JetBlue Sorry for Stranded Passengers

Wednesday's East Coast snowstorms created mayhem with schedules as airlines and trapped passengers were made to deal with hundreds of cancellations and delays and last night things worsened for JetBlue Airways as police had to be called to one of its service counters to help with enraged customers.

“In the process of canceling a flight there were some passengers becoming unruly,” and JetBlue wanted police assistance, said Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for the Port Authority.

The nuisance lasted 11 hours and concluded with renewed cries for legislation from Congress that would create a passengers' bill of rights. It would call for compensation to be made to the stranded passengers and also lay out operational rules for airlines.

Earlier such efforts failed to produce any result. Politically connected airlines have caught up legislation and managed to influence the legislators that aviation professionals should not be ordered by non-experts about how to operate aircraft in duress.

At Kennedy International Airport, where JetBlue is the leading carrier, out of the airline’s 560 scheduled flights, 125 were canceled yesterday, said Jenny Dervin, a company spokeswoman. “We had a problem matching aircraft with flight crews. It was a snowball effect from yesterday’s ice storm,” she said, adding that after 5 p.m. 95 percent of JetBlue’s flights out of Kennedy were canceled.

JetBlue Chief Executive Officer David Neeleman expressed regret to the marooned passengers, and offered refunds and free tickets for future flights. "We didn't do a good job,'' a glum Neeleman said on CNBC's "Closing Bell'' Thursday afternoon. "We did a terrible job, actually.''

Although JetBlue is hopeful the worst disorders are over, anyone with a reservation tomorrow through Monday is allowed to withdraw with no penalty and rebook their flight before May 22, without any rise in the fare.