acts of GOD?
you mean like GOD sending heavy rain, and gusty winds? or GOD sending a plague of something for 40 days and 40 nites? Just curious....

C'mon people, get it over with. Start talking about how Jet Blue is the bestest airline ever and even though this only appears to suck but really is better than all the other airlines. How this obviously just legalese required by their lawyers but the next time it happens they'll still apologize because hey, the CEO apologized and that caused all the delayed people to get where they needed to be. Oh, wait...

As Dirk Gently would say, it's an act of God, but which God?

Years ago, the airlines had the heebie-jeebies because several famous tarmac-stuck events made big news. Congress was poised to pass a bill of rights, and only backed down because the airlines promised to police themselves. Which they didn't do. Things were great (relatively speaking) when passenger traffic was down post 9/11 - planes were empty, plenty of room to rebook people, and we didn't have any winter seasons like this year.

Fast forward to this year, and record pax traffic and some horrible weather have exposed that the airlines have done *nothing* to ensure that passengers don't get stuck on tarmacs for eight hours.

Now JetBlue has said "No really! We mean it! We'll self-govern ourselves" and then *specifically* excluded the very situations that are causing passenger outrage to begin with.

It's nothing but bluster and BS.

I say, give it to Congress.

Actually, the "ground delays" section of the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights does not say anything about controllable irregularities. They promise to get you off the tarmac or give you vouchers.

@humphrmi - I agree, except congress won't take it up unless enough of us start complaining to them. Give it to them with a phone call!

"F. GROUND DELAYS/DEPARTURES; In the case of Ground Delays, as defined in Section 1, on Departure, regardless of cause, Customers will receive the following compensation..."

I make no claims to being a lawyer, but they seem to be waiving the force majeure clause there.

I still agree that the changes, for the most part, are more lip service than real improvement, but this may actually help to keep the ground delays down.

Anyone surprised by this, raise your hands. Ok, yes, that means you, JetBlue fans...

Actually, I would just appreciate if JetBlue flew out of Cleveland.

@Tallanvor: Exactly what I'm reading. Seems to me they are making good on the ground delays while not committing themselves to paying out for flight cancellations and the like that are out of their control.

However, it seems pretty clear that a ground delay (which is what has been getting all the horrible press) is NOT exempted. They are promising to not keep you on that plane for excessive periods.

I am a meteorologist. The weather event which caused all the grief for jetBlue was quite well predicted by me and everyone else. It would be tough to say it wasn't 'reasonably foreseen.' jetBlue made a bad call, whether with or without whatever meteo staff they use.

I actually f'ed up here and posted a correction at the bottom of my post. Mea culpa. The airline WILL give vouchers if your plane has backed away from the gate and is stuck on the ground for hours. However, if they DON'T back away from the gate, and you're delayed, then the controllable/uncontrollable irregularity language kicks in, and there's still lots of wiggle room there.

I'm still not overwhelmed, but I'm a little less underwhelmed. I'm just whelmed.

The force majeure statement is practically boilerplate. Check out your favorite airline's force majeure statement (they've all been in place since God's dog was a pup).

Where JetBlue differs is where it departs from the standard, i.e., in outlining compensation for tarmac time and overbooking. That's better than practically anyone else out there.

Full disclosure: I have never flown JetBlue; they do not serve any airport in my state. I wish they did.