Jet Blue 372: notes from a skeptic ... by gimleteye

I was a passenger on the La Guardia bound flight from Fort Lauderdale on Jet Blue on Saturday, the one that made the nightly news. I knew a snowstorm was heading up the East Coast, but weather reports had it arriving later in the day. My flight was due to arrive at 12:30 PM. We circled over an hour, above La Guardia before diverting to Hartford. The whole time, we could watch The Weather Channel on the onboard TV although few people seemed to be paying attention. That is usually how it is, isn't it? Eyeonmiami readers know.

The full force of the storm still had not arrived when we landed. Already, it was heavily snowing. The plane sat on the tarmac for another half hour. The pilot finally edged the plane to the gate, telling the passengers "from the central office" that he wouldn't be able to keep the gate. The plane would refuel, de-ice and then push off "to make room for other planes". La Guardia, he said, was likely to open later in the afternoon. Then, if anyone wants to de-plane, do it now. So here is how things lined up: the pilot said that maybe La Guardia would open up, it was blizzarding outside, The Weather Channel showed the main part of the storm had still not arrived, and that when it did arrive the heaviest accumulations would be inland. Hartford is inland. There were already planes idling on the tarmac at Bradley, and "dozens waiting to land, having been diverted to Bradley". I knew from past experience (I'm old) that you can de-ice a plane, but that if you can't take off quickly, you have to de-ice again. I grabbed my bag from the overhead bin. At the plane door, a Jet Blue representative said, "La Guardia should open up by four PM" Over his shoulder, a runway attendant pushed open the door from outside. He was covered in snow. By that time, hundreds of planes would be circling over New York City. I took my bag and ran to a taxi cab. I gather the Jet Blue flight pushed off the gate only a few minutes later and that Jet Blue re-set the wait clock that eventually had passengers in a revolt on the runway, with bathrooms overflowing etc etc. and a feature on nightly TV news. I made my way to NYC by six thirty, six hours late and a hundred dollars short. I was lucky. But I am also skeptical. This leads to an interesting observation. Reading Eyeonmiami can make you skeptical too and help your decision making.