JetBlue terminal at JFK airport begins to return to normal 6 days after storm

NEW YORK – The six-day siege of angry and disgruntled travelers at JetBlue’s Kennedy airport terminal appeared to ease on Monday as service desks functioned more smoothly and customer calm prevailed despite flight cancellations.\nThe beleaguered company said it was canceling almost a quarter of its flights on Monday but planned to restore full operations on Tuesday, a week after a Valentine’s Day snowstorm created a travel meltdown that virtually paralyzed JetBlue.\nThe service breakdown “was absolutely painful to watch,” David G. Neeleman, the company’s founder and chief executive, said Monday.\nHe said the storm problems led to other problems, including an overwhelmed reservations system and many of the company’s pilots and flight crews being stuck away from where they were needed. The company didn’t have a system in place to track the stranded crews and reroute them, something JetBlue is working to rectify, Neeleman said.\nJetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said that Monday’s cancellations helped make sure all flight crews had legally mandated amounts of rest before flying again, and gave the airline the time to get equipment to the proper places. He said planes were being repositioned on Monday afternoon in order to be ready to go on Tuesday morning.\nWhile JetBlue was making its own analysis, one travel expert suggested the airline had brought the crisis on itself by trying to do the right thing for its passengers despite the wintry weather threat.\n“Most airlines don’t try to operate when there is an ice storm problem – they’ve learned that it’s better to cancel all flights at the outset and then try to get back to normal operations as quickly as possible,” David Stempler, president of the Washington-based, member-supported Air Travelers Association, told The Associated Press on Monday.\nOn Monday morning, Dawn Colonese of New Haven, Conn., arrived at JFK with her husband and two daughters – on their way, they hoped, for a Florida vacation.\nTrying on Sunday to confirm the flight, Colonese said she first got a recorded message saying the system was overloaded; then was disconnected. Finally she was able to record a complaint, and an apologetic airline representative returned her call five hours later.\nEven though the terminal was orderly on Monday, Colonese said that based on what had happened, “I don’t think I would fly with JetBlue again.”\nThe crisis, which centered around the popular cut-rate airline’s New York hub, was old news to some passengers arriving from other cities.\n“It’s not that big a deal,” said Lily Gilbert of Eugene, Ore., who said her flight from Portland to JFK was only slightly delayed.\nSome, like Sarah King, a Connecticut resident returning from Portland, said she didn’t think the weeklong debacle would hurt JetBlue in the long run.