u/hotgosss

Hi guys, I’ve been on unemployment in NYC for a few weeks and went to certify for the period of 8/1-8/8 today and realized when checking my records I think I only completed one work search activity last week. There was a lot going on with family, a death in the family (second in less than a month) apartment issues, travel issues and I must’ve not gone back to complete the other two when it started to get crazy. I went to file my claim but it doesn’t have an option to honestly report that. I don’t want to fraud them and cause myself to lose benefits overall, and I understand if I don’t receive payment for that week — I just want to be honest to not cause issues. I cannot get through to someone over the phone. Does anyone know what to do in this situation? Thank you!

EDIT: flight cancelled at 8PM after i watched the inbound delayed three hours (my takeoff was supposed to be 11:30). I called and rebooked with United via Denver then Philly, not even trying JFK again :/

Hi again guys, I posted a few days ago about my nightmare JetBlue situation on Thursday coming out of JFK. I was extremely fortunate and was able to get to my destination via American Airlines, but they couldn’t reschedule/assist with my return flight and I’m just hoping for the best, which departs Albuquerque this evening (8/10) at 11:30 PM MT with a ~5:30 AM arrival at JFK tomorrow. I’m still seeing TONS of delays, but it seems they’re primarily departures? Should I be concerned about my flight tonight? I have to be back in NYC by Wednesday AM for a family funeral Thursday. I can theoretically rebook and take a layover flight with a final destination to another airport — Philly, for example, since my family is near there, or even Pittsburgh + Drive (funeral is in Lancaster PA), Atlantic City, Baltimore + drive, etc. have others been having issues getting into JFK as well? Just trying to make a game plan if I can ya know. Thank you all, hoping everyone is able to get where they need to go 🙏

Hi guys, wanted to provide some info about what happened at JFK yesterday as someone whose flight got cancelled as well. There’s a ton of info so wanted to give everyone some help after my many hours of waiting in lines, talking to agents, and talking to support. Lot of detail and long post but hope it helps someone!

1. A significant number of flights via JetBlue were cancelled yesterday due to “weather”. I don’t know the number, but my estimation is a good three quarters of the flights were cancelled. I’m suspicious of this ONLY because there were some other weird things, and Weather Cancellations means HetBlue doesn’t have to provide further accommodation.
2. I was travelling direct JFK-ABQ at 7:30 PM. We started taxiing at 7:45, and were informed by the pilot that they are experiencing delays and the crew times out at 10PM, so if we were not in the air at that point we’d have to return to the terminal. NOTE: the FAA requires minimum rest times for flight attendants and crew on domestic and international flights, and they cannot be on shift for more than 14 hours without 10 hours of consecutive rest in between. For our 4 hour flight, if we didn’t leave by 10 the crew would go over so legally they could not take off and make the crew work more. All flights were grounded and we were something like #51 in line so the 10 PM takeoff was a dream anyway. The pilot and crew on our flight would be the only kind and helpful people until I left the airport several hours later.
3. After we returned to the gate, we were directed to the support desk. I got in line around 10:30 PM and there were probably a hundred people at least in front of me. They shut down the support desk at midnight and told people to go get their bags and talk to the employees at the Kiosk before security and go get your bags. Many people were frustrated because they were stranded and not rebooked (flights just cancelled), and while many people, myself included, received a “rebook link” it DID NOT work at all and the site crashed after 20 minutes and remained crashed. Some people tried to ask the manager what they could do because the app wasn’t working and HE was telling people to book online, but he walked away when people were trying to ask him questions. The POLICE OFFICERS helping with crowd control answered more questions. And yes, some people were frustrated but many more were extremely respectful and just trying to understand next steps. Anyone else that was asked walked away or told people it wasn’t their problem or had a crazy attitude. I did not make it to the front of the line, I only moved up 20 or so spaces in 90 mins to give an idea of the # of people.
4. We finally made our way up to the kiosk by check in and I waited in ANOTHER line, after being told by another agent they can only help us if we had active tickets. Keep in mind it’s 12:30 AM, everything is closed, there are hundreds of people trying to get answers, and the support line which I called told me I had a wait time of 387 minutes.
5. We were told that we would have to get help from support when they opened and to go to ANOTHER area to wait in line and they can rebook us. Multiple people asked when they opened and every answer was different — 2:30AM, 3AM, 3:30AM, etc. myself and a few other people started a line to get in line which eventually was also hundreds of people long. No one could get answers, to the point that the agents were walking away mid question or being rude. There was a gentleman who was deaf or HOH and couldn’t figure out what to do, and an agent was being so disrespectful to him a security guard took him aside and found a manager to help him separately.
6. They started taking people’s questions around 3:30 AM, but could ONLY help you rebook JetBlue. Several people were told they could get the first leg somewhere else and they’d have to figure it out. They couldn’t book through another airline or give refunds, only book a new flight. The ONLY solution they offered me was a departing flight out on SUNDAY (3 days after my original flight) direct, which wouldn’t work because my return was Monday. I asked for a full cancellation and refund and she said I’d have to call support (which I was still on hold with). At this point, it was past 4AM, I was exhausted, and figured my entire trip was trashed so I went home.
7. After a couple hours sleep I received my call back from the only helpful person I spoke to all day (Muhammad with JetBlue support, you’re amazing and I thank you so much). He was VERY EASILY able to book me an American Airlines flight with a layover in Phoenix for today and indicated I can reschedule or cancel my return flight for no charge if needed. I’m heading back to JFK now to see if I can make it at all.

I understand they’re understaffed, the agents are stressed and everyone is mad. But that is NO EXCUSE to walk away from people asking you genuine questions when they’re stranded, or even where to go next. I spoke with multiple people that said they would be so much less upset and stressed if they were given clear direction, even if the direction was “hey wait in line for six hours” because then there would be organization. But so many people didn’t even know where to go, if they could get hotels, were travelling with kids, missed connections, etc. I was fortunate that this was the first leg of my trip, but almost everyone I spoke with was actually stranded and JetBlue told them “idk three days from now ok?” They rebooked groups that were travelling together new flights DAYS apart (including minors and parents!), wouldn’t provide hotel or accommodation help after they cancelled and can’t rebook flights, and couldn’t assist with booking on other, less affected airlines. I UNDERSTAND that people are doing their best but you cannot be this unorganized when logistics fail this badly. If 600 people are waiting in line at 3AM, you need to get your shit figured out.

My heart goes out to anyone affected by this clusterfuck and I sincerely hope you get to your destinations with minimal further stress and delays. You all deserve better. I will never be traveling JetBlue again, because of how poorly they treated every single person I met.