Woman claims JetBlue left passengers stranded for two days

‘We have kids, we have jobs, and this is ridiculous. We’re all waiting’

In a number of videos, TikTok user Wendy Michelle alleged that airline JetBlue left passengers stranded at the airport for two days before they could fly from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Newark, New Jersey.

The first video detailing the ordeal was posted on Monday 28 February from the airport in Las Vegas. “[JetBlue] refuse[s] to help us! We are going on our second night [at] the airport!!!” a video caption states.

“We’re here in Vegas, this is flight from JetBlue 956 and we’re stuck here,” she says in the video. “We’ve been stuck here for a whole day and now they’re telling us we’re not going to be able to fly out. I’m going to put it on TikTok. I need JetBlue to really pay attention because unless we do this, they’re not going to pay attention to anything. We have kids, we have jobs, and this is ridiculous. We’re all waiting.”

“And we can’t get our bags,” another woman says. “Four-hundred bags are in a pile.”

The TikTok user said they had been offered a $200 voucher by the airline. “We don’t care about the money, we’re just trying to get home,” she adds in the social media posting. “But clearly they don’t care about us.”

In another video posted to TikTok, frustrated passengers can be seen speaking to the staff at the desk.

“Timed out”, are among the words heard during the argument, probably in reference to a law that is aimed at making sure flight crews, especially pilots, don’t become too tired to fly. The legislation limits how much a flight crew can work within a certain time period.

Pilots must be afforded at least 10 hours of sleep between flights, meaning that if a flight is delayed, a pilot may be informed that they can’t fly unless their schedule fits with the mandated break times.

“We have been stuck in the airport for the second day now…. No accurate updates! People have been sleeping in the floor! And we are yet to know when we will be home!” the TikTok user writes in a video caption.

In her third video about the delay, she says that her flight, in addition to three others, have been stuck on the ground.

“Literally, JetBlue is selling you these tickets when they don’t have a crew and pilots, and if that’s the case, you should not be taking people’s money,” she says. “We have kids sleeping on the floor. We cannot get any hotel rooms. We have not been able to buy absolutely anything. And the pilots refuse to fly. The plane’s here, we’re here. I’m in Vegas in the airport stuck.”

In a Tuesday update video after finally being able to get home, she said there were no problems with the weather or the plane.

“The issue here was the fact that the pilots didn’t want to fly,” she claims in the video. “It wasn’t because they were tired or had been flying for hours. They were going on strike with their union, which I totally understand. You want better benefits, no problem.”

“The issue is JetBlue”, she adds, criticising the company for selling tickets when they don’t have enough staff.

“I get it, there’s a shortage,” she says. “But it is not fair to children who are stuck in an airport, for the elderly who are literally stuck there on wheelchairs. It’s nighttime, everything’s closed. We couldn’t buy water, we couldn’t buy food.”

“JetBlue pilot here. We are not on or ever been on strike. Short staffed. Yes,” one commenter wrote.

“That’s ... what your own JetBlue crew told us. I guess we will never know the truth. However, the pilots for our flights had half of their hours left,” Ms Michelle responded.

There have been no recent reports concerning a strike at the company.

One commenter said there was “no strike and this is an issue with all airlines! You’re not aware of what happens behind the scenes”.

“The whole industry is short staffed….not just JetBlue unfortunately,” another person added.

“Tickets are sold way ahead of time so there’s no way and predicting the future on flights,” one account holder wrote.

“It is never our intention to delay or cancel flights, and we are dedicated to getting our customers to where they need to go safely,” the airline toldThe Independent.