Domestic JetBlue Flight Diverts To Bahamas, Returns To Origin 13+ Hours Later

I've dealt with multiple domestic diversions in Ghana to international points (domestic inbound Accra diversions to Lome usually, but also inbound Takoradi diversions to Abidjan). Fortunately all of them were able to be recovered in the same duty period, but we always had contingency plans for recovery in case there was prolonged disruption. I would imagine that JetBlue has the same, especially since so many of their flights fly offshore between the northeast and Florida. Most countries are perfectly happy to assist with diversions from their neighbours (even the US tends to treat domestic Canada diversions fairly humanely).

@Sean M

Thank you for chiming in with your expertise.

JetBlue can't run an airline now, how do you expect to run two airlines with a Spirit merger?
Answer - replace Robin and Batwoman

So I’m guessing they went through 4-5 airports in FL all of which said they couldn’t accomplish (why?). At that point they are probably already over FL, so they just needed a refueling stop before returning to origin. So unusual?!?!

Many years ago i was on a TWA 727 JFK-PBI around 7pm from JFK. Flew that route a lot. About the time the flight should have turned right yo PBI. It turned left over the ocean. I said to my wife something is up. About 15 minutes later we landed..FA comes on and says welcome to PALM BEACH locsl time is 1030 pm. As i gazed oit the window i see a sign...WELCOME TO FREEPORT GRAND BAHAMAS! With that the Captain comes on and says..."sorry folks we were racing a line of tstorms and as we neared PBI the swept over the airport" WE SAT IN THAT HOT SMELLY PLANE for THREE HOURS on the tarmac..waiting for the storms to pass! Finally, the captain says...WE NEED TO REFUEL..and we are having a problem getting fuel because we dont have an account here" I offered him my credit card! It was the worst flight of my life!

A good question would be did the plane have enough fuel to fly to somewhere like Jacksonville, Savannah or maybe even Atlanta. Would have saved a lot of drama. I'm assuming the South and Central airports couldn't handle more diversions.

This week's weather event was extreme and caused havoc for all airlines. There are many other tales to tell, Jet Blue wasn't alone. I fly Jet Blue all the time, in fact, it's one of my favorite carriers and far better than the big three. Jet Blue has it's problems for sure but I fly a lot and have fewer delays with them than American, Southwest or Delta. So your comment is way off base.

I was the captain on a flight in 2009 from Denver to Fargo when we encountered a line of thunderstorms that ran all the way up to the Canadian border. We couldn’t turn around because headwinds would have prevented a return to Denver. We were forced to press on and divert to Winnipeg. Winnipeg was a destination my airline served from ORD and DEN so when the ORD flight landed, the airline made the crew from that flight take the plane back to Fargo. We as the crew were timed out in Winnipeg. That was definitely an interesting day

It's definitely not unusual. I've been on flights bound for MIA and were diverted to NAS because of weather. These things happen.

What a dumb article. Do you live under a rock or did you not see what was happening in Florida ‍♂️. Every airline diverted somewhere. Some of you bloggers need to get your story together. I’m certain it wasn’t JetBlue’s decision to divert there, remember theirs something called ATC that tell pilots what to do.

That line of storms was no joke, trying to find a way through it to divert in central or western FL was likely not a smart option. They probably didn't have a lot of extra fuel to work with either in a situation like this. There is absolutely nothing wrong with diverting to an international airport in the name of safety. If they had needed to they would have flown another crew out there to continue the flight had the original crew timed out.

Yet another reason to always travel with your passport for domestic flights.

Most likely diverted there as Nassau is a Pre-Clearance Destination in terms of US Customs. Most likely deplaned into the sterile terminal area where all US-bound pre-cleared departures fly out of.

Do you really do that? I feel like I'd be more likely to have it lost or stolen than to have it solve a problem.

I *do* often have a backup ID, I guess--my global entry card, which doesn't do me much good otherwise.

You *have* to be joking.

Most likely they were just stuck on the plane the entire time.

ATC doesn't tell pilots where to divert. That's all.

I agree. You never know when during a domestic trip something will come up unexpectedly requiring you to travel internationally, and you don’t want to have to return home to get your passport.

