While flight diversions happen all the time, I don’t remember the last time a domestic flight diverted to an international destination. That’s what makes this story, flagged by @AirlineFlyer, so interesting.
In this post:
JetBlue flight from Newark to Fort Lauderdale diverts to Nassau
Several days back we saw severe flooding at Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL), which caused the airport to shut down, leading to hundreds of flight cancelations. On Wednesday, April 12, 2023, JetBlue flight B6205 was scheduled to be operated by an Airbus A320, and fly from Newark (EWR) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL). The flight was scheduled to depart at 9:35AM and arrive at 12:50PM, but that’s now how things played out.
First the flight was delayed by a bit over four hours, as it ended up leaving Newark at 1:38PM. That’s already pretty rough, but just sounds like JetBlue being JetBlue, since the airline struggles to run an on-time operation.
The flight then climbed to 36,000 feet, and then eventually started its descent toward Florida. Unfortunately this was around the time that the airport was shutting down due to the weather situation. So the JetBlue flight had to divert. However, it didn’t go to Fort Myers, Miami, Orlando, or Tampa, which are the most common diversion points for Fort Lauderdale.
Instead the plane diverted to… Nassau, in the Bahamas. The plane ended up landing there 3hr20min after it departed Newark, touching down at 4:58PM.
While diversions are common, I don’t ever remember a domestic passenger flight diverting to an international destination, because this poses an obvious challenge — most passengers presumably don’t have their passports on them, so if the flight can’t return to the United States, you’re going to be in a complicated situation…
JetBlue flight returns from Nassau to Newark
So, what happened once the plane was in Nassau? The A320 ended up staying on the ground in Nassau for 3hr20min, prior to taking off… back to Newark. The plane took off from Nassau at 8:21PM, and then completed a 2hr35min flight back to Newark, where it landed at 10:56PM.
The good news is that passengers didn’t somehow end up stranded in the Bahamas without passports, as I imagine the crew was pretty close to timing out. The bad news is that the same plane was back in Newark over nine hours after it took off, and over 13 hours after the initially scheduled departure time.
Talk about a rough day of flying — first there was a four hour delay, then a diversion, then a return to the origin airport.
JetBlue has allegedly offered each passenger a $500 JetBlue credit, plus a refund if they chose not to take the rest of their trip. Here’s how a JetBlue spokesperson describes the situation:
“With the airport in Fort Lauderdale closed and surrounding airports unable to accommodate this flight, the aircraft, and customers were returned to Newark after some time on the ground in Nassau. Safety is JetBlue’s first priority and the weather, airport closure, and subsequent diversion traffic was unprecedented.”
Bottom line
JetBlue passengers flying from Newark to Fort Lauderdale this past Wednesday had a very long day. The flight departed around four hours late, and then made its way to Fort Lauderdale, only for the airport to shut down, leading to a diversion.
The decision was made to divert to Nassau, which is incredibly uncommon, given that domestic flights don’t often divert to an international destination. However, I suspect the decision wasn’t made without some thought, and that there weren’t any other viable airports without excessive holding times.
The good news is that the crew didn’t time out, so passengers didn’t get stranded in a situation where they didn’t have passports for a foreign country. The bad news is that the flight returned to Newark, so passengers arrived there over 13 hours after they were scheduled to depart. Rough travel day, eh?
What do you make of this JetBlue diversion?
$500 is not enough.
Airlines aren't required to offer any type of credit for weather issues.
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.
JetBlue got the Fyre Festival memo few years late.
We needed fuel and All the airports in Florida rejected redirect request because all flights were redirecting except NAS.
Why wasn’t Tampa or Miami considered as diversion possibilities?
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.
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?
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.
You mixed up your parties. DNC does not want voter id’s.
The dnc doesn’t want an ID even for voting because minorities can’t get an ID, so they claim.
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...
@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.
so your answer is for folks to use a time machine and scroll back a few decades?
You can enter any South American country with a national ID card from any other South American country
@Nicolas, thank you, I stand corrected.
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)
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
Only for land and sea borders, not for air
Same in South america, we have Mercosul ID cards allowing travel between countries
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...
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.
Do they get the frequent flyer points?
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.
Most likely they were just stuck on the plane the entire time.
Yet another reason to always travel with your passport for domestic flights.
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.
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.
Majority of US citizens don’t have a passport
But most Americans don’t own a passport.
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.
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.
ATC doesn't tell pilots where to divert. That's all.
ATC....drool
It's definitely not unusual. I've been on flights bound for MIA and were diverted to NAS because of weather. These things happen.
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...
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
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.
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.
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...
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!
JetBlue can't run an airline now, how do you expect to run two airlines with a Spirit merger?
Answer - replace Robin and Batwoman
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'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....
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.
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?!?!