Hundreds of JetBlue passengers spent hours stuck on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday night after a powerful winter storm dumped two feet of snow on parts of the Big Apple. If you have any questions with regards to wherever and how to use New York Car Service, you can get in touch with us at the web site.
Frustrated passengers took to social media to express their anger with the airline, claiming they were being held 'hostage' overnight as the airline tried to deal with a backup in flights from the storm - causing some people to reportedly urinate in their seats and suffer panic attacks.
At one point during the night, about 20 inbound flights were scattered across the tarmac for several hours, according to the New York Post, and half a dozen were diverted to Newark International Airport because they could not get to a gate.
By Monday morning, the airport was starting to recover, with FlightAware, a website that tracks flight delays and cancelations reporting that just 5 percent of JFK's scheduled flights were canceled, with 12 percent of inbound and 9 percent of outgoing flights delayed.
JetBlue, though, was continuing to have trouble into Monday morning, with 15 percent of its scheduled flights canceled and 19 percent delayed.
A number of planes were stuck on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday due to continued delays from a massive winter storm
At one point during the night, about 20 inbound flights were scattered across the tarmac for several hours
Many flights were delayed and eventually canceled out of the airport
Customers complained online about how they were stuck sitting on planes in the tarmac for hours Sunday night, detailing how one man reportedly urinated in his seat as they waited to get into the airport, and others were having panic attacks.
Bianca Peters, a morning news anchor for FOX 5 New York, said she was stuck on the tarmac for three hours, as a fellow passenger was 'having an obvious panic attack,' and Laura Mardkha wrote that after a two hour delay, JetBlack 'we've been stuck on the tarmac at JFK for town car ny 2.5 hours and have been told there' no timeline on when we can get off.
'So far, many screaming children, and one passenger had a panic attack,' she claimed in a tweet, noting she is going to need 'more than just a full refund this time.'
Taylor Emanuels also wrote on Twitter that he was stuck in a plane for up to three hours, noting that JetBlue 'really' messed up. 'Never had these problems with other airlines,' he said.
Another Twitter user, Jacki Cole posted a photo of her children sleeping on the ground near baggage claim at the airport, saying they were stuck on the tarmac for four hours with no food or water.
Twitter user Jacki Cole posted this photo of her kids sleeping on the ground, saying they were stuck on the tarmac for four hours with no food or water
Many passengers were forced to stay at the airport overnight as their JetBlue flights continued to be delayed
Many passengers had to have their flights rescheduled
Flights coming into the airport were also delayed and canceled as people tried to get home for the work week
Photos and video posted to social media also showed the chaotic scene inside the airport as crowds waited throughout the night for their flights before the start of the work week.
One Twitter user said she waited at the airport for more than eight hours, eventually boarding an aircraft without a scheduled departure time. At around 8pm she wrote that she was now 'stuck in the aircraft, have to miss work, [with] no food for my child.'
Others said they had to run through the terminal because the gate they were departing from was constantly changing, and another woman said her first flight for 1pm on Sunday was canceled, so she got another one for 7.30pm, which was canceled after an eight-hour delay. Her third flight, scheduled for 7.30am on Monday, she said, had also been delayed for two hours until she finally got on a plane.
Many on Twitter also expressed their frustrations with trying to get some answers about the delays from customer service, as they begged JetBlue for reimbursements and compensation.
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The problems reportedly occurred because the airline was short-staffed and could not clear all of the snow from a powerful winter storm from its gates at Terminal Five, according to aviation expert Jason Rabinowitz.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokesman for the airline explained: 'At JFK, we started operations on Saturday as planned but faced a number of conditions that have slowed the operation down.'
He said the company is 'focused on safely resuming our flight schedule' following the heavy snow and freezing temperatures affecting the northeast, noting that they 'have combined some flights today to ease those constraints and are working to rebook customers.
'It normally takes a few days to fully recover when a storm of this size significantly impacts our two largest markets of New York and Boston, and our first priority continues to be restarting safely,' the statement said. 'We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and we are working to get them on their way as quickly as possible.'
