I Heart TheTruffle

Shucks! You guys make me so happy. Thanks, Truffle. You're in NY, I'm in NY. Let's be friends.

The Truffle
City girl. Book editor. Music lover. Reality-based community member. Loves flowers, swimming pools, and cute kitty cats.

Things to make me appreciate the subway more...

JetBlue can apologize all it wants. Its CEO can tell everyone and their brother how utterly mortified he is at passengers kept aboard planes for 11 hours. It can offer a new "passenger's bill of rights." But it's not going to live down this fiasco.

Witness JetBlueHostage.com. You can guess what this blog's about. Blogger Genevieve is collecting stories from other JetBlue passengers. And no, I don't think she's overreacting and I don't think this is hyperbole on her part.

People, this is an abuse of customers' trust, okay? Passengers should not have to wait more than three hours aboard a plane. Period. There's a little concept the airlines should know about. It's spelled C-U-S-T-O-M-E-R S-E-R-V-I-C-E. Which means you don't keep customers eating pretzels and chips for 11 hours while the toilets overflow. Dig?

Barbara Ehrenreich adds:

If I get stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours, I plan to use my cell phone to call Homeland Security. Let’s face it, JetBlue and the rest of you: Anything more than three hours on the ground isn’t an airline delay, it’s a hostage situation.

SENT TO MYSPACE: JET BLUE'S PASSENGER'S BILL OF "MIGHTS"

I have no idea who wrote this. It was sent to me at Myspace.com/Jetbluehostage. It was sent to me from a Myspace profile that was anonymous. I'd love to know who the actual author is. Whoever you are, we're not worthy.

It's an absolute MUST READ. JetBlue Advocates and Victims, Discuss amongst yourselves.

I have a slew of additional factual commentary...let me know if you would like more.....

Jet Blue's passenger "Bill of Might's" Comb through the Jet Blue web site, and laudatory "Press Releases" abound. The airline, from prior to inception through present day has been unrelenting in it's willingness for self-promotion and the corporate mantra of returning "humanity" to "air travel". In defining air travel in general as an "inhumane" experience, Jet Blue has seemingly exposed a willingness to place itself upon a very high pedestal. The effect of such a pre mediated assault upon perspective passengers, other airlines, and the press has been, for the most part, robustly lauded. It defies belief, that prior to Jet Blue suddenly and unexpectedly imploding upon itself during Valentine's Day 2007, that the airline hadn't fashioned a "press release" identifying itself as the "only airline to conduct nearly full operations at JFK, while all other airlines left passengers stranded!". Very simply, the expectations of Jet Blue were that this specific weather event would ultimately become "just another" proverbial feather in the airlines cap. The failed, and seemingly cascading, results of such an emboldened approach have been reported to the point of nauseam.

Jet Blue, upon cognitive recognition that its storm related failure, and subsequent efforts to "reboot" operations, were morphing into a twenty-four hour news cycle headline, abruptly assumed a "Management" led campaign of contrition. The culmination of this posture was a "humiliated" and "mortified" Chief Executive assuming full responsibility, apologizing, and proclaiming that a "Bill of Rights" for Jet Blue passengers would be quickly forthcoming. The carrier, appeared to be shrewdly "back atop it's game" for crafting the "message" it wished to be conveyed to the traveling public as a manifestation of the "inhumane" failures endured by it's passengers during the storm.Yet, both a passive and a vigilant reader/advocate will find that although, Jet Blue's "Bill of Rights" is unique in defining precise re-numeration directly correlated to passenger "exposure" time, it is a truly hollow promise. Had the Management of Jet Blue been wholly engaged and wanting to formulate a "Bill of Rights", they clearly would have realized that creating a "self imposed" standard that would be "self policed "is the height of insincerity and hypocrisy. The only true process by which a "Bill of Rights" would possess any "teeth" is by way of electing to have an independent entity oversee and determine it's rightful application. Jet Blue's "Bill of Rights" is a disingenuous farce, meant to un tarnish a blemished image due to a self inflicted malady.

