If you woke up this morning expecting to take a trip on JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) you may want to double check your flight before heading off to the airport. The airline announced that 215 flights have been canceled due to stormy weather forecast. The hardest hit hub was New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport where over 200 planned flights were canceled. This comprises a little over one-third of all JetBlue flights scheduled for the day.
JetBlue thinks that canceling these flights will avoid the problems it had faced back on Feb. 14th when hundreds of passengers got stuck for long periods of time (some over 10 hours) on parked planes at Kennedy airport. During that storm the airline company decided to try to get all its passengers to their destinations, a decision which had severe backlash on the company.
The upcoming storm is expected to dump over a foot of snow in some part of the Northeast and the company has decided it best to go proactive this time around.
By going ahead and canceling today's flights, JetBlue is hoping that once the storm passes it will be able to get back up to full speed faster. The company feels this is the best route to take in order to have the right people in the right place to get operations back up and running.
This is probably not a bad idea, if you ask me. We have all been in the situation of spending hours waiting in some uncomfortable, cramped airport trying to catch some sleep on the floor. I would rather know ahead of time and stay at home rather than lay on an airport floor waiting to get on a flight that may or may not take off.
If you are scheduled to be on one of the canceled flights, JetBlue is offering all effected passengers refunds or a chance to rebook travel through April 30 without paying a fee.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-16-2007 @ 10:37AM
Joe Ehresman said...
It would be nice if Jet Blue would let their passengers know if their flights are cancelled. As it is we have to guess. Maybe a nice note on the website such as: The following flights have been cancelled...No one can get through on the phone or on the web site, so as a resultn on one knows which flights have been cancelled. The news reports are helpful but vague and non specific. We won't be flying Jet Blue again.
3-17-2007 @ 2:18PM
gary said...
I am not a Jet Blue flyer and don't live in NY; Jet Blue did the right thing in cancelling flights in advance. While the notion that the airline should contact passengers is a nice one, good luck!! As a premium level freguent flyer I have never had that occur, which is unfortunate, but that is the reality in today's travel environment.
3-17-2007 @ 2:36PM
Kurt Anderson said...
I have to take my hat off to the CEO of JetBlue for stepping up to the plate and taking the blame for the Feb debacle at JetBlue. No other CEO at any of the other major airlines have made such a bold move. Nor do you see any other airline embracing the Passenger Bill of Rights like JetBlue. The passenger "hostage" situation in Feb was unfortunate, but I will remain true and loyal to JetBlue, they are at least striving to improve the airline industry standards!
3-17-2007 @ 4:51PM
Linda Fleshman said...
Not every airline is perfect, but what was the REAL reason said passenger could not go use the restroom.
As far as being starnded on the runway, was there absolutely NO WAY to get these passengers back to the airport??? Seems to me the CEO has a LOT of Damage Control to fix.
JETBLUE does not operate out of Tampa Florida as of yet so I can't say if I would use them. I have not seen any messages as to when. I have heard they have the lowest fares available, something like SOUTHWEST had when it first started up.
3-17-2007 @ 5:22PM
Richard Penske said...
I was caught in a similar situation last year and the airline I was on told me because of the weather situation, I could not get rebooked on anyone. They told me if they couldn't fly, no one else could either as it was a weather problem, not an airline problem. I am a Jetblue customer (never had a problem) and do not understand why they keep getting singled out if all of the other airlines are canceling flights too. Is it because they have more flights out of New York than anyone else? Or is there another reason?
3-18-2007 @ 10:34PM
J T said...
Jetblue is growing too fast and chewing off too much. and pissing off lots of people. they have no idea, how to communicate to the mass of people. and should have utilized the technologies afford to them to notified promptly. like the other major carriers do.. because they hve learn from the mistakes. Jetblue, was great in the beginning and now the fare are high and the service they give sucks. and now the decieve passengers advertising free TV. service. when in fact you have to pay for viewing movies.. they are never on time. and lied all the time. Growing toooooo fast,.
4-10-2007 @ 6:25PM
steve sullivan said...
I was booked on a NY-Tampa flight. At 10 am it was on time; at 11:45 when I got to the airport it was cancelled. So much for timely information. It took 5 hours to get from my office to the airport and back home. It cost $15 in long term parking. The website gave faulty (at least untimely)info and the phones were "down".