New York's first in the nation air passengers bill of rights got its traction out of a huge mess: the Valentine's Day ice story at Kennedy Airport. As planes stacked up on the runways, with passengers trapped for hours, tempers boiled over. In the aftermath, cries for action quickly came out.
Here are two of the Newsday stories at the time, describing the scene at Kennedy.
Newsday, February 16
By Matthew Nestel
It was supposed to be a getaway to paradise.
The Caso family from the South Shore traveled light for their Cancun vacation, packing swimsuits, shorts and T-shirts, and leaving the thermals, down jackets and scarves at home.
Their trip went south, just not as they had planned.
The Casos spent nine hours Wednesday on a JetBlue plane on Kennedy Airport's tarmac.
"We're emotionally drained," said Lynn Caso, explaining that it wasn't an easy go for her, her husband, Jeffrey, and the family's three boys, ages 13, 9 and 5.
Last night, the family, among dozens of others, was back on a JetBlue flight that, this time, got off the ground.
"The Casos are off to Cancun! " Lynn, 42, said from a cell phone on the plane just before the 7:48 p.m. takeoff.
None of the dozens of passengers on Wednesday's Flight 751 will soon forget their ordeal.
"This has been one of the worst experiences of our lives," said Patricia Fabricant, 43, of Manhattan, who was back at the airport yesterday with her husband, Robert, 37, and young children to board last night's Flight 4001.
JetBlue apologized for the inconvenience.
"This was not acceptable," said JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin. "We pride ourselves on being a customer service company and we failed to meet the needs of our customers. ... We are going to go back and analyze what happened and make sure it never happens again. "
Essentially, ice from the storm caused gridlock for JetBlue flights, Baldwin said. Ten flights were affected - six waiting to take off and four that landed, but couldn't get to the gate because of equipment problems. In addition, there wasn't enough deicing equipment to go around, he said.
JetBlue waited until 3 p.m. to contact the Port Authority to get buses for the passengers to get them off the plane, Baldwin said. "We should have made the decision earlier to stop operations and make sure to get customers back to the gate," he said.
JetBlue canceled nearly 200 flights yesterday to avoid a repeat. But last night, the chaos hit a peak as more than a thousand people crowded the JetBlue terminal. Just after 9 p.m, a JetBlueofficial announced through a bullhorn that the airline was no longer accepting check-ins for departing flights, explaining that passengers risked becoming stranded on planes that might not leave the airport.
"We are closing operations," the official said before offering stranded customers a free round-trip ticket.
About a dozen New York City Police officers then fanned out to stand guard behind JetBlue ticket counters.
Passengers who endured the Valentine's Day tarmac nightmare recalled killing time by reading, watching television, sleeping and eating - until the food ran out.
Jeffrey Caso, 43, said he felt helpless. "As a father, I couldn't provide for my kids," he said.
After a few hours, the power went on and off.
"For a while at least you had the TVs," said Chris Delogue, 31, of Monroe, Conn., who was headed to Cancun with his wife, Jennifer, also 31, for their best friend's wedding. "The TVs were a saving grace. "
Last night, the Delogues were smiling before finally heading off to Cancun.
Shawna Vanness contributed to this story.
Newsday, Feb. 18, 2007
By Andrew Strickler and Juliet Chung
The scene at JFK's JetBlue terminal was "organized chaos" in the words of one frustrated passenger as the airline yesterday continued to struggle in the aftermath of the Valentine's Day storm.
"We're staring at thousands of bags. We're in a sea of luggage, and it cannot be found," said Gary Long, 53, of Cutchogue, whose Friday night flight to Houston was delayed six hours, then canceled.
"It's been a nightmare," said Long, who, with his wife and in-laws, had booked a flight on another airline yesterday in the hopes of eventually making it to a Caribbean cruise.
Even with blue skies, JetBlueofficials canceled 305 of its estimated 1,200 weekend flights yesterday in an attempt to re-establish regular service. The airline's problems began Wednesday as an icy winter storm descended on New York and JetBlue's main East Coast hub at Kennedy Airport.
The airline experienced near-total gridlock, with hundreds of passengers trapped on runway-bound planes for as long as nine hours.
JetBlue canceled 270 flights on Wednesday, causing many flight crews to be in the wrong cities to start the next day's operations. That caused more delays and cancellations on Thursday and Friday, further exacerbating the problem, officials said.
"Basically what's been happening is almost a snowball effect as we've tried to catch up," JetBlue spokeswoman Tracy Sandford said.
The company is constrained by a Federal Aviation Administration rule requiring crews have at least eight hours of rest between shifts. JetBlue officials said further cancellations on Monday were possible, Sandford said.
JetBlue officials would not estimate the number of customers affected by the weekend cancellations.
Company officials said most of the hundreds of pieces of luggage piled up at JFK yesterday belonged to customers who checked in for Friday flights that never left the ground. "We are looking at a bunch of options, including FedEx . . . and local couriers to get that luggage back to people," said JetBlue spokesman Mitch Nadler.
The words may offer scant comfort to the hundreds of passengers yesterday who dug through piles of bags, cases, and duffels that lined walls and crowded spaces between carousels. Passengers who weren't searching among the clutter waited in line to report their luggage missing or to be shuttled elsewhere in the airport to search for their belongings.
"I just want my bags," said Los Angeles native Becky Rosenberg, 33, as she slouched on Carousel 1. Rosenberg, a fashion house sales representative, flew into JFK from Las Vegas on standby yesterday morning after JetBlue canceled her original flight. "Our work samples are in there and we have a trade show starting tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock," Rosenberg said. "It's the loss of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars."
JetBlue's problems did not stop at the airport. The customer service number was overwhelmed and callers were greeted with a message saying they would need to call back. JETBLUE's JAM-UP AT KENNEDY WEDNESDAY
During storm, passengers are held on planes for as many as nine hours. JetBlue officials acknowledge it was a mistake to wait until 3 p.m. to ask Port Authority for buses to shuttle passengers back to terminal.
Flights canceled: 270 of 503
It was like - what's the name of that prison in Vietnam where they held [Sen. John] McCain? The Hanoi Hilton," Sean Corrinet, of Salem, Mass., tells The Associated Press. Corrinet spent almost nine hours aboard a flight for Mexico that never got off the ground.
THURSDAY
The logjam shifts inside the terminal. As more than 1,000 passengers crowd the JetBlue counter at 9 p.m., an airline employee, under police guard, announces that no one else will be checked in for departing flights that evening.
Flights canceled: 217 of 562
This has been one of the worst experiences of our lives," says Patricia Fabricant, 43, of Manhattan, back at the airport with her husband, Robert, and kids to board Thursday night flight after sitting on tarmac for hours Wednesday.
FRIDAY
Chaos continues inside the terminal, though JetBlue insists it's getting a handle on the backlog.
Flights canceled: 150 of 570
We got here this morning, and it was chaos at the check-in," Amy Mintz of Dix Hills told AP after her 8:55 a.m. flight to San Diego was canceled. She, her husband and two children, ages 4 and 6, were on a standby list for a 6 p.m. flight but weren't guaranteed a seat. "I could see the other day with all the ice ... but it hasn't snowed or rained since Wednesday. "
SATURDAY
Unclaimed baggage piles up as the delays, and the disgust continues.
Flights canceled: 170 of 600
Our goal is to have Monday be as close to normal as possible," JetBlue spokeswoman Tracy Sandford says.