Hundreds of JetBlue passengers say that they were treated like "animals" after a flight from Turks and Caicos to Boston was delayed for more than 24 hours, and the airport kicked them out onto the streets.
Speaking with Boston 25 News, a couple of those passengers recalled their ordeal, in which they were left scrambling to find accommodations for their families last Saturday night with virtually no notice. One man named Marty said that the flight had already been delayed for several hours, and that his children were already "exhausted" when they were informed that it wouldn't depart until the following day. And by that point, all the local hotels were fully booked.
"To put people out on the streets like animals was definitely something I will never forget for the rest of my life," Marty said. "This was far beyond a delay, this was sending people to the streets in the wee hours of the night and asking them to fend for themselves with no solutions."
"Just very unsettling, traumatizing experience you have three young kids all looking to you for an answer, a wife looking at you for an answer, for the first time as a husband and as a father and as a man I had no idea how I was going to shelter my family for a night," he continued.
Marty’s travel agent was eventually able to find his family a small hotel room to spend the night. But another passenger named Brett said he had to shell out $1,000 for an Airbnb for his family of 10 in a "sketchy" neighborhood.
"We just kept saying where do you want us to go? What are we supposed to do? How are you kicking us to the street like dogs in a foreign country?" Brett recalled. "It was in a horrible, sketchy area, the actual Airbnb itself was OK, but the area was like something out of a horror movie, wild dogs were chasing the cab as we were driving by like very sketchy neighborhood and kids are freaking out like ‘What are we gonna do?'"
To make matters worse, when Brett and his family arrived back at the airport the next morning they saw that dozens of cots had been brought outside for those who couldn't find anywhere to stay. The rescheduled flight was then delayed for an additional four hours.
In a statement, Jet Blue said that the flight had experienced a "significant delay" after the inbound aircraft was forced to divert to Fort Lauderdale due to heavy Air Traffic Control (ATC) congestion and extended holding at the airport.
"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this delay caused and understand this was a frustrating situation," the statement continued. "While the delay was created by circumstances beyond JetBlue’s control, we understand the impact this disruption had on our customers’ plans."
The airline said that it has provided instructions for affected customers to submit reimbursement requests any eligible out-of-pocket expenses, and that it was also issuing $200 in travel credit for future JetBlue flights to those passengers "as a gesture of goodwill."