Actual JetBlue Employees Speak

Two actual JetBlue employess wrote in. I'm putting thier blogs in one and all future JetBlue employees can trust me that I'll keep thier identities secret.

Myspace JetblueEmployee Friend, I SWEAR I will respond to you. It's just been sooo crazy. I'm going to try to find the NPR interview. If you find it, please send it along.

Just so you know, I'm meeting with David Neeleman next week, if you have any input you'd like to give, I'm more than happy to listen.

Love,
G

Here is the corrrespondence of the JetBlue employee who contacted me via Myspace.

Date: Feb 19, 2007 6:41 PM

Hi Genieve. I'm one of those "evil" jetBlue people. ;-) Just kidding. Since you're one of my loyal customers, I, as well as all of my fellow crewmembers (who have our own issues with our company -- like any other employee, but still think it's a great place to work) feel your pain and want you to know we're sorry for your troubles.

HOWEVER, as a fellow traveler and fellow U.S. citizen, I take a lot of issue with your webpage and, in the spirit of intelligent discourse (please don't take anything I write personally, nor think I'm trying to diminish your pain... but only to put it into a larger world perspective, something I need to do for myself everyday), have written this "blog" and posted it on the web page.
Now, I'm sending it to your MySpace page. My picture is on my MySpace page because I'm someone who is not afraid to express my opinions and have the guts to put my face out there so you see the person who is writing to you. Once again, I'm deeply sorry for all the trouble and hope you come back to jetBlue. But I think the use of the word "hostage" is actually alarmingly insulting and sophomoric... and here's why:

----------------------------------------------------I'd like to write something to respond to these blogs that I've read.

I'm a jetBlue flight attendant so I can't really talk to the media. It's against the rules of my flight attendant manual to make comments to the media. So, I hope I don't get into trouble.

But I'd like to comment as a citizen of the United States and not as an employee of jetBlue. I'm a fellow traveler, just like you.

I'd just like to say that I think it's terrible whenever anyone is inconvenienced during their travels... especially on my airline. It's not pleasant. I've had it happen to me on Greyhound, on Amtrack, on the old (now long gone -- sad to say) TWA, in L.A. traffic and even on my own airline. It's not pleasant and it's something that makes everyone frustrated.

HOWEVER, last year we all watched in horror as the events of Hurricane Katrina devastated an entire American city and destroyed the Ninth Ward. In 2001, we all watched (and cried) as the horrifying events played out that we'll all always remember. And you know what, jetBlue Airways was in operation during these times and in the case of Katrina, jetBlue crewmembers helped fly our fellow American "brothers and sisters" to shelters in other cities. When the lights went out in New York during the black out, jetBlue stayed in operation, using flashlights to direct our customers to their flights -- that left on time! But we have a very short term memory in this country. One terrible day on the tarmac and seven years of good work is quickly forgotten. And now I'm to consider being stranded on a plane, or in the airport, equivalent to something like Hurricane Katrina???

When Katrina was happening, the media called those people left homeless by the Hurricane "refugees". I was shocked by this verbiage. Now, those individuals stuck on the jetBlue flights are being called "hostages". HOSTAGES! Do any of you have any idea what it is like to be an actual hostage? To be held at gunpoint by a terrorist? To be close to death because someone is pointing a semi-automatic in your face? If you were talking to someone who was trapped in a bank by robbers who could torture and kill them at an moment, would you feel comfortable telling them that you were stuck on a plane -- due to the fact that ice had frozen the wheels to the tarmac and JFK operations were not allowing jetBlue planes to return to gates... because there weren't any to return to and, on top of that, the APUs (those are the parts of the plane that keep the energy pumpin') were breaking down because of the stress to the plane and that's the reason for the technical debacle on the plane AND the driver's employed by JFK (not jetBlue) refused to drive on the ice to pick up passengers to bring them to a terminal that JFK operations stated was already overcrowded so jetBlue couldn't bring passengers to the terminal because JFK operations forbid them to... Does that equate to masked terrorist holding people hostage on a 747???

