New York – The six-day siege of angry and disgruntled travelers at JetBlue’s terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport appeared to ease Monday as service desks functioned more smoothly and customer calm prevailed despite flight cancellations.
The beleaguered company said it was canceling almost a quarter of its flights Monday but planned to restore full operations today, nearly a week after a Valentine’s Day snowstorm created a travel meltdown that virtually paralyzed JetBlue.
The service breakdown “was absolutely painful to watch,” said David Neeleman, the company’s founder and chief executive, on Monday.
He said the storm problems led to other problems, including an overwhelmed reservations system and many of the company’s pilots and flight crews being stuck away from where they were needed. The company didn’t have a system in place to track the stranded crews and reroute them, something JetBlue is working to rectify, Neeleman said.
JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said Monday’s cancellations helped make sure all flight crews had legally mandated amounts of rest before flying again and gave the airline the time to get equipment to the proper places. He said planes were being repositioned Monday afternoon to be ready to go this morning.
