Passengers stuck on JetBlue plane after jet bridge operator goes home in Massachusetts
A JetBlue plane full of passengers were left waiting in their seats for nearly an hour after their flight landed in Massachusetts.
The person responsible for operating the jet bridge to let everyone into the airport went home sick, Boston 25 News reported. JetBlue Flight 676 arrived at Worcester Regional Airport just before 1 a.m. on March 15 after flying in from New York.
“We’ve determined an airport crewmember trained on safely operating the jet bridge was not available due to being ill and unable to perform their duties,” JetBlue spokesperson Emily Martin told McClatchy News in a statement.
Another crewmember trained to operate the jet bridge was called to help the stranded passengers, who had to wait for roughly 45 minutes “before deplaning,” Martin said.
“It was silence, then the pilot said, ‘I have something embarrassing to tell you guys — there is nobody to get you off the flight,’” passenger Sabrina Ruelle, of Auburn, Massachusetts, told WCVB. “They had no staff available to get us off the airplane!”
Ruelle told the outlet that state police arrived to try to get them off the plane until JetBlue “got a hold of” a manager “and had to have him drive from his house to the airport to let us off the airplane.”
“We apologize to our customers for this delay,” Martin said.
JetBlue plans to give the passengers who were temporarily stuck a $50 travel credit, according to Boston 25 News.
Martin did not confirm the travel credit offer to McClatchy News.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Passengers stuck on JetBlue plane after jet bridge operator goes home in Massachusetts."
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