Were any of you bloggers who were inconvenienced on that day – that are now getting a full refund for your ticket – traumatized by a gun in your face, have no home to return to or did you lose your job? Is being stuck on a runway going to cause you to have nightmares or cause you to go to therapy for the next 20 years because the pain was so great? When I'm stuck in traffic in Los Angeles on the 405 because of a car accident, am I a victim and should I sue the city of Los Angeles for making me miserable? Does the City of Los Angeles owe me money?Some times we Americans – used to always getting our way if we complain enough, threaten law suits or contact the media… or write a blog – tend to think that when things don't go our way and we are put in an extreme situation that we – as privileged Americans – are entitled to have someone pay us for our pain. And even when someone says they will pay for our pain, we feel we should decide how they should pay us back for our pain.

Had you booked a ticket on Delta or American, your flight would have been cancelled and you wouldn't have gotten a refund. You would have had to fly at another time, but you wouldn't have been compensated for your delay -- at all... in no way. In fact, they wouldn't have apologized... at all... EVER!What happened to all of you (including my fellow pilots and flight attendants that were stuck right along with you – and just as miserable as you were) was awful, not cool, uncomfortable, a huge pain in the ass and a really, really, really bad day.That's about it though. See, when you travel it's like buying a lottery ticket: if you get to your destination hassle free -- you win! If you have issues along the way... that's life! But if you get a refund for your troubles... that's amazing! That's when you need to shut the hell up and move on with your life and call it even because you broke even in the situation.

Calling people on the jetBlue plane hostages is an insult to actual hostages the world over; just as calling victims of Hurricane Katrina "refugees" is deplorable. I'm sorry you went through what you went through on Valentine's Day, and I want you to come back to jetBlue so I can give you the jetBlue Experience you've grown accustomed to and we do our best to deliver every day. But as a person who has had many nightmare travel experiences -- even some that were worse than what you went through on Valentine's Day (in countries like South Africa where nobody cared what happened to me nor did they apologize for my awful experience) I can't help but thinking, "We spoiled Americans. We think we're owed everything, don’t' we?" (Myself included).

And in closing, if you really want to be angry with someone, get angry at JFK airport because if jetBlue had gates to return to, none of this would have happened. You can yell and scream at jetBlue all you want, but JFK operations held jetBlue as an airline “hostage” as well.

(Check out the following link for further details)http://ellipses.elliott.org/archives/002024airports_escape.php

He wrote back in response to the NPR Post.

Feb 21, 2007 3:01 AM

I don't know if you felt you wanted to put my blog up on your web page (I didn't see it there -- although it was on the comments section under one of Ruth's original blogs titled: "wrongverbiage")

But I want to clarify that I don't think you're a cry baby. I think you have a legitimate complaint because you went through a bad experience on an airline that taught you to believe it would never do that. I think it's basically a shock to the system -- like being betrayed by a friend. I totally understand that.

I just still think you should change the word "hostage" because I don't believe it's accurate. "Stranded" and "stuck" and "totally inconvenienced" -- yes. But a hostage just reminds so many of something like: the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis... do you kinda get what I'm saying?

I know I haven't responded yet, but I'll find that interview on ATC and put it up too!

This is the JetBlue Employee who contacted me on jetbluehostage@gmail.com

Feb 21, 2007 3:01 AM

To the person that started the blog about being held hostage:
The next time that you feel the you have not been treated fairly by an airline maybe you should go an pick up an application for this airline so you can see what it is like to be screamed, threatened and and treated like garbage by thousands of people because you cannot get to your final destination. Maybe then you will realize that we are all indeed people not things that that you can throw around like a damnit doll. Yes I was there during this whole fiasco so I do understand what this feeling is like.
Outraged by you,
An airline employee

My response to Kenneth

Dear Kenneth L,

I'm sorry you were mistreated by the airline passengers, but I was not one of those people. In fact, I'm just waiting for my video to load on YouTube for you to witness yourself that we were actually quite civilized and nice to all the crew on the plane. We actually walked off the plane with smiles, just exhausted and happy to be getting off the plane.

