JetBlue

Frustrated Flyers Stuck on JetBlue Planes for Hours, Stranded at JFK Airport Overnight

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It was one of those nights flyers never hope to experience for themselves.

On the heels of a nasty winter storm that much of New York is still digging out of, hundreds of passengers felt the headache of long delays and cancelations that left many stranded at JFK Airport late Sunday.

Karlene Daniels and her husband were ready to takeoff when JetBlue canceled their already delayed flight just before it was time to board.

"I mean, when I say crazy, it was crazy," said Daniels the next day, back at the airport after heading home for the night. But not everyone was able to sleep in a bed overnight.

Some travelers desperate to get to their final destinations say they slept on the airport floor, while others waited in long lines trying to get answers from the airline.

Yanel Rojas had a ticket to return home to Puerto Rico on Sunday when she got the cancelation notice. Almost 24 hours later, she was still waiting at the airport for her rescheduled flight.

Other passengers, meanwhile, were stuck on planes for hours, only to be forced back to the terminal before their flights were eventually canceled.

A few of the frustrated flyers took to social media, documenting their long waits and anger at New York-based airliner.

"This is what you subject people to when you don't just cancel the flight, communicate, and accommodate," one flyer who took to Twitter said, posting an accompanying photo of passengers laid out on the ground in front of a closed Starbucks.

Responding to News 4 Monday morning, a JetBlue spokesperson offered an apology to impacted customers and said the airline faced "a number of conditions" that slowed down operations but it focused on getting customers on flights.

"After this weekend’s heavy snow and freezing temperatures in the northeast, we are focused on safely resuming our flight schedule," the spokesperson said.

"At JFK, we started operations on Saturday as planned but faced a number of conditions that have slowed the operation down. We have combined some flights today to ease those constraints and are working to rebook customers," the statement continued.

While operations appeared to be improving throughout Monday, at least 151 JetBlue flights had still been canceled for the day and over 250 delayed, according to FlightAware.

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