Adam says:

I've been mulling this one over for awhile, and by "this one" I mean what I want to do about my experience last week on Virgin America's anniversary flight from JFK to LAX. I flew out on one of the first last year and had an awful experience, which involved a four hour delay and a MacBook Pro power adapter that melted on me, and received a free flight as an apology. I really didn't mind the delay or the melted power adapter. Chances are it wasn't their fault as Apple makes crappy adapters, and they handled the delay very well. One year later it seems they've forgotten how to operate as an airline that serves its customers to the point that I've decided any compensation on their part would be unsatisfactory. Well, that's not entirely true, but it would involve cash and lots of it. But really I'd rather they get a bit of bad press and hope they change their ways. They should be the best airline around.

I got on the plane around 11:00am on Friday, August 8th. I didn't get off the plane for a little more than ten hours later. When we boarded we had a 30-40 minute delay that one should be accustomed to if they've ever flown out of JFK before, but by the time it was our turn to leave one of the air conditioning units broke. So, we went back. They figured it would take about half an hour to fix but quickly realized it would take much longer. They informed us we'd be let back into the airport to hang out in comfort but the messages stopped and the pilot went radio silent. The flight crew didn't know what was going on and no one was let off the plane for a good hour and a half. Those who were finally let off were not let back on. The rest of us, who stayed, ended up waiting well into the afternoon when the plane took off five hours late.

Fine, delays happen. However, you'd think during the delays that someone from the flight crew would have the opportunity to stock the plane with food. Apparently they were only able to grab a few sandwiches and chips. Being a vegetarian I could only have the chips. My fault for my abnormal ethics, I suppose, but they were almost out of sandwiches when they got to my row. I was in row 10. By my estimation, half the plane went without food. To their credit, they did have plenty of water. For ten hours most of us didn't eat or had very little. I always bring a few snacks on board just in case there isn't much to eat but nothing to survive for an entire day. Luckily I did bring plenty of entertainment because their entertainment system was down as well. We never got the free movie we were promised. Supposedly we were given a $25 flight credit none of us will ever use, but I haven't bothered to check.

All of this I can deal with. I had no intention of complaining. The whole event, thus far, was almost a blessing in disguise as I wasn't looking forward to being in Los Angeles and by the time the flight was over I couldn't have felt more glad.

Then I got my luggage. One of my bags had been ripped open. It could have easily been unzipped, but it was ripped. I'm not going to speculate as to how it happened but only my Apple TV and some DVDs were missing from the bag. No clothing or other small items fell out, oddly enough, but I wasn't in the cargo bay of the plane so I can't say whether or not it was stolen or simply lost via bag damage during the trip. Either way, I wanted someone to check and see if it had fallen out on the plane. I walked into the bag office and Joyce greeted me, before I said anything, with "all I can do is file a courtesy claim."

Throughout our conversation she continued to tell me there was nothing she could do when all I asked is that she call baggage and make certain they hadn't found any stray items. After half an hour she finally called, but this was long after her numerous accusations that I was trying to defraud Virgin America by claiming they stole my items. To be fair, those are my words and not hers. What she said to me was that her experience can rule out the TSA and airport employees so the only possible option is that it was my fault.

I asked her why she thought it was okay to accuse me and not them. She said, "you want me to accuse the TSA of stealing from you?" I told her "no, I don't want you to accuse anyone at all," at which point she decided to start filling out my claim. Throughout the process she asked me the same questions repeatedly. Given this is the sort of thing you do to a criminal I pretty much assumed she wanted to make sure I remembered my answers, but maybe she was just a complete moron. I feel I should give her the benefit of the doubt there. I could go on endlessly with examples of why this woman was horrible and cruel for no good reason other than what joys one might assume her job can bring, but I would like to mention one more thing. When I let her know which items were missing and how much they cost she laughed at me. She actually laughed at me.

I had a nice cab driver. The cab was cheaper than expected. Those are my silver linings. That and the plane didn't crash nor was anything else of value stolen or lost. What a great day. Thanks Virgin America.

Hey, why not let the DOT know about your baggage complaint? They keep track of that sort of thing. The TSA has admitted that it has a problem with theft. You should give them a heads up as well. Finally, when your baggage seems tampered with, you should report it to the airport authorities so they can investigate. A spokesperson from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport once said: "We find that people often make a claim for an item to the airline, but never report it to the airport or the police, and then we don't know that a theft problem is developing."