I'd like to also say that my mother worked for American Airlines for many years and I would never abuse an agent. I'm offended by your sweeping generalizations. You may have been mistreated by a few disgruntled passengers, but ALL the passengers were mistreated by JetBlue. There's no way around that fact.

Your own president admits to the mistakes the company made.

I don't condone abuse to you or from you. I think it's a shame that people resort to that kind of behaviour. Trust me, I don't have to pick up an application and work for your company, I endure enough abuse at my own job. And I decide to stick it out because in the end, I love my job. If you don't love YOUR job, then maybe YOU should quit.

Anyway...stay tuned, as soon as my video comes up, you can witness it yourself.

Outraged by YOU, G

Luckily, Kenneth responded again. :) Here's what he said:

On 2/18/07, Kenneth wrote:

Just as a response I would like to add that yes, I do love my job whole heartedly and in fact I believe that jetBlue is doing everthing within there power to correct and apollogise for this mishap. They have done everything from providing meals, hotels, transportation and offering free flights along with refunds for customers that were not able to get to there destinations. I also feel that both parties have suffered immensly from this mishap.

My Response to Kenneth:

I agree, and I again, I in no way approve of the mistreatment of anyone. However, when i tried to get answer from anyone or anything I was ignored. I didn't push because I knew the whole thing was overwhelming. But the fact is when I asked about the luggage getting sent to us at home they said that we had to wait around for it after already being at the airport for almost 13 hours.

But still, Charlie and I got a meal, and waited patiently for our baggage. It cost us $100 for taxi back and forth to the airport and we won't be reimbursed for it.

Last but not least, my main issue is that I don't believe that us long term trapped passengers should not be treated the same at 3-hour ones, I'm pushing for those of us to be compensated accordingly. I don't think that's asking for much. It's not like we were in a terminal, with the ability to walk about and eat and go smoke etc. I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from.

I hope it get's better for you over there.

Good luck! G

Barbados Blog - Hostages On The Runway and JBH.com

Hostages On The Runway

It is finally time for a Passengers Bill of Rights that states - Airline passengers cannot be held hostage when their flight gets delayed for hours upon hours - you bet it is.

This isn't the first time this has happened - but hopefully it will be the last!

A JetBlue flight was scheduled to leave New York at 8 a.m. for the island of Aruba, but the only thing passengers got was an 11 hour wait on the runway.

Passengers were stuck onboard with no water, the snack food ran out, the cabin temperature was hot and uncomfortable, and going to the bathroom was more than unpleasant - and under no circumstances were the passengers allowed to leave. Hostages!

Another JetBlue flight that was headed for Cancun was delayed more than eight hours with passengers stuck onboard. Passengers reported that the plane door had to be opened every 20 minutes so they could get some fresh air. Frigid, cold air every 20 minutes.

While these passengers waited to take off, other passengers who had just arrived in New York were also stuck on their planes. A JetBlue flight from Florida landed in New York around 10 in the morning, but passengers were not allowed to leave the plane until 7 p.m.

What actually happened was that a major storm was already forecasted for the Midwest and Eastern coast - that was no secret.

While this storm was raging, the planes still boarded and pulled away from the gates. Many times in this situation the airlines thinking is that "maybe" the weather will get better - and the planes will be in line to take off.

So now we have planes lined up on the runway unable to take off, but if they taxi back they will lose their spot, so they sit. The situation becomes worse as more planes arrive, and the gates start to fill up - then the planes cannot return to the gates.

As the storm continued Wednesday, planes and heavy equipment were literally froze to the ground.

I waited until today to blog about this because I wanted to see what JetBlue would have to say a couple of days after their worst PR nightmare. Their spokesman stated that 250 of 500 flights nationwide were canceled Wednesday, but "fairly normal" service resumed Thursday.

Well, I know for a fact that at least 100 of their flights were still cancelled as of today - so the spin still goes on.

