JetBlue Flight diverted into Philly busses people to NYC

I just had lunch with someone who told me her nightmare story of being on a delayed JetBlue flight diverted to Phoenix instead of Tucson and having to be bussed. Cos of course after waiting forever for a flight to leave, you want to spend 4 hours more on a plane, and then spend an extra 2 hours on a bus to Phoenix.

Afterward they rode her on thru the streets of Tuscon on a radio flyer wagon. That was meant to be a joke.

Bus brings JetBlue passengers to NYC after flight diverted

February 27, 2007, 1:28 PM EST

NEW YORK -- A JetBlue flight on its way to New York was diverted to Philadelphia due to a mechanical problem on Tuesday, and the airline was busing some of the passengers to their final destination.

Flight 1050 from Pittsburgh to John F. Kennedy International airport landed at 8:35 a.m. at Philadelphia International Airport after flight crew discovered a problem with an indicator light, said JetBlue Airways Corp. spokesman Todd Burke.

With no JetBlue staff at the Philadelphia airport _ where the airline has no operations _ and the plane awaiting a mechanical inspection, the flight's 54 passengers were given the option to disembark, Burke said. About 15 passengers chose to wait for an airline bus that left for New York by 12:45 p.m., he said.

"Mechanical diversions are a part of the airline industry, and in this case it appears that our crew members worked very closely with the airport to make sure that our customers were looked after in a very proper and timely manner," Burke said.

The spokesman would not say whether the use of a bus is common, but he did say it was a commonsense decision consistent with the airline's ongoing policies. It was unclear how the airline's new customer bill of rights applied to the flight, but all passengers were to receive a free roundtrip voucher, he said.

The airline has been on the defensive since earlier this month, when it was heavily criticized after bad weather stranded passengers in planes at JFK, its main hub, for up to 10{ hours.

The company, which had hoped to ride out that storm without canceling flights, later admitted it took too long to call airport authorities for help in getting passengers off the grounded planes. It couldn't resume normal operations for days because flight crews weren't where they were supposed to be.

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.