(Photo: Maulleigh )

Around 11:45am on Monday I was headed home to San Diego from JFK. As I arrived to the Jetblue terminal I noticed the lines inside were super long, so for the first time I decided it was worth a $3 fee to take advantage of the curbside check in.

Upon checking in, the attendant took my bag and brought it to the other check in station (if I were actually thinking and anymore paranoid I would have watched him weigh the bag). When he returned he told me my bag was overweight and there is a $50 fee for any baggage over 50lbs. Before I could even respond with "are you kidding me?" he told me he could he get it through if I "gave him a big tip". I quickly weighed my options and decided the tip option was clearly the way to go. As soon as I told him to go ahead with that option and handed him all the money I had ($15 tip + $3 fee) he took one look at the cash and asked "this is a big tip right?". He then counted it in front of me and was clearly unstoked with the amount, so I assured him it was all I had. He printed out my boarding pass and I headed to the gate.

As I sat on the flight I felt like A) I had been scammed, and B) it was my own fault. As soon as I got home I weighed the bag and sure enough, 46lbs. The following morning I called Jetblue to file a complaint, and also sent them an email. Their representatives were of course very apologetic and disgusted by the transaction, and promised to look into the situation.

I'd like to get my money back as much as the next guy, but I'm fine with leaving it here. My major issue is that in this day and age where the average traveler is being gouged for everything possible by the airlines, someone else has to take it one step further and take advantage of customers outside of the business bubble.

I wonder how often this happens at every airport? Do I blame the attendant, his employer, or myself?

Desperate times make for desperate measures.

We think everyone deserves a little blame here, but you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. JetBlue has certainly had its share of low-life scamming employees working at JFK. You only lost $15 and now you're sharing your story so that others can avoid this scam, and you reported the scammer to his employer. I'm sure that our readers, and JetBlue itself, appreciate your sleuthing!

And, just for those of you who are from out of town and flying through JFK, don't take anything anyone says at face value when you are in that airport. Stick to the straight and narrow, and if you know Obi Wan Kenobi, ask him if he'd mind picking you up.

(Photo: ellimac )

WNBC has an eyewitness report:

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual and wasn't trying to be rude. But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

Praying Passenger Removed From Flight At JFK [WNBC]
(Photo:Travelin' Librarian)

Queens prosecutors said Monday that a 51-year-old worker and his 39-year-old supervisor are charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property. They say the jewelry was stolen last week from a container marked "high value" that was being shipped from Switzerland to Brazil.

If convicted, they'll face 15 years in prison.

JFK workers charged with taking diamonds [BusinessWeek]
(Photo:Peter Gene)

Most people think that the airlines should just stop scheduling every single morning flight to depart at 9:00 a.m.

From the New York Times:

The United States transportation secretary will announce on Wednesday that her department has negotiated an agreement with the airlines to ease congestion at Kennedy International Airport next summer by shifting some flights to less busy times, according to government officials and industry executives.

As a result, the department will not, at least for now, order a reduction in the number of flights per hour at Kennedy, they said.

Also, the department will not immediately issue rules to carry out a more controversial tactic — auctioning off landing slots — to reduce the number of flights to Kennedy, people involved in the discussions said.

UPDATE: The Times was wrong, they will be putting a cap on the number of flights per hour at JFK.

For Now, U.S. Won't Cap Flights Per Hour at J.F.K. [NYT]
(Photo:bribriTO)

Thou art douchebags.

The employees allegedly were supervised by Jorge Espinal, a cargo supervisor for Delta Air Lines who diverted drug shipments to a safe area outside the scrutiny of inspectors and drug-sniffing dogs.

18 JFK airport workers arrested on drug charges [Daily News]
(Photo:DelMundo)

From Bloomberg:

Federal agents today arrested 18 people who were part of an international heroin, cocaine and ecstasy importation group, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said in a statement. The group concealed narcotics in luggage and used airport workers to smuggle the drugs aboard commercial flights to JFK, she said.

``The investigation uncovered a major international drug importation and distribution organization'' prosecutors said in their criminal complaint unsealed today. Both airlines said they cooperated with investigators.

JFK is a hotbed of crime lately, just ask the JetBlue employees who went on a spending spree using stolen credit cards.

Delta, American Workers at JFK Charged With Smuggling (Update2) [Bloomberg]
(Photo:Jingles The Pirate)

The move is an attempt by the airlines to address both the incredibly high rate of delays (up to 28% this year) and the deep customer dissatisfaction (up to 1893% this year), before the feds step in with legislation or congestion pricing. They're expected to produce an official draft of their congestion-reduction plan this December, and Congress says they'll be checking in every three months to monitor progress—which we think means one more time before summer comes around?