No on can obviously control the weather, but common sense and respect for passengers must start to prevail in the airline industry.

If it is obvious that planes on the runway cannot take off in a reasonable amount of time, then it should be the airlines responsibility to send another mode of transportation (buses, etc) to the plane, and get those passengers back inside the airport.

Of course if the plane cannot leave the runway, then perhaps the flight should be cancelled, and not even leave the gate - this would be the cheaper alternative for the airlines - the flight is cancelled due to bad weather - straight and simple.

Since common sense did not prevail this week, JetBlue not only had to offer a complete refund to hundreds of angry passengers, but for PR's sake, they also offered another free ticket to be used at a later date - that is if some of the passengers want to fly with them again.

But, there's more to be concerned about than inconvenience while being stuck onboard a flight for hours upon end -

Read this article by Diana Fairechild, a former flight attendant. In fact, you just might want to bookmark her site for future reference when traveling.

"SITTING ON THE TARMAC" BY DIANA FAIRECHILDhttp://www.flyana.com/delay.html

Update on Saturday, February 17, 2007 at 07:54PM by Linda Thompkins
My, My - Received this e-mail from Anna, one of our blog visitors . . .
One of the JetBlue passengers was so mad they started a "JetBlue Hostage Blog" - and rather than just use the free blogger account domain, they purchased the doman jetbluehostage.com
I know the folkes at JetBlue are loving this one. I wonder if they will keep posting - after all the purpose of a blog is to make consistent postings.
http://www.jetbluehostage.com/

Well Anna I guess we just have to wait & see how long the JetBlue Hostage Blog stays up and running. And yes, it is interesting that the blog owner purchased that domain - just shows how mad & serious they are right now.
Anyone who has been in a similiar situation can appreciate how these passengers fell. I had my "nightmare hostage flight" on the former BWIA airlines where we boarded a flight in Barbados, and spent an entire night, and the next morning on the airplane. Linda
http://barbadostravel.squarespace.com/journal/2005/2/25/back-from-barbados.html

37 Signals Blog - Be the guy....

This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about entrepreneurship, design, experience, simplicity, constraints, pop culture, our products, products we like, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago.

Be the guy with the megaphone and other lessons from a JetBlue meltdown
By Matt

It could have been worse. I could’ve been stranded on the runway for eight hours. Instead, I was stuck at the JetBlue terminal for 12 hours last Thursday before finding out my flight was cancelled. [1]

Here are some communication lessons learned from the fiasco:

Put all your soldiers on the front lines. Jet Blue’s corporate offices are located near JFK so they brought in a bunch of people who normally work there to help out at the terminal. They wore Jet Blue vests and/or badges and wandered around the terminal answering questions, directing customers, and listening to complaints. Granted, a lot of these people didn’t know much more than the passengers but, hey, at least they were there. A lot of customers just wanted to vent and know someone was listening. You need boots on the ground to do the little things. I saw one rep ask an irate customer for a business card so he could follow up with him later. A small step, but it just might save a customer.

Be the guy with the megaphone. The PA system by the gates was pitiful. The volume was feeble and you could barely make out the thin announcements (which were similar to the unintelligible conductor announcements on the NYC subways). People were desperate to know what was going on. Enter megaphone man. Rumor was that he actually worked as legal counsel to JetBlue. He went to each gate with a megaphone and updated all the passengers with the latest info. Then he’d walk toward the rear of that gate and repeat the info again for those who hadn’t heard the first time. It wasn’t always good news. But at least an actual person was there, communicating something clearly.

Have an operator reserve force. A lot of the JetBlue reps on the scene encouraged passengers to call (800) Jet-Blue for more info. The problem was the phone lines were so jampacked there was no way to get through. This forced already irate customers to wait in lines for hours in order to find out information that easily could have been shared over the phone. The result: Anger builds and the people onsite had to deal with it.

Take it personally. When people are stuck on board a plane for eight hours with no clean toilets, they take it personally. And when your company promise is to “bring humanity back to air travel,” you better take it personally too.

