Numerous JetBlue travelers found themselves “left on the street like animals” after experiencing a 24-hour delay on their journey back to Boston from Turks and Caicos, according to their claims.
The airline did not make any provisions for the passengers, who reported feeling “traumatized” after being expelled from the airport with their families on Saturday night.
One passenger, Marty, recounted to Boston 25 News: “To put people out on the streets like animals was undoubtedly an experience that I will forever remember.”
Marty mentioned that his children were fatigued after their flight had already been postponed for several hours on Saturday. He noted that it was exceedingly challenging to secure accommodation, as there were no hotel rooms vacant on such short notice that evening.
“[It was] just a highly unsettling, traumatic ordeal,” he stated. “You have three young children all looking to you for guidance, a wife waiting for you to provide answers.
“For the first time as a husband, father, and man, I was completely at a loss on how I would provide shelter for my family for the night.”
Others indicated that JetBlue personnel were unhelpful, leaving them to fend for themselves. Another traveler, Brett, remarked they had been “cast out into the street like dogs.”
“We just kept asking, ‘where do you expect us to go? What are we supposed to do? How are you just throwing us onto the street like dogs in a foreign country?”
Brett reported to Boston 25 that he ultimately spent $1,000 for an AirBnB that accommodated 10 people in a “terrible, sketchy” neighborhood. “The area resembled something from a horror film,” he said. “Wild dogs were chasing the taxi as we drove past… the kids were panicking, like, what will we do?”
In a statement, JetBlue attributed the considerable flight delay to “significant air traffic control congestion and prolonged holding” and expressed regret for the “frustrating predicament.”
“While the delay was due to factors outside JetBlue’s control, we recognize the effect this disruption had on our customers’ plans,” the statement indicated.
The airline informed that passengers could submit claims for any “out-of-pocket costs” incurred during the delay and that they would be granting each customer a $200 travel credit.
However, many were dissatisfied. “This went way beyond a mere delay,” Marty remarked.
“This was about sending individuals into the streets of a third-world nation in the early hours of the night and expecting them to fend for themselves without any solutions.”