I love Jet Blue so much, even more now.

Thank you for being so kind.

That sounds awful! Isn't there a law to dismiss passengers after 3 hours? Will you be flying Jet Blue from now on?

That explains everything... pirates are ruthless - glad you made it home safe. Hope your meetings / new office search went better than the flight

Man that sounds like one hell of a flight or at least attempt at one.  Hope they refund you and then some, but you never know how a company will deal with something unexpected like this I suppose.  I know it sucked for all the passengers involved, but I kinda feel sorry for the captain too, he looked a little green behind the ears, I am sure he was sweating too.

I was on this flight as well, great recap of events and its amazing how thing unfolded.  I just fired off an email to VA about the events. 

That is quite outrageous.  I would have expected more from VA.  JetBlue saves the day. 

Obviously you have no clue Mr Pro Virgin. The airstairs being brought to the door is a FAA safety mandate to have the main cabin door open during fueling you idiot.

Free step off the aircraft to where? The outside in the rain and wind in a secure area? You are just as moronic as the crew and customer service agents of this flight.

JetBlue saved your airline's butt. A simple thank you would have been better than the garbage you spewed. JetBlue gave them water, JetBlue got them home! To me that is worth more than touch screen tv's and wi fi. IF VIRGIN WENT THROUGH WHAT JB WENT THROUGH THAT DAY IN NY ON VALENTINE'S DAY, VA WOULD HAVE GONE OUT OF BUSINESS. JETBLUE IS STILL HERE AND NOW TEACHING VA A LESSON!

JetBlue rocks!!!!!!

David, get a life shit happens. We all go through with it and Jet blue has had there share of disasters not related to weather!

Reminds the time I flew United out of Chicago and they kept us on the runway during an electrical storm for 4 hours.  The Flight attendants were rude and obnoxious.  I am disappointed that United is partners with Continental.  I would never fly United again. 

I've enjoyed reading your updates and appreciate your perspective on the whole situation. Could you please do everyone a favor, and replace every instance of "whom" in your post with "who?" In each case your use of "whom" is incorrect. It makes your writing, which is otherwise pleasant to read, very painful to read.

Perhaps the most ironic thing of it all is that the plane did end up making it to JFK an hour earlier than the bus did. Hindsight is always 20/20

Any search will show that all carriers go through these issues legacies, LCC, Jetblue, Virgin the scariest one are when they occur in places far from home in foreign countries. Bottom line it sucks when it happens and no mitigation plan will ever be 100%. B6 acknowledged their valentines day disaster and made a commitment to fix it.

David Cush seems to be at least trying to fix the situation personally thats more than most leaders do at any company. I'm sure everyone can agree on that.

This CEO just want to make his web site popular

Jet Blue FOR THE WIN.

DAVID- SOMEBODY MUST READ THIS & REPORT ACCORDINGLY!!!!  I AM SO SICK OF HEARING THE SUBTRAFUGE STORIES - HERE ARE THE FACTS:

I worked for a commercial airline for 5 years and learned the disturbing fact that the flight crews DON"T GET PAID until they close up the aircraft doors, and the STOP getting paid when the aircraft doors are opened.  I have been "ordered" by ***many*** a flight crew to board the passengers and close the door despite inclimate weather, mechanical delays, flight crew holds, ATC holds, etc. My ex-husband served 

 20 years in a variety of commercial airline positions including as a Maintenence Supervisor, Gate Supervisor, & former flight attendant himself. He vehemently attests to this pathetic fact!   Sure there are extenuating circumstances, however, the fact is that the passengers on this Virgin Atlantic flight were intimidated to stay on board by a self serving crew looking to make their hourly pay.  So Sad!

give me a break. you're sitting there in seat 1A with your phone filming the poor sweating staff dealing with this nightmare? what kind of torturer are you? cut the crew some slack and be happy you weren't sitting in the back. and hey, you're start up with no revenue to speak of. what are you doing sitting in first class anyway?

I WILL NEVER FLY DELTA AGAIN! We were flying from Seattle to JFK, when we got to NYC we circled the airport 45 minutes until they decided to fly into Hartford. really Hartford? When we landed in Hartford we sat on the tarmac almost 3 hours (no exaggeration). When we finally went to a gate we were just told where to pickup our luggage and we're on our own in some strange city. I understand Delta cannot help the weather but we were treated like garbage. No other forms of transportation, no meal vouchers nothing! I paid for a ticket to NYC. When in the terminal they wanted us to leave cause they were closing. VERY rude staff!!! They just wanted us gone. 4 of us we had to rent a car which was 327 dollars and it took us 7 hours to get to NYC because of the weather conditions and closed roads. Again I don't blame Delta for the weather and landing in hartford I blame them for the way we were treated. There were young people crying because they had no money to get to NYC, and the agents could care less. Shame on you delta!!!! I don't care if I have to pay more for a ticket, I will NEVER give Delta a dime of my money. Much more terrible things to the story I dont have time to type. I will do whatever I can to let people know how delta is like.

you like to censor this board to what you want other to see. . . you did not even post my response. . . just want to have your fame

David,

I am confused. I tried following all the interviews and watch your video- but what I don't understand is- how did Jet Blue get involved? They aren't a partnering company to VA are they? And why couldn't VA just get water or food for the passengers? Are you saying the plane had NOTHING? Or that the plane had run out after so many hours on the tarmac? Was JetBlue nearby listening in on the drama of the flight on VA and just randomly decide to get involved or did someone notify JetBlue for assistance?

