Mon, Oct 31, 2011
Freak Winter Storm Diverts Flight With No Place To Deplane
Passengers, Investigation Underway
Passengers on board a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to
Newark were diverted to Hartford Bradley International Airport in
Connecticut Saturday, but with airports shut down all over the
northeast due to a heavy snowstorm, there was no gate at which to
park the plane.
So they waited, and waited some more, and seven hours passed
before the airplane was able to move to a gate to allow the more
than 100 passengers to deplane ... along with the passengers on
other planes diverted to Hartford due to the weather ... to spend
the night on cots and chairs in the airport terminal.
Blame it on the weather. The early-season snowstorm which roared
up the east coast leaving millions without power caused nearly two
dozen planes to be diverted to Hartford, according to ABC News. The
pilot of the Fort Lauderdale flight eventually got on the radio and
asked ATC to send police to his plane to take care of an issue.
"I'm going to need to have the cops onboard," he said. "I need some
air stairs brought over here and cops brought onboard the airplane.
(W)e can't seem to get any help from our own company," he said,
according to a recording on LiveATC.net.
A JetBlue spokeswoman said the infrastructure at Hartford was
"just overwhelmed." Jenny Dervin said that 23 flights were diverted
to Hartford, including six from JetBlue. In a statement, the
airline said "We worked with the airport to secure services,
including remote deplaning and lav servicing. Our flights were six
of the 23 reported diverted into Hartford, including international
flights. The airport experienced intermittent power outages, which
made refueling and jetbridge deplaning difficult. We apologize to
the customers impacted by this confluence of events."
The incident is under investigation, and JetBlue and other
airlines which kept passengers on planes beyond three hours are
subject to fines totalling $27,500 per passenger.
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