A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

"Humiliated and Mortified" says JetBlue Airways CEO, David Neeleman.   

The meltdown continues at JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) as the company’s founder and CEO, David G. Neeleman, said he was “humiliated and mortified” by the breakdown in the airline’s operations.  JetBlue today cancelled even more flights five days after the snow storm has exited the Northeast.  Of the 600 scheduled flights, 139 have been cancelled. 

Now that flight crews are starting to get where they need to be the problem arises regarding mandatory sleep requirements. 

JetBlue Airways Corp. spokesman Sebastian White said headway was being made on Sunday, but that the cancellations on Monday were needed to make sure all flight crews had gotten the legally mandated amount of rest before taking to the skies again.  

All flights in and out of Richmond, Va.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Austin and Houston in Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; Portland, Maine; and Bermuda on JetBlue Airways have been cancelled in order to shift planes and move around crews. 

JetBlue was supposed to be the model for all the other airlines.  These sort of issues were only suppose to plague the traditional legacy carriers, not the newer breed of airlines that were focusing on high customer service and perks. 

What happened at the airline? 

David Neeleman blamed a poor communication and reservation systems.  The winter storm left many of the airline's pilots and flight attendants far from where they could operate the planes.  He also said there were too few trained staffers to coordinate flight crews. 

Even though some of the first delays could be blamed on the winter storm on Valentine’s Day, the residual problems that continue to plague the airline are a result of poor communications and staff being in the wrong locations.  However, having a hub in New York, JetBlue Airways needs to plan for long delays and bad winter storms.  The Northeast this year has had a less than stellar winter season and the airlines in that market have faced fewer delays than normal.  But JetBlue needs to plan for these issues. 

JetBlue says they are going to put in place a system that will pay off passengers in the event that they are stuck on their plane for a set number of hours or more.  A half attempt at cutting off a passenger bill of rights. 

The American Airlines incident sparked the topic of a Bill of Rights... The JetBlue Airways incident will put the pressure on the Government to act.   

MSNBC.com 

JetBlue Airways 

Flight Operations Updates at JetBlue