"Smoother Skies Ahead for Frustrated Travelers" [Kiplinger's]
(Photo: Getty)

The mission?

To fix NYC's airport gridlock. In order to succeed, the NYC airport task force must hold secret, confidential meetings in which they will discuss the mystery of NYC's traffic nightmare.

Will they find a cure in time?

From Newsday:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters convened the group in late September, and gave it a warning: Find a fix for chronic delays at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and its sister airports, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty, or be prepared to face a federal order reducing the number of allowed flights.

The talks, led by the Federal Aviation Administration, have been closed to the public, but participants report that one of the primary topics will be "congestion pricing," a scheme to reduce delays by making airlines think twice about scheduling flights during the busiest times of the day.

Generally, the plan would implement higher fees for planes operating at the airports during the aviation rush hours, which, in New York, coincide roughly with morning and evening commutes.

FAA, airlines brainstorm on NYC airport gridlock[Newsday]
(Photo:eliimac)

Flight 17 from John F. Kennedy International Airport was due to leave at 6 p.m. Tuesday, but didn't actually take off until about 1 a.m., airline spokesman Phil Gee said.

Dozens of other aircraft were delayed because of a storm passing through the area, which closed the airport for about 90 minutes.

Gee said the plane pushed back from the gate at 6:30 p.m. ET and spent hours sitting on the tarmac so it wouldn't lose its takeoff slot.

The plane finally went back to the gate to refuel, but then resumed its wait for a takeoff slot. Several passengers decided to get off the plane while it was being refueled.

US Airways Flight Stuck on Tarmac for 7 Hours[USAToday]
(Photo:caseywest)

Hey. Flying to JFK from Portland tonight. The flight keeps getting pushed back and the flight tracker on the website is getting updated before the gate agents are. It's so foggy that it's difficult to see the ground below the terminal windows, so the situation is obviously out of the agents' hands. To compensate, they've set out several pizzas and bottled water for the waiting passengers. People seem pretty stoked. Might this be a new addition to their customer bill of rights?

We asked JetBlue if they really do order pizza and their spokesperson, Sebastian, responded: "You know, JetBlue has been doing pizza ordering since we started seven years ago — people seem to love it!"

Sebastian explains that JetBlue in an "innovator" in the airline pizza ordering sector:

"In fact, it seems as though our innovative approach to taking care of our customers on delayed flights has influenced other airlines. We've heard reports that other airlines have started serving pizza to their customers when delayed due to weather. Good for them - and great for the airline customer."

We had no idea.

(Photo:Thanks, Karolyn!)

For some reason, JFK stayed open even though no planes could take off in the ice storm. The back up got so bad that the controllers were literally yelling at the JetBlue pilots because the pilots had nowhere to park and were just sitting in the way of incoming planes.

ABC 7 also reports that in June JFK airport had 150 flights where passengers sat on the tarmac for at least 3 hours.

Crazy.

Inside JFK Airport's ice storm meltdown [ABC 7]

• Passengers told new captain is making his way through the terminal, when he's really coming in from Newark.
• Delta tells his wife that the plane is in the air. This is right after she spoke with him by cellphone and they were still on the ground.
• Renaissance music used to depict his waiting wife and child.

The ubiquity, ease, and low cost of consumer recording, editing and sharing software is quickly making it less feasible for big companies to get away with stuff like this.

(Video: Uberzine) (Thanks to Grant!)

"Air travelers should be seriously concerned about their safety," said Phil Barbarello of the air-traffic controllers union, who wants more controllers hired. "The margin of safety is as low as I have ever seen, and I've been with the agency [FAA] for 23 years." Hey, that's comforting. The FAA denies there is a staffing problem.

Among the near collisions were a Chicago-bound American Eagle flight came within 200 feet of a helicopter at Kennedy airport, and on May 21st, the following weird encounter.... From the NYPost:

Continental Airlines Flight 466, a Boeing 757, was at 6,000 feet heading into Newark Airport when it had a close encounter with an unidentified aircraft.

The jet's Terminal Collision Avoidance System sounded the alarm, and the pilots "took evasive action and descended," according to an airport source.

"Our pilots receive extensive training to immediately respond to this type of event. The TCAS system did exactly what is was designed to do," said Continental spokeswoman Julie King, who confirmed the near-miss.

