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http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162007/news/regionalnews/air_refugees_in_new_jfk_aos_regionalnews_john_doyle__dan_kadison_and_jeremy_olshan.htm?page=0

AIR 'REFUGEES' IN NEW JFK AOS
HORDES CAMP OVERNIGHT BEFORE JETBLUE SAYS: TOUGH LUCK, NO FLIGHTS
By JOHN DOYLE, DAN KADISON and JEREMY OLSHAN

'WE'RE ALL SCREWED': The JetBlue terminal teems with stranded fliers yesterday at JFK as just the occasional plane got de-iced for takeoff and baggage claim turned into a disaster zone with no staff around to help.

February 16, 2007 -- The nightmare went on yesterday for hundreds of airline passengers, who said they were held hostage one day - only to be tortured the next.

Dozens more flights were canceled as a result of the domino effect from Wednesday's snafu, which left flyers grounded for as long as 10 hours.

The worst-hit airline was JetBlue, which left at least seven planes stranded on the tarmac, within sight of the terminal Wednesday, as passengers begged to be let out.

And although JetBlue bore the brunt of the chaos, other airlines, including Delta, Continental and American, also left passengers stranded in planes and terminals.

Many who survived the JetBlue ordeal camped out at the airline's Kennedy Airport terminal Wednesday night hoping to be able to start their trips first thing in the morning yesterday.

Instead, they awoke to learn the airline might not be able to put them on another flight for days.

"They are right on the edge of human-rights violations," said Bill Shorter, 62, who was headed with his wife to Baltimore for his mother's funeral. "They have no contingency plan at all. When they say no frills, they mean it."

He eventually took Amtrak.

"It was like - what's the name of that prison in Vietnam where they held McCain? The Hanoi Hilton," said Sean Corrinet of Massachusetts, who spent nearly nine hours Wednesday aboard a JetBlue flight for Cancun.

Greg Fila, 28, who sat on that same plane to Mexico, finally gave up yesterday after he and his girlfriend's family spent the night on the floor of the terminal.

"They have been promising us another flight, so we slept here," Fila said. "But it was all lies. We're all screwed - and the worst part of it is, nobody cares."

JetBlue founder and CEO David Neeleman said he couldn't apologize enough. "We should have done better," he said. "There was an opportunity to do better."

The company has promised a full refund and a free round-trip to all customers delayed aboard an aircraft for more than three hours.

Meanwhile yesterday, mountains of baggage filled the terminal with little rhyme or reason, passengers said.

"We were stuck in the baggage area for three hours looking for our bags, and no one was there to help us," said Julie Magliulo, who was headed for Cancun with her husband, Lorenzo, and two children. "They promised us we were going to be on a plane today. But now they are telling us there is zero probability."

Her husband pleaded with JetBlue representatives, to no avail.

"I haven't had a vacation in two years, and now I am treated like a piece of meat," he said.

Pat Sarka, 59, said he never located all his bags.

"I found one this morning," he said, "But I have no idea where the other is."

JetBlue officials said they are focusing on getting all the stranded passengers out on alternate flights, but they plan to change their policies to make sure the chaotic scenario is never repeated.

Legally, there is nothing preventing airlines from holding passengers captive on the tarmac for hours as a way of avoiding the economic hit of canceling flights and returning to the gate, experts said.

The FAA regulates activity only on the runway and in the air, and has "no teeth in these cases," a spokesman said.

Instead, the terminal and tarmac fall under the purview of the Port Authority and the airlines themselves.

JetBlue did not notify the PA there was a problem Wednesday until 3 p.m. - six hours after the first flights were stranded, officials said.

That violated the agency's "airport standards manual," which mandates that the PA be informed whenever arriving flights are held for more than 30 minutes, and departing flights for more than two hours after leaving the gate, officials said.

The PA sent a memo to all airlines yesterday, reminding them of the rules, for which there is no enforcement - and no consequences if they are violated.

"We should have called them sooner," said Neeleman. "We should have done better."

He said the airline held out too long for a break in the icy weather, then had planes "freeze to the ground."

As the icy weather continued to be a problem yesterday, more than 300 flights were cancelled at JFK. Others were delayed for up to six hours. There were also delays averaging more than two hours at Newark and La Guardia airports.

JetBlue cancelled 195 of 568 scheduled flights yesterday, in an effort to avoid being overwhelmed for the second day in a row.

Dick Dickerson, 70, said he "was one of the few lucky ones" who finally got a flight to Nashville yesterday.

"Every hour, they gave us assurances that proved to be false," he said. "I had to buy food for 12 people who were stuck in the terminal with no money."

Many passengers became incensed when airline officials directed them to reschedule their flights by calling a toll-free number that turned out not to be in service, Dickerson said.

"Then they told us to check the Internet, and we all said, 'How can we do that? We're in the airport!' " he said.

Even those who were able to get through to the 800 number said customer service had little to offer.

"It's pretty shocking," said Mark Mannix who was stranded on an American Airlines flight for more than three hours. "We're pretty much cattle. We're at their mercy. They don't seem like they have a plan or are prepared. Like this is the first time they had a snowfall."

JetBlue flight crews had to improvise to keep passengers from rioting. On a flight to Palm Beach that sat on the tarmac for five hours Wednesday, pilots eventually had a pizza delivered to the plane.

Despite the refund and offer of free trips, stranded passengers said JetBlue didn't do enough.

"They offered no help with accommodations," said Johnnie Maschhoff, 63, who had traveled from California for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Maschhoff said she would never again take her dog, a schipperke named Oddjob, on JetBlue.

john.doyle@nypost.com