JetBlue Cancels RDU, Other Weekend Flights

New York — JetBlue, still reeling from a snowstorm that forced hundreds of canceled and delayed flights, said Saturday that 23 percent of its weekend flights would be canceled as it tries to get back on schedule, including all flights in and out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

The discount airline company said that 23 percent of their flights on those two days were grounded so aircraft can be repositioned and flight crews could reset their operating clocks. Further cancellations may occur on Saturday and Sunday, JetBlue officials said.

"JetBlue is taking this aggressive, unprecedented action to end rolling delays and cancellations, and to operate a new schedule reliably," the New York-based carrier said in a statement posted on its Web site.

A JetBlue representative said the company attempted to contact passengers on affected flights via e-mail or phone to inform them of the cancellations. However, representatives were unable to obtain contact information for all customers booked on the flights.

Beyond the cancellation at RDU, all flights to and from the following cities have been cancelled on Saturday and Sunday:

Austin, TX
Bermuda
Charlotte, NC
Columbus, OH
Houston, TX
Jacksonville, FL
Nashville, TN
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, ME
Raleigh/Durham, NC
Richmond, VA

Flights to other JetBlue destinations may be impacted as well. All customers are advised to check their flight status online on JetBlue's Web site. Passengers on canceled flights also obtain a refund or JetBlue credit through the Web site or by calling 1-800-JETBLUE.

JetBlue's problems began Wednesday when its operations at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were overwhelmed by the snow and ice storm. With dozens of grounded jets and not enough gates to unload passengers, some flights were stranded on the tarmac for up to 10 hours.

The airline said it tried to get its system back to normal by selectively canceling flights Thursday and Friday, but long delays continued because of constraints.

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Latest Comments

I'm stuck in NYC trying to get home. On hold w/ Jet blue b/c they cancelled my monday night flight to RDU. Any news on the rest of the week? agh!

John Q Public
February 18, 2007 9:54 a.m.

Yup, as a person who just spent Tuesday/Wednesday night in the Philly airport due to USScareways screwups, I can say for sure that JetBlue is not the only airline with problems. One problem from the passengers perspective is that in this era of "etickets" which have no cash value, you cannot demand to be carried by another airline. Southwest was merrily getting their flights out of Philly on Tuesday, but USAir was almost completely shut down. Glad to know that Jet Blue is another airline I shall have to avoid in future.

goat1of2
February 18, 2007 2:46 a.m.

I guess I am trying to understand the difference between how JB is doing it and how other airlines deal with the situation. I would take it that other airlines that are about the same size have had to reschedule and move people and planes around, not to mention canceled flights. With that said I take it this has never happend on this scale before? I am by no means trying to argue, I just do not understand. The way I see it , if they have a limited number of airplanes, and most of those are stranded including crews, how can they do anything else but cancel flights. I agree it was probably poor planing or lack there of, but I just not sure 100% of it can be blamed on the airline.

dhamma
February 18, 2007 2:21 a.m.

What US SCAREWAYS is no better.Cx'd a flight from philly to aruba because not enough pax....Give me a break,this is the onlytime JB screwsup,but USAIR makes a habit of it

LTL
February 17, 2007 8:44 p.m.

dhamma--there are certainly cancellations due to weather but to cancel all flights to certain cities for a certain time period is not something I've ever seen. Usually the airlines pre-cancel in anticipation of a weather event, not cancel post weather to "regroup"...As for not having agreements with other carriers, think of the thousands of people stranded in various cities for who knows how long. Some people just don't have the means to go to another carrier and purchase a full fare ticket

rduhag
February 17, 2007 7:14 p.m.