The founder and chief executive of JetBlue says he’s “humiliated and mortified” by what happened. He’s taking responsibility and promising real changes. That’s what customers want to hear.

Mr. Neeleman said he would enact what he called a customer bill of rights that would financially penalize JetBlue — and reward passengers — for any repeat of the current upheaval. He said he would propose a plan to pay customers, after some amount of time, by the hour for being stranded on a plane…He says knows he has to deliver. “I can flap my lips all I want,” he said. “Talk is cheap. Watch us.”

Your site is a PR weapon. Neeleman’s emotional response was nowhere to be found at JetBlue.com though. The latest JetBlue news at the site is the addition of 3 blind moose Merlot and Chardonnay to flights. Hmm, is that really the big JetBlue news right now? And the last entry at the CEO’s blog at the site has the title “2007 Takes Off in the Right Direction.”

Granted, there’s a link that says “Operational Interruptions” in the site’s header but it only takes you to a bunch of sterile, boilerplate text (e.g, “JetBlue continues to experience cancellations and delays as a result of Wednesday’s ice storm in the Northeast. Please check the status of your flight online before proceeding to the airport.”)

The site needs to become the online version of the guy with the megaphone. There should be a letter from the CEO. There should be an apology. There should be details about changes that are going to happen to prevent this from occurring again. If they can’t easily make changes to the current site, they should set up a special crisis site to deal specifically with this debacle. As it is now, the company’s online presence seems disconnected from reality.

[1] Fyi, here’s the gritty details of my day at JFK (others had it worse): There was a big storm on Wednesday. But by Thursday things had cleared up. I had a 1:15pm flight to Chicago. I checked online and the site said the flight had been delayed until 2:15pm. So I arrived at the airport at 1pm. I checked in and the rep told me my flight had been cancelled and I was now flying standby on the 8pm flight. He took my bag and checked it in. He said if I had any questions, to ask at Special Services check-in. I went there and waited in line for over an hour. They told me that the 8pm flight wouldn’t actually leave until 11:45pm. And even then there would only be a 50-50 chance that I would get onto that flight. There were no other flights available until Monday. I decided to wait it out and take my chances. I stuck around the airport and then, at around 10:30pm, they told us the flight had been cancelled. We had to reschedule by waiting in another huge line or calling an 800 number. The 800 number was jammed though and it was impossible to get through. I decided to worry about it later. Now I had to get my bag back. This was another two hour wait. No one knew where the bags would come out or when they would come out. (But they did know that the bags could not be delivered.) Everyone was frazzled. The baggage handlers looked like they had just emerged from a war zone. Finally, at about 12:45am, the bags came out. I headed home. On the way, I tried calling the 800 number again and got put on hold. While on hold, there was a recurring message that said, “JetBlue isn’t the only way to fly…but it ought to be.”

Celebrity Endorsement from a Grammy Award-winning Artist

Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson
Grammy Award Winning Artist
Drummer Extraordinairre
Journalist/Writer
Producer

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Blog 91: Jet Gives The Blues
Current mood: shocked

noone knows the trouble i've seen
ESPECIALLY while traveling.
its NOTHING for me to clock in
24 hours of travel at any given point
i even boasted of performing in no less than
6 time zones in a 30 hour period.
unlike my president (H.O.) i don't use a clearport
sometimes tourbus (more than 4 gigs in a row)
sometimes 2 tourbuses (more than 2 weeks worth of gigs)
sometimes a train (japan and northeast gigs from philly)
sometimes i drive in my raggedy scion (under 100 miles)
sometimes first class (i earned miles and i pay out the ass if flight is more than 10 hours)
sometimes coach--

most of the time its smooth sailing.

but most times it aint smooth sailing.

i've had asshole flight attendants deny my computer bag on board or kirk's fragile guitar because of space. i've laced many a crook with the freshest of size 13 air force rares (never got to sport my HARD to find Basqiat printed Boks) gotten my bags DRENCHED in water during the rain, lost record cases RIGHT before a gig---sheeeit some lucky mofo dont even know he owns 7 sly and the family stone protool masters discs thanks to those fuckers from air france.

which leads to a very good friend of mine: genevive

you ever watch the news and wonder if someone you know is going to be "the big story on action news tonight?