@David, I could understand that for someone who lives their life at the whim of certain business needs, but for most people? Nah.

Do they get the frequent flyer points?

ATC....drool

I know the flooding in FLL was pretty legendary, so this is not the best example for the point I want to make, but I'll make it anyway.

Jet Blue has turned into a cartoon caricature of itself. Seems every flight, domestic or international, is an adventure. And the template is pretty well defined. Start with an hour delay, keep delaying over and over till they take off a few hours later or just plain cancel.

Just few weeks ago I had a few hrs delay from NYC to Cancun. On the way back, I get an email when I'm still at the hotel that we're delayed like 1.5 hrs. Then another that we're now 3 hrs off. That happens at least once more, maybe twice, before they cancel the flight. About 5 hrs after scheduled departure, we are being herded onto busses to a basic hotel. Get to hotel and into room at 10 PM, 8 hrs after scheduled takeoff. Flight next day, you guessed it, delayed. But thankfully only 1.5 hrs.

Dunno what happened but this once solid airline is now an absolute mess.

I still struggle to understand why the US has no ID cards which allow travelling to neighboring countries. In Europe, most people have their ID cards in their wallet and if they happen to be diverted they can legally enter other countries.

We don’t have National ID cards because GOP fears big govt. also such a card could be used as voter ID which the GOP doesn’t want.

There are passport cards and global entry cards, but less than 10% of the country has these.

Majority of US citizens don’t have a passport

Those ID cards that allow entering other countries in Europe aren't purely national ID cards, rather standard European Union ID cards issued by the various countries.

For example, now that the UK left the European Union such ID cards no longer are sufficient and passports required.

@Andy, please tell me what other countries on the planet issue wallet-sized ID cards that allow them into a different country - neighboring or otherwise. Unless I'm mistaken (and I'm happy to be), they don't exist. The EU (and/or EEC and/or Schengen Area?) is one big exception, at least partly because the countries are all (relatively) small and are so close to each other.

The US *does* issue an ID card that lets travelers into other countries. It's called a Passport Card and can be used for land and sea (but not air) travel into Canada, Mexico, and some(?) Caribbean countries.

You must be young. Pre 9/11 a drivers license got you into Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Upon returning to EWR, were passengers checked by CBP? Obviously not their passports but maybe their IDs similar to CBP occasionally meeting domestic flights, for example out of PR?

You mixed up your parties. DNC does not want voter id’s.

You can enter any South American country with a national ID card from any other South American country

@Nicolas, thank you, I stand corrected.

You can get an enhanced endorsed drivers licence the allows you access to the US, Mexico, and Caribbean without a passport. Its commonly used in NYS for people that regularly travel to Canada

Why wasn’t Tampa or Miami considered as diversion possibilities?

Same in South america, we have Mercosul ID cards allowing travel between countries

so your answer is for folks to use a time machine and scroll back a few decades?

The dnc doesn’t want an ID even for voting because minorities can’t get an ID, so they claim.

But most Americans don’t own a passport.

All Merocosur, Comunidad Andina countries and Chile can enter the other countries in the group via air, sea, or land using only their national ID cards, which means all Spanish- and Portuguese- speaking country citizens of South America don't need passports for to enter neighboring countries (for tourism)

Would not have enough fuel. If they were full the most fuel an A320 can land with is about 9000 lbs. That is not a whole lot when you are dealing with diverting and extreme weather. Everyone here is about shaming the airline when they were not in the flight deck.

JetBlue got the Fyre Festival memo few years late.

I can only say that Nassau at that moment was the safest destination, it was a crazy afternoon and pilots and dispatchers had to make difficult decisions but keeping crew and passengers safety as a priority.

Miami was close and there was a line of thunderstorms that the plane would have to go around, ATC was also swamped so delays could be expected while rerouting, would put the flight into a low fuel situation probably having to declare a fuel emergency.

$500 is not enough.

Only for land and sea borders, not for air

We needed fuel and All the airports in Florida rejected redirect request because all flights were redirecting except NAS.

Airlines aren't required to offer any type of credit for weather issues.