Our JetBlue Nightmare

News of St. John · Post by **News of St. John** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:11 pm

We just returned from a fabulous holiday vacation in St. John. I plan to write a full trip report but did not want to taint it with the JetBlue debacle that occurred at the end of our trip. So I decided to write a separate post to warn everyone about what can possibly happen when you book JetBlue.

We were scheduled to fly out of St. Thomas at 5:18 p.m. on Thursday. It was a quick 30-minute flight. We had an hour layover in San Juan and then we were scheduled to fly up to Hartford.

We arrived at the airport just before 4 p.m. and the customs line was out of control. I asked the JetBlue ticket agent if we would make it in time and they assured us that we would. (Yes, I was well aware that we were cutting it close.) We waited in line for more than an hour and were starting to get nervous. As we approached security, we noticed that the other airlines had representatives there to pull passengers out of line to ensure that they made their flight. We asked where JetBlue's representatives were and were told that there were none. Ok, I thought, no big deal. We still had a few minutes to spare. I truly was not nervous at this point, though I found it odd that JetBlue was nowhere to be found.

So we arrive at the gate with about five minutes to spare. There was no plane and no sign about the JetBlue desk giving any information. We soon learned that the flight had been delayed. Our group of six was then told to go back up to the front desk to get a voucher. Yes, a voucher. I immediately knew that meant we weren't going anywhere.

So here is where the nightmare begins:

When I got back to the desk, the same desk that I checked in at at 4 p.m., I was told that they knew the flight was delayed at 2 p.m. and that they called me and left me a voicemail. I showed the representative my iPhone and that no call was made and no message was left. She assured me that it was. She stated that there were not enough planes in the Caribbean and that they knew all day that this flight would be delayed for several hours, prompting us to miss our connecting flight. Now this is what really annoyed me- why did JetBlue allow me to check in two hours after they said they called me to tell me that I would not be able to fly out that night? And if they really did call me, I would have been able to book my own Cape Air flight so I could have made the second leg. But because we didn’t learn about this until 5:30 p.m., we were stuck. (I learned the next day that a robocall was made to me, not a live person. Clearly there was a glitch in their system. This was especially frustrating seeing that JetBlue has emailed me numerous times over the past several months when our flight changed by a minute, yet email was sent the day of the trip. Odd and frustrating.)
Ok, an extra night in the Caribbean – that doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well that’s what I thought … at first.

I’ll spare you all the horrible details so here is a quick glimpse of what happened next:

• Rather than being put up in one of the three hotels right next to the airport, we were sent to Sugar Bay, which is on the other side of the island. This hotel is a dump and is nothing like what it appears to be on its website.
• The taxi that JetBlue put us on decided it was more important to bring a TSA agent home first instead of bringing us to our hotel. This doubled our travel time and brought us through one of the island’s scariest neighborhoods. Even my husband who is a retired police officer was nervous by the area.
• When we arrived at Sugar Bay, we were given two twin beds for four people. (My parents scored and got a king sized bed, though their room had a rancid smell.
• All of the restaurants were closed. We were forced to eat nearly inedible pizza at the hotel bar.
• We were flown to New York 24 hours later, which is three hours away from Hartford, which is where our cars were.
• Lastly, JetBlue lied to me on the phone and said there was a medical emergency on our plane, which is why it was late. This is after the supervisor of airport operations told me the truth that there were not enough planes in the Caribbean. They told me they would not credit us anything; however they finally threw $600 at us to shut me up. Little do they know, a mere $600 will not shut me up after enduring this hellish trip home.

I have always liked JetBlue but this experience was truly a nightmare. They treated us all like garbage and lied on top of it. I am very frustrated with JetBlue.

But to end on a positive note, we truly did have a fabulous trip in St. John and I cannot wait to plan my next trip!

Caw954s · Post by **Caw954s** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:24 pm

Oh my goodness, I'm sorry your wonderful trip ended on such a sour note! I've been flying for decades now and I've missed flights and had flights cancelled and delayed, but I've only had one flight that was similar to your experience. So, maybe you've paid your dues and it will never happen to you again...or me

Look fwd to a nice trip report.

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:37 pm

I'm so sorry! What an awful end to your vacation! Keep being vocal, cause that's a bunch of crap!

strat62 · Post by **strat62** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 7:13 pm

sorry for your troubles. at least if happened at the end though. if the choice is getting jerked around on the front or back end of a trip i'll always pick the latter. look forward to your trip report...

PaminMaine · Post by **PaminMaine** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:41 pm

Holy cow, what a nightmare.. How did you get to your car ??

I have been tracking a jet blue flight.. maybe I will reconsider.. LOL

Off to read your trip report.

Knolmom · Post by **Knolmom** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 3:53 pm

Sorry to say, it sounds as if your trip rivaled only a trip on Spirit Air. I am so happy that we always have the opportunity to travel on the American non- stop from JFK. I myself would have opted to travel via Jet Blue if they had a reasonable fare to STT. I use them Ll the time to West Palm.
Now I am forewarned!

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 4:50 pm

Nobody has extra equipment anymore, esp the really lean non-legacy airlines like Jet Blue and Spirit, so if your plane has "mechanical" or other issues, you are mostly S.O.L.

Ironically, there was a Jet Blue ad banner above this post when I read it...

CT Beach Girls Dad · Post by **CT Beach Girls Dad** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:43 am

PaminMaine wrote:Holy cow, what a nightmare.. How did you get to your car ??

I have been tracking a jet blue flight.. maybe I will reconsider.. LOL

Off to read your trip report.

How did you get to your car ??
We got the cars after a 2 3/4 cab ride jet blue paid $600.00 for
Take Jet blue to San Juan then Cape air to St Thomas and you will be all right

samoka · Post by **samoka** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:18 pm

Sorry to hear about that. Glad you had a great trip. Hope my Jetblue experience is better than yours.

News of St. John · Post by **News of St. John** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:15 pm

I just received an email from JetBlue that stated my delay was due to weather. This is after they told me last week that it was due to a medical emergency. Hmmm, sounds like JetBlue is trying to get out of paying our group of six the credits we're entitled to per its Customer Bill of Rights.

Game on, JetBlue. Game on.

kma27 · Post by **kma27** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:58 pm

That story is just disgusting and I feel so sorry for you. You need to write to the President of Jet Blue and tell him just what you told all of us. Now that may seem stupid but it will make you feel better and you never know, something may come of it. Now that I am getting older I don't take the crap I used to and I find myself writing to people at the top. Without going into too much detail, I will say that I was VERY pissed off at Samsung and I wrote to the President of the company AND I got results. Take it for what it's worth...but sometimes people listen. Hope you have a better trip next time.

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