In an attempt to get back up to speed after the blizzard that walloped the Northeast on Friday, JetBlue is temporarily suspending all its flights in and out of JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Boston. Starting at 1 p.m. today, JetBlue will reduce operations, halting service entirely at 5 p.m. and resuming Tuesday morning at approximately 10 a.m. "This plan allows for 17 hours of rest for crews, and time for Tech Ops to service the aircraft," JetBlue wrote in a blog post, which explains:
This isn’t the sort of operation we’re happy about, and have stood up every available resource throughout the last week to work with customers and adjust our schedules to minimize impact. While we have to reduce operations in our Northeast cities today, we’ll take the opportunity to use some those planes and crews for extra sections between cities where we they’re most needed and move crews in preparation for starting back up on Tuesday.
The airline says it expects to be 100% operational by 3 p.m. tomorrow. Meanwhile, a number of JetBlue customers have been unable to return home from Barbados due to the delays, which have been exacerbated because the airline only operates one Airbus A321 plane along the route. The plane can only seat 190 people, and there's a heavy backlog of fliers who have been stuck on the island after a holiday getaway.
One customer who's flight scheduled for the 3rd was cancelled wasn't able to get a new flight until January 9th, and has been left on her own to cover her unexpected living expenses. "JetBlue won't pay for anything," Lee Cochran told Business Insider. New FAA rules that limit the number of consecutive hours pilots can fly have also contributed to the airlines' difficulties.
