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Travel Forum / Destinations / USA and Canada / August 2008Jet Blue: 'Your flight is canceled, we won't re-route you, we won't pay for a hotel, here's a refund of half your round-trip fare, now go away.'
This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled on JetBlue 1402 from SFO to FLL. When they got to the airport, they were informed that the flight was canceled due to mechanical problems. JetBlue told them that they could take a taxi to OAK and get a Jet Blue flight to JFK and then a Jet Blue flight to FLL, but that Jet Blue wouldn't pay for the taxi, and the taxi ride was about $90. The airline wouldn't schedule them on the next day's flight 1402 because it was already full. They wouldn't rebook them onto another airline (JetBlue doesn't do this). They wouldn't pay for a hotel or meals (no point I guess, since they wouldn't rebook them for the next day anyway). The only thing JetBlue would do was to refund half the cost of the round-trip ticket. They had to buy a full fare one-way ticket on another airline. The one-way Continental flight cost much more than the whole round-trip on JetBlue. Apparently there are no longer any rules that require that an airline get you to your destination. They are free to simply give you your money back and tell you to get lost. It's a real problem with airlines like JetBlue that have very few flights to each airport they serve. JetBlue doesn't abide by Rule 240, and never had to deal with it because they came into existence after the CAB was eliminated. > This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled on JetBlue > 1402 from SFO to FLL. When they got to the airport, they were informed [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > JetBlue doesn't abide by Rule 240, and never had to deal with it because > they came into existence after the CAB was eliminated. Yes so? It's tough, but then again, life is tough. They could've taken BART to Oakland airport, it'd be a lot cheaper. But for them I guess it's difficult to take your luggage on BART. What about all the other people on this flight? >> This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled on JetBlue >> 1402 from SFO to FLL. When they got to the airport, they were informed [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > taken BART to Oakland airport, it'd be a lot cheaper. But for them I > guess it's difficult to take your luggage on BART. I would have gone and taken them to OAK, but it really is too much for them at their age to be dealing with the extra flight time and the plane change at JFK. They chose the Jet Blue flight because there is no plane change between SFO and FLL, which makes it much easier for them. SJC is closer to me, but it's hard for one of them with the stairs on Delta or Continental or U.S. Air. I fly a lot, and have had flights canceled, but the airline always either put me up for the night and sent me on a flight the next day, or found a flight on their own, or another airline, to complete the journey. It seems like the airline has an obligation to deliver the second half of a round trip flight in some way. I would have expected them to say "we're going to put you in a taxi to Oakland airport, and route you on some of our other flights." I've had this happen between SJC and SFO. > What about all the other people on this flight? Same result. Here's your money, bye. Well I don't know if anyone took them up on their offer to fly out of Oakland, with no transportation between the airports, but according to my mother, no one appeared to be interested in that option. In any case, it's something to keep in mind when choosing one of the second-tier airlines. I don't know what happens if the passenger doesn't have enough money to buy a ticket on another carrier. > >> This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled on JetBlue > >> 1402 from SFO to FLL. When they got to the airport, they were informed [quoted text clipped - 50 lines] > second-tier airlines. I don't know what happens if the passenger doesn't > have enough money to buy a ticket on another carrier.- You expect the airline to put 90 people on taxis to Oakland? On Jul 9, 12:10 pm, SMS <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote: > PeterL wrote: > > On Jul 9, 11:01 am, SMS <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 55 lines] > second-tier airlines. I don't know what happens if the passenger doesn't > have enough money to buy a ticket on another carrier.- You expect the airline to put 90 people on taxis to Oakland? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd expect them to lay on a bus tim > > In any case, it's something to keep in mind when choosing one of the > > second-tier airlines. I don't know what happens if the passenger doesn't > > have enough money to buy a ticket on another carrier.- > > You expect the airline to put 90 people on taxis to Oakland? Considering that they had contracted with them to transport them to a give location and they couldn't complete their part because of an equipment failure, it is not unreasonable. They could have chartered a couple buses. Equipment breakdown is a fact of life in the airline business. The bug guys know that, and they charge enough on their ticket sales to account for such contingencies. Then you get the second rate airlines who undercut the major carriers to get their customers, and when something goes wrong the customer is SOL. >> > In any case, it's something to keep in mind when choosing one of the >> > second-tier airlines. I don't know what happens if the passenger [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > customer is > SOL. you snipped the bit that I wrote! tim > You expect the airline to put 90 people on taxis to Oakland? > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > tim I'd have expected them to provide some sort of transport to OAK. Bus, taxis, vans, whatever the airline wanted to do. It's unbelievable that they'd reroute you from a different airport that's 31 miles away, and expect you to arrange your own transport between the two airports, at your own expense. BTW, I wonder if SFO should start some kind of ferry service to OAK to use OAK's runways, since SFO is so over-crowded. When it's socked-in, SFO can only use one runway. The two airports are quite close by water. There's been talk of another bay crossing between 238 and 380, but that's years or decades away. > This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled > on JetBlue 1402 from SFO to FLL.... the flight was canceled due [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > JetBlue would do was to refund half the cost of the round-trip ticket. > They had to buy a full fare one-way ticket on another airline. ----------------------- Per the JetBlue website: "All customers whose flight is cancelled by JetBlue will, at the customer's option, receive a full refund or reaccommodation on the next available JetBlue flight at no additional charge or fare. If JetBlue cancels a flight within 4 hours of scheduled departure and the cancellation is due to a Controllable Irregularity, JetBlue will also provide the customer with a $50 Voucher good for future travel on JetBlue." > Per the JetBlue website: "All customers whose flight is cancelled by > JetBlue will, at the customer's option, receive