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Clearly they didn't do enough to convince the passengers that "the coast was clear." (And to be honest, there's no way of knowing that for sure until they're actually in the air. There can still be severe turbulence after a storm cell has passed).
The issue was that the majority of the passengers didn't want to take off again. They had no confidence that they were safe in doing so. Many of them were already sick and throwing up. Why would they want to be subjected to more?
How do we know that it was "the majority" that didn't want to take off again? We heard this from a handful of passengers -- very few. Most appeared calm and collected.
And how do we know that "many of them" were sick and throwing up? We heard one dude make this claim (same guy who was yelling at the poor FA, who literally could do nothing about the situation) and for all we know, it could have been just one person in the back throwing up, which routinely happens in airplanes...
How do we know that it was "the majority" that didn't want to take off again? We heard this from a handful of passengers -- very few. Most appeared calm and collected.
And how do we know that "many of them" were sick and throwing up? We heard one dude make this claim (same guy who was yelling at the poor FA, who literally could do nothing about the situation) and for all we know, it could have been just one person in the back throwing up, which routinely happens in airplanes...
Have you ever been on a flight with multiple aborted attempted landings? I have. It's not unreasonable that many people were sickened to the point of throwing up. It's not unreasonable that many were feeling unsafe. In the video I saw, there were multiple people protesting at the idea of taking off again. It wasn't one dude. No one was jumping in so say they wanted to go ahead and get to JFK.
Have you ever been on a flight with multiple aborted attempted landings? I have. It's not unreasonable that many people were sickened to the point of throwing up. It's not unreasonable that many were feeling unsafe. In the video I saw, there were multiple people protesting at the idea of taking off again. It wasn't one dude. No one was jumping in so say they wanted to go ahead and get to JFK.
Given the circumstances, I'd say the majority of passengers probably would have been just fine disembarking at EWR, but that doesn't mean the vast majority wouldn't have also quietly sat down and gone to JFK. I mean from what I understand that's what ended up happening, right?
In truth, on an airplane you're pretty much the definition of a captive audience. I recall sitting in a tiny regional jet on the tarmac at JFK for about 90 minutes while waiting for a slot on a 95 degree day without proper A/C on and as it got hotter and hotter on that plane sitting in the blazing sun, I was thinking "this could get pretty dangerous, someone could collapse in these conditions". But even though everyone was incredibly uncomfortable, no-one spoke up and eventually the plane took off and everything went normal.
But on that flight from JFK to DCA the small crowd was pretty much all seasoned business travelers used to the unpleasantness of air travel, the tediousness and the ultimate futility of trying to argue about things that seem to be out of the control of the staff onboard.
I bet that on a Jet Blue flight from Cancun to New York in early April - i.e. a classic 'vacation into the sun' flight - you get a lot more inexperienced and very occasional flyers who are a lot more easily rattled by irregularities and more easily upset when things go poorly.
Have you ever been on a flight with multiple aborted attempted landings? I have. It's not unreasonable that many people were sickened to the point of throwing up. It's not unreasonable that many were feeling unsafe. In the video I saw, there were multiple people protesting at the idea of taking off again. It wasn't one dude. No one was jumping in so say they wanted to go ahead and get to JFK.
I agree with you. And that one guy wasn't really yelling, but he was clearly upset and trying to make the case for letting people deplane. I can't blame him for forcefully trying to make his case. Others probably jumped in when they realized JB was expecting them to go back up. ugh!
I'm wondering why no one just started saying they needed a doctor.....wouldn't the airline have to comply with that?
But if the PILOTS, who presumably don't want to die either, were OK with waiting for the turbulence to calm, then that should have eased their fears somewhat.
Not that I blame them for wanting to get off, but the airlines could have done a better job of explaining why it wasn't feasible.
Well, the pilot of my flight from Cancun was okay with flying in snow conditions with poor visibility but it didn’t make me feel better. I think people are discounting the violence they had just been through on this flight. Many probably thought they were about to die. They just wanted to get off after that and I can’t blame them because I’ve been through frightening turbulence but still it was nothing like they experienced.
No, to land safely. And THEN decide the next steps. First priority was getting safely on the ground somewhere. Continuing back to JFK was not necessarily the logical next step.
No, but I am guessing that was the plan if at all possible, since that's what they did.
Look - sounds like a bunch of you have never flown international before - to some other country that is NOT the USA. You can experience everything from zero checking ("Welcome!") - no passport stamp after hours - to wait until the sun comes up, sorry for your luck.
The rules for entering a nation - including this one - still take precedence over just about anything else you're going to come up with here. None of you have ever sat in Canada or Mexico?? - in your car - and waited several hours "just because" ?? If - at Canada for instance - you are about to say, "Oh, yeah, but at least I can exit my car!" Try it. Let me know how that goes for you.
The border control policies of other countries are not relevant here. What is relevant is the USA CBP has its own rulebook to follow. And part of that rulebook is that, when it is reasonably possible, they should work with airports, airlines, and planes to comply with the FAA tarmac delay rule that says that if the passengers on a diverted international flight are going to get stuck on the plane for more than four hours, there needs to be a darn good reason for it.
The Jet Blue flight never came close to the FAA tarmac delay threshold. But EWR is a big enough point of entry that CBP would have had someone monitoring the situation once it had been established that it was safe for the passengers to remain on the plane and that Jet Blue intended to continue onward to JFK when conditions improved, and the pilot would have likely gotten regular status update requests from CBP to see if the situation had changed until the plane was cleared to depart for JFK.
I flew 2-6 times a week for 25-30 years between pharmacy jobs when I was in sales and marketing.
Probably had 10-15 (maybe a few more) aborted landings due to weather. One time we landed on the 3rd try. Two other times, the wheels actually touched the ground due to other planes crossing the runways.
The pilots know what they are doing (although, on Jetblue, who knows )
Now, if you want real fun, try aborted takeoffs! One a wheel blew and another time it was a case of another plane missing his runway and landed in front of us
I skidded off the runway once in Memphis during an ice-storm and lost a flap taking off over Lake Pontchartrain.
The people on that flight are nothing but crybabies!
Meanwhile millions of illegal aliens are coming into America with no Customs screening. Makes no sense.
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