New York-based carrier JetBlue has issued a fulsome apology to passengers following last week”s extraordinary disruption that saw hundreds of flights cancelled as a severe storm ripped through the north-eastern US.
While the weather clearly has nothing to do with JetBlue, the airline admitted that its reaction to events led to the ”worst operational week in JetBlue”s seven-year history.”
A major cause of upheaval appears to have been the inability of pilots and cabin crew to position to their correct departure points as the Valentine's Day ice storm paralysed a significant section of the north-east seaboard.
”Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience,” said JetBlue founder and CEO, David Neeleman, adding: ”we know we failed to deliver.”
And the carrier is attempting to sweeten passengers with the introduction of a Customer Bill of Rights, with promises of how any future travel disruptions will be dealt with, including compensation.
Press reports from the US indicate that the storm will eventually cost JetBlue many millions of dollars as refunds and increased crew and aircraft costs kick in, while the airline has also taken out newspaper advertisements to apologise for the disruption.