a full refund or [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > JetBlue will also provide the customer with a $50 Voucher good for > future travel on JetBlue." They didn't do this. They said the next days flight was full. They didn't go beyond the next day. It was not the customer's choice, it was their choice. > > Per the JetBlue website: "All customers whose flight is cancelled by > > JetBlue will, at the customer's option, receive a full refund or [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > didn't go beyond the next day. It was not the customer's choice, it was > their choice. the next available flight. Since the next flight was full, it's not available. a team of lawyers went over this with a fine tooth comb. In message <e0998103-2368-4976-ac7b-51777a4ba6f8@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com> >> > Per the JetBlue website: "All customers whose flight is cancelled by >> > JetBlue will, at the customer's option, receive a full refund or [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >the next available flight. Since the next flight was full, it's not >available. a team of lawyers went over this with a fine tooth comb. Well, if the next flight is full then it's not available -- That would, by definition, make the "next available" flight the one after that. Or the one after that. Or the one after that. >In message ><e0998103-2368-4976-ac7b-51777a4ba6f8@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >by definition, make the "next available" flight the one after that. Or >the one after that. Or the one after that. You flunked math in high school didn't you? >>In message >><e0998103-2368-4976-ac7b-51777a4ba6f8@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > >You flunked math in high school didn't you? 95th percentile. Why? > They refunded half the fare. The outbound flight had > already taken place. In that case, JetBlue's offer to return 1/2 the fare seems reasonable, although I can understand why it wasn't what your parents wanted. > They said the next days flight was full. > They didn't go beyond the next day. It's possible that the agent didn't suggest waiting 2 (or more) days for an available flight because your parents' comments indicated that waiting even 1 day was unacceptable. I'm not trying to take JetBlue's side in this; I'm just suggesting some possible explanations. James > The only thing JetBlue would do was to refund > half the cost of the round-trip ticket Did they also offer to refund the ENTIRE roundtrip flight, but you wanted to keep the flight home since it was nonstop? James >> The only thing JetBlue would do was to refund >> half the cost of the round-trip ticket > > Did they also offer to refund the ENTIRE roundtrip flight, but you > wanted to keep the flight home since it was nonstop? No. They refunded half the fare. The outbound flight had already taken place. > This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled on JetBlue > 1402 from SFO to FLL. When they got to the airport, they were informed [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > JetBlue doesn't abide by Rule 240, and never had to deal with it because > they came into existence after the CAB was eliminated. What a drag, but I guess them's the breaks when you fly with budget airlines. I recently returned from a trip planned at the last minute to Estonia, Sweden and Denmark. I suppose I could have saved a few bucks buying seats on a a second rate airline but opted instead for KLM and SAS. There were 6 flights altogether and not one of them was cancelled or late. I guess it was money well spent. > ... I guess them's the breaks when you fly with budget airlines. I > recently returned from a trip planned at the last minute to Estonia, > Sweden and Denmark. I suppose I could have saved a few bucks > buying seats on a second rate airline but opted instead for KLM > and SAS. There were 6 flights altogether and not one of them was > cancelled or late. I guess it was money well spent. I've had two experiences with Delta, reflecting the changing times: In 1991, on a trip to Rome, IT, the originating leg was cancelled, so a Delta manager put us on a plane unticketed, to Atlanta, where we were rerouted, including a segment on Lufthansa, and arrived at our destination within a few hours of our original arrival time. Two years ago, we arrived in Newark on a flight from Rome, IT. Delta cancelled our last leg home, citing weather at our destination. First, we were sent to the Continental desk for a flight, but they reneged, so we trudged back to Delta, where they said we could fly with them /tomorrow/ and it was up to us to find a hotel. One positive aspect, is that we found our checked bags in the Delta luggage claim office. > What a drag, but I guess them's the breaks when you fly with budget > airlines. I recently returned from a trip planned at the last minute to > Estonia, Sweden and Denmark. I suppose I could have saved a few bucks buying > seats on a a second rate airline but opted instead for KLM and SAS. There > were 6 flights altogether and not one of them was cancelled or late. I guess > it was money well spent. Ironically, they didn't choose Jet Blue because of the price, they chose it because it has the only flight between FLL and SFO where there is no change of planes (there is a stop in Austin, but no plane change). The other option is trudging down to MIA to get a non-stop flight to SFO, and MIA is just a horrible airport to deal with even for younger people (it's the only U.S. airport where I've ever heard gate announcements _only_ in Spanish). Every time I've been on a flight that's been canceled, even because of weather, the airline has arranged another flight, issued food vouchers, put me up in a hotel. Including Southwest Airlines, which ironically is now turning out to be the true full-service airline! I just love Southwest's new ad campaign "Bags Fly Free." My only other experience with Jet Blue is that I had four tickets from SFO to SLC later in July, and they dropped this route completely. The replacement flights on Delta actually were much cheaper (they were more expensive back when I first booked the Jet Blue flights, but the Delta price came down in the meantime. > This morning my mom (83) and her husband (79) were scheduled on JetBlue > 1402 from SFO to FLL. When they got to the airport, they were informed [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > airline. The one-way Continentalflightcost much more than the whole > round-trip on JetBlue. After six weeks or so, JetBlue finally offered to settle with a $200 voucher. Even though was less than they spent to get home on another airline, they took it since they were tired of fighting with JetBlue. At first JetBlue insisted that the voucher be only usable by them, but after explaining to JetBlue that they couldn't risk flying JetBlue again at their ages (both over 80), the airline agreed to let them put the voucher in my name. So now I have one $200 voucher in my name, and four $50 vouchers, one in each of my family member's name (a "gift" after they canceled a route that I held four tickets on). Now I just have to get the nerve up to fly somewhere on JetBlue and hope that they don't cancel the route between the time I buy the ticket and the date of the flight. |
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