And I want to know in general- what the heck are passengers supposed to do in these situations?! Call the police??? "Hi I am being held hostage by an airline who won't let me off the plane..."?

I went through a similar situation once from LAX to D.C. We circled the air for 2 hours and then were diverted to Baltimore where we waited (apparently the airport lands planes who have the least amount of fuel first/or as weather permits- other planes with more fuel are diverted elsewhere), then attempted again to land in D.C- but were placed in a holding pattern again. But we were given snacks to hold us over- although not ideal (how long can a little bag of pretzels sustain you?)... we were more than four hours delayed. And it sucked being cooped up knowing small children and parents were starting to get concerned about when the whole thing would end. There is only so much snacks and water and diapers you plan to pack for during flights- passengers can't plan for all the worst case scenarios when a flight gets delayed on the tarmac- but I think airline company's SHOULD have contingency plans.

you do censor. I too tried to contribute to this thread more than once with an honest point of view and I was repeatedly denied. Anyone who reads the comments posted on CNN will understand that this forum is a joke. If you consider yourself an American I think you should be ashamed of yourself if it is true that you are censoring posts while pretending to be a forum for real discourse. This is a quote from CNN about the same situation. I think you will find, if you don't already know, many people feel this way too: "I'm sitting in Baghdad, Iraq, where I regularly sit for hours because the weather delayed or cancelled the flight. Generally by the time they officially cancel it, the chow hall is closed and there is nowhere for me to get any food, and I can't just grab a taxi and go home or to a hotel. Americans, when you whine about something like this like it is the end of the world, and put on headline news - you make me wonder why any of us serve in the military to defend a nation of overpriviliged babies. I think everyone in the USA should have to spend six months living in a third-world country like Haiti or Afghanistan or heck, you might even get brave enough to leave the tourist areas of Mexico and go into the heartland and see what real life is like there. "They wouldn't give her a cookie. They snapped at her." Good god, GROW UP! Yes, the airline will run out of food. The airline didn't make the delay. You were offered TWO chances to leave the plane - if you were that unhappy, that hungry, that claustrophobic, maybe you should have done so. Then you wouldn't be wasting page space feeling righteously indignant because you had to wait five hours to eat. Seriously, is this news? And are these the people I'm living with no running water in what will bet 140 degree heat to protect?"

look at Katherine's multiple responses. I guess a lot of people are having the same problem

Good god.  Every single one of you who support this idiot are selifhs and lazy as him.   If I were the flight attendant, capitian or even CEO, I would insure you are on the "no flight list" permanantly.

you people are exactly why everyone else in the world hates us.. for good reason;  You are all a bunch of spoiled, rotten, lazy brats who have never worked a day in your lives.. Nor do you hold anything sacred

I hope and pray you all pull your heads out of your collective asses and grow the fuck up

Yeah- I didn't mean to post multiple times- the computer/connection went all buggy! I tried to refresh the page to stop the endless uplink, but i guess by hitting refresh it resent my comment x5! (Talk about horrified) Sorry! I figured the original poster could delete my repeated posts.

You are a complete idiot... but way to dramatize everything to get plenty of hits on your website.

I agree!  He's not simply reporting an incident.  He is clearly USING this situation as an opportunity to make is website popular.  Cheap bastard!

Wrong David there is no current law for this!! Wait til the new 3 hr rule takes effect.....you'll be lucky to get even close to home then. All the flights will just cancel!

Fascinating, Jim...

Fascinating

Imagine a world where people fight for issues that really matter. Like a child starving, an oppressed human being from a third world country. Not a bunch of whining, self absorbed individuals, sitting on a beautiful plane, with television in front of them, in comfortable seats, with a bathroom and plenty of water. Imagine what we as a country, a race, could accomplish. You people make me sick!! I feel sorry for those who defended our country with there life's in past wars so folks like you can cry about things that don't really matter.

I am not sure if the crew did everything they could of (actually I should say its obvious), but I am impressed that VA seems to be accepting responsibility and making an effort to ensure it won't happen again. Haven't seen that from any other airline out there. JB, AA, and CAL (might be DAL) already want waivers from the new rule to take effect on 4/29/10. I am glad you will all be riding them, you deserve each other.

 I would also love to meet the gentlemen from 1A and show him something he could really cry about (like serious injustices in this world).

Hey David, how many times can you say kontain.com in a 4 min. interview?  This wasn't about exposing any injustice or fighting for the rights of the people.  This was a shameless plug for you.  Censor this.

So I see a previous comment didn't make it through the censors. I am glad to see however you are back to posting pictures of what you had for breakfast and your 15 minutes of fame has come to an end. 