(non philadelphians take note...on our abc news program the news always falls like this "good evening i'm jim gardner: oprah comes to philadelphia, bush stops the war, and septa threatens another transit strike: BUT THE BIG STORY ON ACTION NEWS TONIGHT THE IVERSON CLAN ARRESTED IN YET ANOTHER DENVER BRAWL AT BENNIGANS.....")

well i was in the gym and i heard a familiar name in conjunction with the tragedy of the new york jetblue 11 hour runway valentine disaster. turns my instincts were right on the money:

gen and her boyfriend were planning a romantic valentine day in the west coast only to sit on the runway of jfk for 11 hours.

11 hours

that aint even a trip to europe on british airwaves.

11 hours.....no getting off the plane no walking to terminal

that is getting on the plane at 630am and not getting off til 5pm!

i HAD to lead you to her blog....its making the news

(take is away gen)

Kate Starr's Own Private JetBlue Hell

From Jetbluehostage myspace friend Kate Starr :

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=24984404

I and a member of my band were told to wait from 5pm until about 11am the next day causing us to miss a very important recording session, thus causing us to have the mixes rushed for my new album and now we are having to pay hundreds of dollars trying to repair the problems and possibly lose a deal with a major label studio.

Jet Blue wouldn't even offer us a hotel to wait in and continually told us that at anytime we may be able to leave...

Although we weren't stranded on a plane, we were stranded in an aweful airport, didn't get a min. of sleep the night before a very important recording session in NYC. Then we were hours late for it after finally renting a car and driving 8 hours like a bat out of hell trying to get there to salvage any of our studio time. We didn't.

Sorry if you had to wait on the plane for ours as we've heard others did. Cheers

Catchup Lady Shouts Out JBH.com!

http://catchupblog.typepad.com/catch_up_blog/2007/02/jetbluehostagec.html
JetBlueHostage.com - JetBlue's worst nightmare

The internet and the world of Web 2.0 has given every citizen and consumer a voice. Now everyone must grapple with the age old questions, "Powers for good? Or powers for eeevil?"

Genevieve, a self-identified "hostage" on JetBlue flight #351 from JFK last week has started a blog entitled, "JET BLUE: A VALENTINE'S DAY HOSTAGE CRISIS" and is seeking to highlight the ordeal that she and others went through last week because of, "the poor decision making and planning of JetBlue Coporate." Genevieve will post others experiences and offers this synopsis of her own imprisonment, "Nothing says 'I love you' like being held hostage on a frozen plane with the man you love, 99 strangers, 4 other people you happen to know, 4 screaming babies and 3 rambunctious kids running about, nothing but chips and soda for sustenance, faulty power, unreliable direct TV and overfilled sewage system for 11 hours."

While it's hard to know if this blog will take off, or fade away with the situation it's this type of citizen journalism that gets picked up quickly be traditional media outlet and creates even MORE headaches for the offending company as they try to pick their way through the PR rubble of a situation like last week's ice storms. Behold! The power of the internets!

Colleen's Other Perspective: JetBlue Bankruptsy

On 2/19/07, Colleen wrote:

Just to give you another outlook on this: If they are to compensate everyone by the number of hours stuck at the airport, the airline may eventually go out of business or their low rates will become a thing of the past. They already lost alot of money from this I'm sure. The end result will be unsafe flying conditions by flying in dangerous weather or forcing exhausted pilots to fly, risking passenger lives instead of canceling or postponing flights.

My Response:
I'm fighting for the rights of people stuck in planes for over 8 hours. Those are who I started this blog for and I feel should be compensated accordingly. There's a finite amount of us.

I do believe that the thousands of people who spent days in the airport, (also awful conditions,) should be allowed a voice here. But I can't even wrap my head around how to compensate them because I don't know how I would feel, or what in my life was compromised since i didn't live thru it. Since i started this blog, so many of them started writing me, and it would be unfair not to allow them to represent themselves too.

