Author Topic: JetBlue passengers left waiting on plane after airport crew leaves for night  (Read 2690 times)

Offline KB4TEZ

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1436
https://www.wpbf.com/article/jetblue-worcester-massachusetts-passengers-wait-plane-workers-went-home/39451861

WORCESTER, Mass. —
Dozens of JetBlue passengers spent time sitting on an idle plane on the tarmac at a Massachusetts airport Monday night after staff left for the night.

A Massachusetts woman traveled to New York City on business this weekend and said she experienced several issues with her JetBlue flights both to and from Worcester.She said the problems appeared to stem from a lack of airline staffing.

Flight records obtained via Flightaware show JetBlue Flight 676 left New York's JFK Airport about 35 minutes later than normal for the short 150-mile journey to Worcester Regional Airport.

The flight records show the plane landed at the small airport outside the city of Worcester around 12:15 a.m. but did not actually park at the gate until after 1 a.m."It was silence, then the pilot said, 'I have something embarrassing to tell you guys — there is nobody to get you off the flight,'" Sabrina Ruelle told sister station WCVB on Tuesday. "They had no staff available to get us off the airplane!"

Police showed up to help assist with the situation.

"The state police were there and they were going to have to evacuate us, but then they got a hold of a JetBlue manager and had to have him drive from his house to the airport to let us off the airplane," Ruelle said.

Ruelle said she was trying to get home to her 6-month-old son and felt particularly bad for the families on the plane with young children.

"I saw this one woman who was feeding her baby before we got on the flight," Ruelle said. "You could tell they were already exhausted, and they were stuck on that flight the whole time and the baby was crying."etBlue officials said it is working to understand what happened.

"We are working with our business partner who operates our ground team in Worcester to determine why a crew member was not in place at the jet bridge to ensure this remains an isolated incident," a spokesperson for JetBlue said in a statement Monday.

"Our records show customers on JetBlue flight 676 Monday were required to wait 45 minutes to deplane after landing. While we comply with all DOT regulations in the event of a tarmac delay, we know any delay is a frustrating situation and apologize for the wait."

Ruelle said she was also delayed five hours on her JetBlue flight from Worcester to New York City on Sunday morning because the airline didn't have a flight attendant available.

Flight records show the Sunday morning flight was scheduled to leave Worcester just after 7 a.m. but didn't get off the ground until just before noon for what was a 32-minute flight to New York. The JetBlue spokesperson told WCVB that Sunday's delay was partially weather-related, a result of Saturday's winter storm that canceled flights and interrupted the placement of crew members.