Interesting. The last time I flew before the pandemic -- also Jet Blue -- I had a very different experience. I had flown to Boston (from Pittsburgh) for a business trip. I booked the return trip for Thursday evening (rather than Friday mid-day) to avoid any possible complications with Shabbat. I did not book the last flight of the day, having previously learned that lesson. It was July -- no concerns about blizzards and the like.
My flight was delayed several times, until, five hours after the scheduled departure time, they cancelled the flight. This was a couple hours after they had already cancelled the later flight, so those people all left and got hotel rooms. It was now after midnight and we all queued up for rebooking. There were no rooms to be had, according to all our searches on our phones. (The passengers were all helping each other.)
When I got to the desk, the Jet Blue employee told me the next available flight was on Saturday morning. I said I couldn't fly on Shabbat and asked (nicely of course; it's not that person's fault) if there were any way to get me home on Friday before sundown. After several minutes of "not possible" / "what about this flight?" / "full" / "what about other airlines?" / "we don't do that", the person finally grudgingly put me on standby for the 5AM flight, warning me that it probably wouldn't work and I'd be looking at Sunday by then if it didn't. I was trapped, so I said yes, tried to sleep in an airport that actively hinders people sleeping in it, and thought about contingency plans for Shabbat in Boston (with no dress clothes). The only food still available (I'd arrived before dinnertime) was a Dunkin Donuts. We did not get any vouchers, though while we were waiting earlier they had brought us some bags of potato chips and pretzels.
(I overheard another couple making plans to rent a car and drive back and asked if I could come with them and I'd pay for the rental, since I wouldn't be able to contribute much to the driving. Unfortunately, they had decided to make lemonade by making some tourist stops along the way and they wouldn't get back for a few days. Retirement has its perks. I also checked buses and trains, but nothing could get me home in time. On a lark I even tried the Uber app, which rejected the destination.)
I got the last standby spot on that flight. There were 20 more people after me on the standby list.
no subject
Interesting. The last time I flew before the pandemic -- also Jet Blue -- I had a very different experience. I had flown to Boston (from Pittsburgh) for a business trip. I booked the return trip for Thursday evening (rather than Friday mid-day) to avoid any possible complications with Shabbat. I did not book the last flight of the day, having previously learned that lesson. It was July -- no concerns about blizzards and the like.
My flight was delayed several times, until, five hours after the scheduled departure time, they cancelled the flight. This was a couple hours after they had already cancelled the later flight, so those people all left and got hotel rooms. It was now after midnight and we all queued up for rebooking. There were no rooms to be had, according to all our searches on our phones. (The passengers were all helping each other.)
When I got to the desk, the Jet Blue employee told me the next available flight was on Saturday morning. I said I couldn't fly on Shabbat and asked (nicely of course; it's not that person's fault) if there were any way to get me home on Friday before sundown. After several minutes of "not possible" / "what about this flight?" / "full" / "what about other airlines?" / "we don't do that", the person finally grudgingly put me on standby for the 5AM flight, warning me that it probably wouldn't work and I'd be looking at Sunday by then if it didn't. I was trapped, so I said yes, tried to sleep in an airport that actively hinders people sleeping in it, and thought about contingency plans for Shabbat in Boston (with no dress clothes). The only food still available (I'd arrived before dinnertime) was a Dunkin Donuts. We did not get any vouchers, though while we were waiting earlier they had brought us some bags of potato chips and pretzels.
(I overheard another couple making plans to rent a car and drive back and asked if I could come with them and I'd pay for the rental, since I wouldn't be able to contribute much to the driving. Unfortunately, they had decided to make lemonade by making some tourist stops along the way and they wouldn't get back for a few days. Retirement has its perks. I also checked buses and trains, but nothing could get me home in time. On a lark I even tried the Uber app, which rejected the destination.)
I got the last standby spot on that flight. There were 20 more people after me on the standby list.