I don't want JetBlue to go out of business, I love JetBlue. But if they go out of business because of this mistake, (I hate to say this but) someone else will come along and take their same business model and there will be a new JetBlue. Delta Song tried to grab that market but failed because of the success of JetBlue. (I loved flying with them, i quite enjoyed their entertainment console. And I liked how cheeky and fun they always were.)

Again, I would be devastated if JetBlue went away, I love them, but what happened to me and the people on my plane and the plane stuck next to our plane for hours on the tarmac was physically, mentally and emotionally jarring. A free round trip ticket just isn't enough. And I don't think anyone disagrees with me. (At least not too much.)

Safe Travels Colleen!
G

JBH.com on the cover of FlightAttendantMagazine.com! Thanks!

Thanks to Sarah Gorman the Editor of FlightAttendantMagazine.com!
I said it before and I'll say it again, I don't advocate abuse of or from Jetblue employees.
That's why this blog was started, I feel as it's a humane way to deal with being treated inhumanely.

PS-On my flight, our crew was actually quite nice albeit extremely uninformed.

http://flightattendantmagazine.com/default.aspx

Headlines Today:
What is Going on @ jetBlue?

If the CEO is "humiliated," what do the employees, the ones who face the passengers, feel? If jetBlue treats its passengers like this, how does it treat employees?

jetBlue's CEO David Neeleman told the New York Times that the 1,000 cancelations "was the result of a shoestring communications system that left pilots and flight attendants in the dark."

Apparently, the domino delays still in effect on this Presidents' Day are now in place to protect the crew members. Perhaps the delay-sitting crew now need to have their one day off in seven days. Why the company cannot plan for these is a mystery.

jB has an ops program designed for "any disruption -- weather that grounds some flights, for example... {I}it allows planners to select various goals before rerouting planes. No canceled flights or delays beyond three hours? The software produces a solution and calculates its cost. It factors in each plane's maintenance and fuel needs, and the flight crew's experience and availability within FAA rules," says Fast Company Magazine. Where was this high-tech program on Valentine's Day 2007?

jetBlue says, "{their} goal at JetBlue is to offer friendly and efficient service in every aspect of our business" and that they have "a real vision for the future" in their recruitment. Five days is not much a future, yet jB cannot seem to plan the crew scheduling to allow for proper crew rest while still keeping the company operations, and thus, job security intact.

jetBlue cites "integrity" as a value it embraces to "result in a superior customer and crew member experience." It is not integrous to keep passengers or crew on a plane in hopes that the weather clears up, tell them to go home when there are no longer any buses running, nor keep them delayed and uninformed five full days later.


CEO Neeleman has been known to work alongside the 1200 flight attendants. He works with them to "{create} 'the JetBlue experience,' great service that fosters loyal customers. I want them to know that I value what they do," he told Fast Company. Neeleman, were sitting 11 hours with passengers? or in the crew reserve-room "alongside" the flight attenants?

"I had flight attendants sitting in hotel rooms for three days who couldn’t get a hold of us," Neeleman told the Times. jetBlue is proving again and again in the last few days that it cannot handle an emergency. An airline that has F/As in hotels but admittedly cannot communicate with them does not take care of its employees who are working out on the frontier- working to raise the profits of that airline. These hard-working flight attendants are not likely to forget that they had no one, including a union, to turn to in such an emergency.

Did crew members have any information about how they would get home after sitting 11 hours? Did crew have to spend $100 for cab fare, as passengers on www.jetbluehostage.com did?

Fewer flights means fewer flight hours for crew and fewer profits for a new company. www.jetbluehostage.com proves that jetBlue will lose a lot of loyal customers.

Are crewmembers getting their crewrest after sitting these delays? Will there be layoffs as a result of this fiasco?

Flight Attendant Magazine wants to know how our friends at jetBlue are faring. Send us an email! Sound off here. We want to hear from you.