Jet Blue to Unveil Customer Bill of Rights

By John Jessup

CBN News

February 20, 2007

CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - It has been nearly a week since the travel nightmare began for Jet Blue and thousands of its customers. Today, crews are rested and in place, passengers are checking in, planes are taking off, and the airline says it's back to full operations.

This comes a day after Jet Blue cancelled nearly a quarter of its flights at 11 airports from Portland to Pittsburgh. It's also on the heels of unprecedented weather-related delays from last week's winter ice storm that kept some passengers trapped on planes for more than 10 hours.

Although some passengers are in a forgiving mood, others are not. One male passenger said, "Honestly, I will never fly them again."

Jet Blue - which admits it waited too long to call for help - says it has done a full review of the system, putting measures in place to prevent a repeat.

Today, the low-cost carrier also unveils a customer bill of rights.

Company execs say the job now is to win back customer confidence.

CEO David Neeleman said,"We're sorry. We're humiliated. This isn't like us. This isn't the Jet Blue you've known for the last seven years. This is what we're doing to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Congress may be stepping in to make sure it doesn't happen again either. Several lawmakers on Capitol Hill are considering a passengers' Bill of Rights that would apply to the entire airline industry.

Meanwhile, travel experts say recovery for Jet Blue is possible, but it may take a while.

"Those folks are remembering how they sat seven to eight hours," said Linda Hirneise, JD Power. "How they didn't have access to food. How they didn't have access to the facilities in a cramped, cramped environment."

The carrier wants to put those stories behind them and hopes those passengers who endured them will too.

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