This is the second time this has happened to us, so we are really getting frustrated. My husband was booked on an evening flight (jetblue), from Jacksonville to JFK. Midday he got an email telling him his flight had been cancelled, call to reschedule. Naturally he waited on hold for 25 mins to be told the flight was cancelled due to weather, and all other flights were sold out. They could get him on a flight the next day. He was able to get a delta flight that evening but was paying a premium. Does anyone know what our rights are as far as being reimbursed? JetBlue would refund the price he paid for his jetblue flight but nothing toward the incremental price he had to pay delta? The whole thing has left a terrible taste in our mouth, and we have always been big fans of jet blue. Canceling an evening flight mid day due to weather is laughable. They were predicting evening thunderstorms everyday that week. All other flights came in and it turned out there were no storms that evening. The airlines are getting worse. It's bad enough you are treated like cattle but now you never know if you are going to get off at all. Anon Ellie

Hi. Since the flights in question were within the US, I moved this thread here.

In general, I thought the rule was that if the flight cancellation or delay was because of WEATHER, then the airline owes you nothing. That does seem really odd though, to have a flight cancelled several hours early for weather. Jacksonville might be slightly different, but here in Central Florida, during the summer there are thunderstorms virtually EVERY afternoon.

Even if it were a maintenance issue, an airline can't create a seat if none are available and their only obligation would be to put you on the next available flight and to pay for your overnight accommodation and food vouchers. Now IF an airline cooperates with other airlines, and it's a maintenance issue, they do have an obligation to put you on the next available flight, EVEN if it's on another airline. I don't honestly know if Jet Blue cooperates with other airlines or not. Basically, it's a marketing agreement whereby the airline will put people on another airline's flights if necessary, at no charge to the consumer. As far as I know, only the legacy carriers, like AA, United, Delta, cooperate with each other, but I don't know about Jet Blue.

I don't know when your husband flew, exactly, but I can tell you that I was booked to fly on Frontier from Indianapolis to Orlando on Wednesday, July 12. Indy was an absolute FREAKING madhouse! There were cancelled flights all over the place from weather, from flights going to Chicago, Atlanta, etc., etc. On the 11th, there were HUGE thunderstorms for most of the day in Indy, and I suspect up through Chicago, etc.

My Frontier flight was delayed by two hours, a maintenance delay, not weather, and then cancelled. They announced the flight was cancelled and then told people to stand in line to make other arrangements. Well, I didn't stand in line. I looked at the outgoing flights and saw there were a couple of Southwest flights going to Tampa and Orlando, and had Eric get on the phone to book a SW flight, as I HAD to be back here for court on the 13th. I was certain that Frontier did not cooperate with other airlines, so I didn't bother calling Frontier. I was actually able to get a flight on SW and saved a couple of bucks off my Frontier ticket (which had been booked last minute, so relatively expensive). Frontier did refund my return flight ticket and they did send me a $200 voucher, which I will probably use.

The moral of the story--DON'T go stand in line at the counter unless you have exhausted finding a different solution online or on the phone first!

For your situation, the only way your husband would be protected is if your airline cooperates, which I'm guessing Jet Blue does not. One time, our outbound flight to SXM from Tampa was cancelled. This was on Delta. We knew what other flights would be available from Tampa that would get us to SXM that same day and we suggested a routing on some other airlines. I think we ended up on US Air (this was a few years ago, obviously!) and ended up getting to SXM an hour earlier than our original flight! So, if your airline cooperates, and it's a MAINTENANCE issue, you are protected. If they claim it's weather, you may be just stuck..

Thanks Carol. They claimed it was weather, but never said where. This did happen last Wednesday the 12th. Very frustrating. We never had a storm in the New York area and my husband had no trouble getting out of Jacksonville on Delta. Makes you wonder if it was just that the flight was not full. Same thing happened in early January to both of us. They don't make it easy either. Your lucky if you can get through to them on the phone.

As I said, Indy was a disaster on the 12th. The only people who were happy were the people running the bars! Standing room only at the bars! There had to have been at least 100 people standing in line at the AA ticket counter and in security, everyone was whining about their cancelled/delayed/whatever flights. I could hear the announcements for the Southwest gates from where I was sitting and they were saying from about 5 PM on, that if anyone had a connection after their flight from Indy to Baltimore, Atlanta, wherever, that they were going to miss their connection. I was pretty lucky to get home that night, and actually saved a couple of bucks. (Unless you count the expensive drinks at the bar! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

lol. That's probably the best way to handle the situation. There isn't much you can do about it anyway! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

I was lucky that Eric was picking me up at the airport, so, so long as the credit card could take it, and I was still upright, it didn't matter! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />