlines, especially those servicing JFK, an airport that appears to be run by 2 chimps and a parrot. That said, why not be honest with the customer and say, look, JFK is a mess, and consequently we have the choice of either cancelling flights or paying hefty fines? Why not respect your customers instead of lying to them?

[jimworcs]

eaw..spot on. Gromit is wrong on the issue of runway repairs. That is a an entirely predictable event and JetBlue needs to ensure their scheduling takes account of it. I would complain to the DOT... link under quicklinks.

[rerere]

The Cabbie is ****ing Osama. I must agree with gromit on this one. Just avoid JFK. It is because of the runway work. JetBlue should not pay you a dime because which one would you rather: Be stuck on the runway for 8 or more hours, or just have your flight canceled and take a different airline?

[wkharris2001]

don't forget, there is a chance that it was upline weather that caused the cancellation. for example if XXXX is scheduled for the day a flight FLL to JFK to RIC to JFK to BOS to JFK to ORD (i'm not even sure if B6 serves all of these airports just examples) if there is a thunderstorm in FLL that delays that flight.....all of the downline flights will be delayed... in the same example, there is a freak snowstorm in RIC (again no weather at JFK so the cabbie's story about it being nice out all day is correct) and the RIC to JFK portion cancels the already delayed JFK to BOS flight will now cancel as well as the BOS/JFK AND THE JFK/ORD flights. of course B6 will try their best to swap the equipment, but there's not always an extra airplane just sitting around for when this happens.

__________________________
the views and opinions expressed here are my own and not those of Delta Air Lines

[cortney]

i thought alot of flights this day were delayed/cancelled due to wind in JFK.LGA and BOS. i saw this all online and was recieving twitter updates from delta aa and united. was 3/24 the day of the strong winds that new york had?

[ChrisH]

Flights can be delayed due to wind. Airplanes do have limitations on what kind of wind they can land in. I was once on a flight that was delayed over a half hour, because the headwinds were over 100mph at altitude. There were perfectly clear, blue skies but the headwinds caused the delay, because it slowed the airplane down in flight.

Weather in aviation is much more than thunderstorms and snow. I am a pilot also (not professionally) and have done studying on weather and aviation. Most people believe it is all about thunderstorms. Clear skies and a very strong headwind can cause delays. Once one flight is delayed 30 minutes, the downline flight becomes delayed, and so on. It may have been strong headwinds causing a 30 minute delay on a flight that flew from Miami to Dallas, for example, and then from Dallas to Denver the flight is delayed, because the same aircraft is used, then the flight from Denver going over to Chicago ends up delayed and people miss their connections in Chicago. Reason for the delay: Weather. Was there a cloud in the sky? No. Was there any weather in Denver or Chicago? No. Was weather still the cause of the delay? Yes. There are many examples similar to this. It isn't always about storms and snow.

Some delays, due to the air traffic system, and expecially construction such as in JFK, can cause a delay to become a cancellation. That 30 minute delay may cause the aircraft to be significantly behind in the takeoff sequence, if the flight were to still be operated. It may be very hard to get a slot. In that case, the airline may see it as better to cancel the flight, than have passengers sit on the airplane for hours waiting for takeoff, especially now that they can and will receive fines for this.

I'm not saying any of the above is what happened in the original posters situation. I am just saying that there is often times much more to it than the airline lied.

[steveald]

On April 28th I was scheduled to go from Buffalo to JFK on Jet Blue. I received notification that my flight was canceled because of high winds at JFK. I checked and all Jet Blue flights from Buffalo to JFK were canceled.

A business associate of mine was traveling on Jet Blue that same day and time leaving from Rochester to JFK. His flight was not canceled. In addition, I was able to fly on another airline to JFK that day. So obviously neither Jet Blue nor the other air line really thought that high winds were a safety concern.

Since Jet Blue had obviously canceled my flight for internal reasons, not high winds, I requested Jet Blue compensate me for the difference in the price of the ticket. When I called to request this compensation the two customer service people I talked to continued to lie to me about why the flight was canceled and refused compensation.