BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Western New York man contacted 2 On Your Side after spending 18 hours at an airport in Florida and getting the runaround from his airline.
Jeff G. went to Punta Cana on vacation with his girlfriend. They were supposed to connect in Fort Lauderdale Saturday to fly back to Buffalo Niagara International Airport on a JetBlue flight, but it was delayed, then canceled.
They've been stuck in Florida ever since. 18 hours at the airport without access to the food court and no resolution from customer service either in-person, on the phone, or via text chat.
"Around 4 a.m., we had no options but to obviously, you know, lay down and try to sleep at the airport. I woke up with bugs crawling on me. Additionally, there was a very small amount of travel-sized snacks and like two-ounce water bottles that they left me in the middle of the airport which nobody could leave the line to get. They didn't make an announcement that they weren't giving out water or anything. By the time my girlfriend and I were able to get to that water and snacks because we were waiting in line for so long, there was no food or water available," said Jeff. G. via phone on Tuesday.
Jeff and his girlfriend have tried to get flights to other airports and rent a car to get back home, but they can't find anything that won't cost thousands of dollars a person. So they are hoping to get on the JetBlue flight they're scheduled to be on Tuesday night.
According to Flight Aware, the JetBlue flight took off at 10:46 p.m., about one hour later than it was scheduled. It landed at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport just before 1:30 Wednesday morning.
"There's not even vending machines or water fountains available. I got to the point where I was using pretty much my hands in the, you know, bathroom to try to stay hydrated with water because we weren't through TSA, so we couldn't go through TSA to use any of the food vendors there or to get water bottles there," added Jeff.
A spokesperson for the NFTA told 2 On Your Side that airline delays did not have a significant impact on the Buffalo airport, and only a few flights were delayed.
2 On Your Side contacted JetBlue corporate communications Tuesday morning to find out what's being done to help people like Jeff. We have not received a response.