Maybe you could write next about your cirsis at the grocery store while in the 15 items or less line or when all those people actually had the nerve to get in line before you to buy tickets to a movie.

Or you can just grow up and realize crap happens and stop being a self promoting obvious little smuck.

I am sure this will somehow not make it onto this site as it does not conform to your obvious self centered agenda.

I think your assumption that I have never been stranded on a tarmac is a tad presumptuous. I have been stranded on an airplane due to everything from weather, medical emergencies and mechanical issues. I will admit it is far from enjoyable but I also would expect that the seasoned traveler would realize it is more the exception and not the rule when it does occur and realize that the world is not perfect.

I also do believe that passengers on this flight were given two distinct opportunities to leave the aircraft. I also believe that 20 or so passengers did in fact decide to take that opportunity and actually get off the plane. This of course was not reported in most news reports discussing the affects of social media at the expense of the airline. Furthermore from what I saw it looked liked anything but the pandemonium depicted across my television.

Look, I am all for standing up for ones rights but when I see the theatrics on major news channels over a plane stranded on a tarmac for four hours due to weather I can't help but think there are more important issues to blast across the nations top media outlets. The tone of the reports I saw resembled that of a national emergency. It was almost comical to watch someone dramatize or should I say try to dramatize this event to a level of national importance.

Personally I don't think this is a great example of how social media can have a positive influence on society in general in fact it's my opinion that this is a great example of how the general public can create a social media riot regardless of the merit or severity of the issue.

I think there are two important things to remember and consider. First, despite the the actual account of facts regarding any particular story the mainstream media is going to pull out all the stops to turn a lizard into godzilla at every opportunity. Second, once the negative PR started rolling in, then of course any company is going to due anything to stop the hemoraging. That is not an automatic admission of guilt in my opinion. I guess in this situation I am a little unsure as to what exactly should have happened. There is obviously a limited amount of food and water on board an aircraft depending on the size of the aircraft. Passengers were given the opportunity to get off of the aircraft two seperate times as we have established already. I can agree that a rude crew member during an already uncomfortable situation like this would be slightly bothersome to say the least. But also keep in mind that their first responsability is passenger safety. I have not worked with the public for quite some time but from what I remember is that it is very stressful when everyone is pissed off and blaming you despite the fact that you are and have done everything you can. But also as I watched the news footage I heard these reports but did not see any video of these incidents. It seemed to be one of the major talking points discussed in each interview but either I completely missed the footage showing the crew being rude or their wasn't any. What I did see was calm people giving updates over a PA system.

If their wasn't any footage why not? It would seem to me that would be the thing to record and not just the uneventful type footage you did get. I am not saying it did or did not happen but what I am saying is that with little more than general footage from a location the public can be lead to believe whatever you tell them. You could have said a monkey escaped from the luggage hold and just because you were on that flight people would believe you. Social media has that power so their needs to be care taken in how we leverage that power and focus on using it for positive reasons and not group ranting for personal gain.

That can easily become eBlackmail which would be a very bad thing.

I will respect your request to end the discussion although I find your explaination questionable. In parting I can tell you we have never met, I do not know who Crystal is and if Crystal is a "she" as I am assuming then your barking up the wrong gender as I am a male. Good luck with your site. I would only suggest you take heed in future social media outcries as to not paint a permanent or repeating negative picture of Kontain in the eyes of the general public. Cheers.

People can be part of the same experience and have completely different accounts to what took place. So you are correct that just because someone tells me something does not mean I will believe it. There are people out there that do go through life this way but usually find themselves being taken advantage of at some point for being naive or too trusting. For the same reason hearsay is not allowed in the courtroom I have the instinct to question events soley based on someones biased account of specific events. But I have never been a lamb willing to follow the pack because someone says I should. That's just me.

Please run a quick Google search on the proper use of "who" and "whom".  Not using "whom" is sadly acceptable in today's borderline illiterate society; misusing it, however, will still make you sound like a pseuso-intellectual mouth-breather.

Please run a quick Google search on the proper use of "who" and "whom".  Not using "whom" is sadly acceptable in today's borderline illiterate society; misusing it, however, will still make you sound like a pseuso-intellectual mouth-breather.

Please run a quick Google search on the proper use of "who" and "whom".  Not using "whom" is sadly acceptable in today's borderline illiterate society; misusing it, however, will still make you sound like a pseuso-intellectual mouth-breather.

Please run a quick Google search on the proper use of "who" and "whom".  Not using "whom" is sadly acceptable in today's borderline illiterate society; misusing it, however, will still make you sound like a pseuso-intellectual mouth-breather.

The misuse of the word "whom" was annoying. For example, this is incorrect: "The final statement of the night came from the lead flight attendant whom said"

It should be: "The final statement of the night came from the lead flight attendant who said"

The misuse of the word "whom" was annoying. For example, this is incorrect: "The final statement of the night came from the lead flight attendant whom said"

It should be: "The final statement of the night came from the lead flight attendant who said"