Many customers took to Twitter to demand compensation and express their frustrations
The winter storm dumped nearly two feet of snow in parts of New York, with larger accumulations reported on Long Island.
It had become a bomb cyclone on Saturday morning, meaning that it strengthened rapidly and had barometric temperatures drop more than 24 millibars within 24 hours. It later became a blizzard, with high winds and low visibility.
By early Saturday afternoon more than a foot of snow had fallen on parts of New Jersey's shore and eastern Long Island.
Boston, in the crosshairs of the 'nor'easter' tied its record for biggest single-day snowfall on Saturday, with 23.6 inches, the National Weather Service said. The Boston area's modern snowfall record is 27.6 inches, set in 2003.
New York City and Philadelphia were far from setting all-time records but still saw significant snowfall, with at least 7.5 inches in New York's Central Park and at the Philadelphia airport.
A woman pulls a child in a snow sled across Ninth Avenue in New York. The large storm hit a substantial portion of the East Coast of the United States
A person carries a shopping bag during a snow storm on the Upper West Side on Saturday in New York City
Across New York City, Coney Island reported 11 inches of snow throughout the day, so too did Howard Beach in Queens.
Almost 10 inches fell in parts of Staten Island, and 7.5 inches were reported in Central Park, according to the National Weather Service.
'Be careful, bundle up,' city's Mayor Eric Adams told residents. 'It's a good day to stay home if you don't have to go out.'
After the snow had moved out, temperatures were expected to fall to 14 degrees Fahrenheit overnight with the wind chill plunging temperatures to minus 5 degrees.
The frigid temperatures are expected to last until Tuesday. Temperatures on Monday are forecast to be slightly warmer at 18 degrees.
Those in Long Island were hit harder with 16 inches having fallen in parts of Nassau County.
Long Island MacArthur Airport in Suffolk County was under more than 22 inches, according to the weather service.
New York's Governor Hochul said the storm was a 'classic Nor'easter.'
'This is a very serious storm,' Hochul said. 'It could be life threatening. But we've prepared for this.'
Parts of Nantucket were seen to be underwater on Saturday as a winter storm lashed the region
Nantucket High School students row a canoe along a road during heavy flooding, in Nantucket, Massachusetts
Gusty winds and falling temperatures continued to plunge the East Coast into a deep freeze as people dig out after a powerful nor'easter dumped mounds of snow, flooded coastlines and knocked out power to tens of thousands on Sunday.
Dangerous wind chills were expected to fall below zero across the region on Sunday after the storm dumped snow from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York had plenty of snow, but Massachusetts bore the brunt of the storm, with the town car ny of Sharon getting more than 30 inches of snow before the storm moved out.
Winds gusted as high as 83 mph on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It scoured the ground bare in some spots and piled the snow into huge drifts in other.
Video also showed wind and waves battering North Weymouth, south of Boston, flooding streets with frigid water while another saw waves crashing against the windows of a building in Plymouth.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power in Massachusetts, with the failures mounting. No other states reported widespread outages.
At its peak, 120,000 customers were without power across the state. By 9pm on Saturday night 89,000 were still in the dark.
Winds gusted as high as 70mph on Nantucket and over 60mph elsewhere in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
People cross Congress Street in Boston. Forecasters watched closely for new snowfall records, especially in Boston which tied its record for biggest single-day snowfall on Saturday, with 23.6 inches, the National Weather Service said
Millions of Americans were under winter weather alerts Saturday as a nor'easter slams the Northeast
Still, the storm had two saving graces: Dry snow less capable of snapping trees and tearing down power lines, and its timing on a weekend, when schools were closed and fewer people were commuting.
Officials from Virginia to Maine warned people to stay off the roads.
Rhode Island, all of which was under a blizzard warning, banned all nonemergency road travel starting at 8am. Fierce winds blew the snow sideways for hours in Providence.
In West Hartford, Connecticut, a tractor-trailer jack-knifed on Interstate 84, closing several lanes. Massachusetts banned heavy trucks from interstate highways.
On New York's Long Island, East Hampton officials reported near-whiteout conditions, as much as 8 inches of snow by mid-morning and wind gusts of over 50mph.