First they buy the ticket with your credit card information. Then they pick up the e-ticket from a kiosk just using your name to print it out. Then, when they're asked to present boarding pass and ID at all the security checkpoints, all they need is a fake ID with your name and their picture.

Now, it's pretty easy to dispute the charges as fraudulent, but you would think these kiosks would require more ID than just your first and last name and your destination city. — BEN POPKEN

(Photo)

The JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 was heading from Rochester to John F. Kennedy International Airport when the lightning hit it, causing a smell similar to that of an electrical fire to enter the passenger cabin, company spokesman Bryan Baldwin said. There was no fire or smoke, he said.

Lightning strikes JetBlue plane with 140 passengers going to JFK [USAToday]
(Photo: yayaempress)

Bonus Numbers:
JetBlue Baggage Room @ JFK: 718-632-6355
JetBlue Baggage Expediter @ JFK: 718-632-4986

Gleaned from the twofones blog, who learned the numbers the hard way. — BEN POPKEN

(Photo: le)

The airline has been quietly expanding its New York service over the past two years, adding five new markets last year and four new cities in 2004. It's most recent push is to grab business travelers, offering new lie-flat service on international business class flights out of New York starting in May. But being the "strong, silent type" only gets an airline so far.

American will roll out new routes and additional service over the next year. Hopefully the price war will come sooner. Price wars are our favorite type of wars. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

American Airlines expanding NY service [Crain's New York Business]

Hi Ben, I just wanted to let you and everyone else know that the charge-back worked like a charm. It took a while, but we received the refund today for our non-private car and all of the hassle that we went through during our trip to NYC. This was a full refund from American Express, not just the difference, and I thank you and Consumerist and all your readers for all of the advice.

Behold, the power of the credit card chargeback.

It's relatively easy to get one. If a product or service goes wrong and the company refuses to fix it, you just call up your credit card company. Tell them your sob story. Ask for a chargeback. Be advised that requests will require some investigation on the credit card company's part before processing. — BEN POPKEN

When she complained to Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, they were combative and lied, even after Shonda enlisted AMEX to help.

A Dallas resident, Shonda's good time with her boyfriend in Manhattan was bookended by the most classic of Big Apple experiences: dealing with assholes.

Now she's been overcharged by Golden Touch by $68. She's miffed.

Shonda: embrace the power of the chargeback. Call up AMEX and get the charges reversed. Boom.

Next time you visit New York, take a taxi to and from the airport. LGA to midtown should cost you around $30, including tip and toll. Both airports have taxi stands which are a bit more regulated than some of these shyster car services. — BEN POPKEN

Shonda's screenshot of the Golden Touch rental, her letter of complaint and AMEX itinerary, inside...

Shonda writes:

Screenshot of choices:

Itinerary:

—-—Original Message—-—
From: American Express Travel [mailto:service@americanexpress-travel.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 1:09 PM
To: (redacted)
Subject: American Express Travel Reservation - New York La Guardia Airport Trip

[snip]

Ground Transport Details:
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—--
______________________________________________________
Provided By: Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA)
Tel: 1-800-253-1443
Date: Thu Oct 19, 2006
Type: Airport To Hotel
Quantity: 1 Car (3 per Car)
Status: Ground Transfer Confirmation - 21378XXXX
Voucher: (redacted)
NOTE: You must use the link above to print this voucher.

______________________________________________________
Provided By: Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA)
Tel: 1-800-253-1443
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2006
Type: Hotel To Airport
Quantity: 1 Car (3 per Car)
Status: Ground Transfer Confirmation - 213785512
Voucher: (redacted)

NOTE: You must use the link above to print this voucher.

______________________________________________________
Trip cost details:
—-—-—-—-—-—-

All prices are shown in U.S. dollars:

2 adults
Flight + Hotel Price: $2,213.08
Taxes and Fees (Flight + Hotel): $323.47
Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA) (Includes Tax): $73.75
Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA) (Includes Tax): $62.50

[snip]

Cleveland's Hopkin International Airport considers pie filling a dangerous gel/liquid and TSA employees seized at least a dozen of the baked goods last week before Thanksgiving.

The pies were donated to the airport's USO lounge, which caters to traveling soldiers.

Security analysts frequently criticize the TSA's for a lack of imagination in dealing with terrorism. It's nice to see them take so seriously a pie in the sky threat. — BEN POPKEN

Pie a threat to security after all [The Plain Dealer via Upgrade Travel]

Our flight this morning aboard Air Canada's s flying closet to Charlotte was fun.

