JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK

Who can relate to the passengers on JetBlue flights who were stuck on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport for as long as nine hours yesterday? Perhaps the passengers who recently were stuck for more than eight hours in Austin, Texas with malfunctioning toilets and no food. If this effort to support a passengers’ bill of rights gains traction—and it looks like some members of Congress are behind it—perhaps these incidents will become a thing of the past.

Update, Feb. 16, 9:23 a.m. ET: USA Today has tracked down some numbers on similar incidents in the last seven years. Since 2000, the paper reports, “more than 300 airplanes have been stuck on the tarmac for longer than five hours.” And that seems to make it a winner of a political issue for Congress. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn. says he’ll hold hearings in the next month or two about air passenger treatment.

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