Chaos erupted at New York’s JFK Airport on Sunday night after hundreds of JetBlue passengers were left stranded on the tarmac for hours — causing some people to allegedly urinate in their seats and suffer panic attacks.
Some passengers who were forced to wait in limbo in the airport’s terminals due to the ongoing delays claim they were held “hostage” overnight because JetBlue refused to cancel flights until the last minute.
At one point, about 20 inbound flights were scattered on the tarmac — some for several hours — because they were unable to reach a gate, according to aviation expert Jason Rabinowitz.
Half a dozen flights were abruptly diverted to Newark Airport amid the lengthy delays, tracking site Flight Aware showed.
Furious passengers took to social media to demand an explanation from JetBlue, with some saying they were provided vague updates from airline staff throughout the ordeal.
One passengers, Anni Stoll, tweeted that her flight to Buffalo was scheduled to leave JFK at 8 p.m. Sunday — but was repeatedly delayed for five hours before she was finally able to board.
But then, after an hour of sitting on the tarmac, Stoll said, all passengers were told to deplane before the flight was delayed until 6 a.m. She said her flight was finally canceled at about 7 a.m. after she spent the night in the terminal.
“I’m convinced @JetBlue kept everyone hostage in jfk long enough that now they don’t have to pay for people to have a hotel,” Stoll tweeted. “There are families w babies and we met a kid who was traveling alone like wtf!! :/ it’s so disorganized and we can’t leave who knows where our luggage is!”
“@JetBlue people have urinated in their seats on our plan stuck on the tarmac in Newark. What the hell is going on?? Claiming that the delay is weather related with several planes ahead of us? The weather was 48 hours ago…,” one passenger ranted.
Another passenger, Laura Mardkha, tweeted: “After a 2 hour delay, we’ve been stuck on the tarmac at JFK for 2.5 hours and have been told there’s no timeline on when we can get off. So far, many screaming children and one passenger had a panic attack. Gonna need more than just a full refund this time @JetBlue.”
“Been stuck at JFK for 12 hours, no communication no anything and they refuse to cancel the flight basically keeping us hostage for our luggages. Plus your terminal has no pet relief areas ! Not cool @JetBlue,” another angry traveler tweeted.
Videos on social media showed passengers trolling through rows of suitcases that were eventually dumped in the baggage terminal by JetBlue after flights were canceled.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused JetBlue’s huge delays. The airline didn’t immediately respond to The Post.
JFK effectively shut down Saturday when Winter Storm Kenan dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the Big Apple, causing about 76 percent of flights at the airport to be canceled.
“JetBlue has always had difficulties recovering from significant weather events,” said Rabinowitz, the aviation expert.
“It preemptively canceled flights (on Saturday) to avoid a situation exactly like this. But when compounded by crew shortages to physically move airplanes on the ground it all breaks down.”
Originally published in NY Post