To type, first we withdrew our left arm until it was flush against the seat arm. Amidst our maneuvering, our row partner regained command of the central armrest. Wand in hand, he probed a Treo-like device roughly 1/10 the size of our desktop replacement laptop. We placed our right elbow over our appendix. Our hands perched much like a Tyrannosaurus, but more useful.

Inside, a man asks whether the no liquid rules apply to his pie...

Not much fuss at the security pageant. We packed our liquids in our checked luggage, seeing no need to perform toilet mid-flight. A man waiting in line asked if it was okay to bring his pie on board.
"That aint't a liquid," said the TSA employee.
"Oh, good," said the man.
We refrained from asking aloud whether cherry pie filling was considered a gel.
"Unless it's sweet potato," she said.
"It is," he said.
"Then I'm gonna have to confiscate it!" said the TSA employee, to general laughter.

On the other side of the x-ray, one of the bins had a watch in it. It didn't belong to the girl ahead of us. We held the watch up and asked if it was anyone's. No one responded, so we handed it to the x-ray employee. Under his breath, we heard the attendant say, "Glad I came to work today."

All in all, we've got no complaints. Hey, our ticket was only $143. We found it using Farecast. They've got a handy feature where you can see a graph of when exactly the prices drops before and after the holidays. Using Farecast's x-y axis graph, were found able to find times that didn't totally suck.

As our plane taxied for takeoff, we saw a jumbo jet waiting on the tarmac. Quelling a strange sense of jealousy, we thought to ourselves, "What a marvel of modern engineering." — BEN POPKEN

Moral: Blow up plane w/pie. — MEGHANN MARCO

If such thoughts consume your every grizzled conspiratorial hour, if Oliver Stone's JFK plays on perpetual loop on your DVD player, then the latest 419 scam is aimed directly at you.

It purportedly comes from a dying KGB agent, emailing to share secrets of the assassination of President Kennedy in the form of documents and photographs implicating everyone from Kruschev to the White House. These documents, once traded for your name, address, social security number and, hey, maybe your bank account number, will doubtlessly make you famous, bringing down America's entire Cigarette-Man constructed puppet government from within. The truth is out there!

Needless to say, any actual proof of a JFK Assassination conspiracy rests not in the hands of a KGB 419 scammer, but entombed within the delusional skulls of our nation's most misanthropist delusionals.

Email Scam Has JFK Conspiracy Twist [Consumer Affairs]

We'd understand a delay—we're flying back into JFK, after all, which is underneath a fair amount of snow—but jetBlue insisted our flight was not going to be cancelled. Mind you, all the flights before and after ours had been cut. We should have taken that for a sign.

After finally boarding a plane at 10pm, we sat on the tarmac for an hour, finally getting approval that JFK's runways were clear enough for us to land. Once in the air, however, our pilot informed us that our plane's wing de-icer had malfunctioned, and that they were "running some diagnostics."

Now we're not engineers, but we're pretty sure that when place de-icers fail, you just come on home, and don't do loops around Boston Harbor for an hour before landing.

We're also pretty sure you don't force the passengers to stay in their seats on board the plane because you "can't find any TSA security to guard you as you transfer to the new plane."

It's four in the morning and we still haven't left Boston. The flight attendants have been inconsiderate—telling people they need to sit down when they are stretching in the aisles—and wildly out-of-touch with the frustration of the passengers. Before we got on this new plane after a 90 wait in the old, broken one, passengers were actually yelling at the flight crew, asking them to call the police if there weren't TSA employees around.

We're probably overreacting to this whole mess because of the bowel-shaking fear that we dealt with after being told by our pilot that we had a problem with our wing de-icer, then not hearing anything else about what the situation was for at least a half hour after that. If you're going to tell people they might be in trouble, at least keep them up to date.

Of course, the pilot did tell us once we were on the ground that the reason it took so long to land was that they had a hard time finding a technician to help them troubleshoot the problem while we were in the air.

That makes us all the more confident that we'll make it home alive. Anyway, if we buy it, it's been fun. But if jetBlue loses a plane in the Atlantic this morning, be sure to know that it's out of sheer incompetence and a disregard for detail during this dangerous weather.

Why they haven't just grounded us we don't know, but we apparently have no choice in the matter.

Update: We're home, finally. Final tally? Not counting the forced march between the first and second aircraft, we spent over nine hours in a row for a 40 minute flight. They did give us a flight voucher, but obviously we're unsure if we want to use it.

The sad part is that for as bad as this jetBlue crew was, the airline itself is consistently better than everyone else.