A travel nightmare for some JetBlue passengers trying to get home to Boston after a vacation in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
In total, their flight was delayed about 24 hours and they had nowhere to go.
They say they were even kicked out of the airport and onto the island.
“Putting people out on the street like animals was definitely something I will never forget for the rest of my life,” said Marty, who was on the flight from Turks and Caicos to Boston.
Marty says hundreds of JetBlue passengers like him were told they couldn't stay at the Turks and Caicos airport when their flight to Boston was postponed until the next day.
His children were exhausted after their flight was delayed several hours on Saturday, and he says there were no hotel rooms available on the island that night.
“It's a very disturbing, traumatizing experience. You have three young children all looking to you for an answer, a woman looking to 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 would shelter my family for a night in a third world country with no cash,” said Marty.
Brett was also on this flight and says JetBlue employees at the airport forced them to leave because their flight was delayed.
“We kept saying, where do you want us to go? What should we do? How do you kick us into the streets like dogs abroad?” Brett said.
Eventually, Marty's travel agent found a small hotel room for his family.
Brett found an Airbnb for about a thousand dollars to get ten people in.
“It was in a horrible, sketchy area, the actual Airbnb itself was okay but the area looked like something out of a horror movie, wild dogs chased the taxi as we drove by like a really sketchy neighborhood and kids were panicking like 'What are you going to do? we do?'” Brett said.
When they returned to the airport the next morning, they saw that dozens of cots had been brought for the passengers who could not find a place to sleep.
Their new flight was also delayed by four hours.
Jet Blue sent Boston 25 News the following statement:
“On Saturday, December 28, JetBlue Flight 754, scheduled from Turks and Caicos to Boston, experienced a significant delay after the incoming aircraft had to divert to Fort Lauderdale due to heavy air traffic control (ATC) congestion and extended wait times in the air. the area. The flight was postponed until the next day and arrived safely in Turks and Caicos to pick up our clients before completing the flight to Boston.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this delay has caused and understand that this has been a frustrating situation. While the delay was caused by circumstances beyond JetBlue's control, we understand the impact this disruption had on our customers' plans. As a result, we have issued instructions for affected customers to submit refund requests for eligible out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with our Customer Service Plan. Additionally, as a gesture of goodwill, we have issued $200 in travel credit toward future JetBlue flights.”
“This was much more than a reprieve, this sent people out into the streets of a third world country in the early hours of the night and asked them to fend for themselves with no solutions,” Marty said.
Many of these passengers hope that airlines will find a better solution to accommodate customers during significant overnight delays.
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