Passengers kicked off flight with nowhere to go in travel nightmare: ‘People out on the streets like animals’

The airline did not provide any arrangements for the travelers, who say they were ‘traumatized’ by the incident

Hundreds of JetBlue passengers were put “out on the street like animals” after their flight home to Boston from Turks and Caicos was delayed by 24 hours by the airline, they claim.

The airline did not provide any arrangements for the travelers, who say they were “traumatized” after being kicked out of the airport with their families on Saturday night.

One passenger, Marty, told Boston 25 News: “To put people out on the streets like animals was definitely something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

Marty said his children were exhausted after their flight was already delayed several hours on Saturday. He said it was extremely difficult to find a place to stay, as there were no hotel rooms available at such short notice that night.

“[It was] just a very unsettling, traumatizing experience,” he said. “You have three young kids all looking to you for an answer, a wife looking at you for an answer.

“For the first time as a husband and as a father and as a man I had no idea how I was going to shelter my family for a night.”

The airline did not provide any arrangements for the travellers after the 24 hour delay left them stranded in Turks and Caicos, they claim (Getty Images)

Others said that JetBlue staff refused to help and they were forced to fend for themselves. Another passenger, Brett, said they had been “kicked to the street like dogs.”

“We just kept saying, ‘where do you want us to go? What are we supposed to do? How are you just kicking us to the street like dogs in a foreign country?”

Brett told Boston 25 that he eventually paid $1,000 for an AirBnB that he fit 10 people into in a “horrible, sketchy” part of town. “The area was like something out of a horror movie,” he said. “Wild dogs were chasing the cab as we were driving by… the kids are freaking out, like, what are we going to do?”

In a statement, JetBlue said the significant delay on the flight was caused by “heavy air traffic control congestion and extended holding” and apologized to those affected for the “frustrating situation.”

“While the delay was created by circumstances beyond JetBlue’s control, we understand the impact this disruption had on our customers’ plans,” the statement said.

The airline added that passengers were able to submit reimbursement requests for any “out-of-pocket expenses” during the delay and would be providing each customer with a $200 travel credit.

However, most were unimpressed. “This was far beyond a delay,” Marty said.

“This was sending people to the streets in a third-world country at the wee hours of the night and asking them to fend for themselves with no solutions.”