Third World airport and infrastructure. With LaGuardia Airport under construction and Kennedy dysfunctional, any tourist with half a head on their shoulders would be in a state of shock.
To provide an example of how poorly run LaGuardia Airport is, when I arrive at the main terminal the employees directing travelers to ground transportation can barely speak English and most don't look like they finished HS.
Over taxed citizen
2
The Port Authority is a shameful example of public corruption and political incompetence. Sadly no one will ever be held accountable.
2
Look at the bright side: the place is such a mess it would probably defy anyone's ability to organize a terror attack there. Meanwhile, at another Port Authority project, the endless renovation of the bus terminal at the George Washington Bridge features doors that travelers have to pull open manually instead of ones that open automatically. Is every single person at the Port Authority brain dead? And good luck getting funds to fix this essential infrastructure; POTUS wants to spend $18 billion on a wall to nowhere.
1
Welcome to the Democratic paradise of NYC. The federal govt doesn't have anything to do with you guys. NY/NJ own their airport and subway management disasters.
1
It's time to disband the corrupt entities that currently run the New York metropolitan area, starting with the Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Both are run like crime syndicates and the public is on the hook for all of the cost, all of the time, on both sides of the ledger. Time to break them up and sell them off in pieces so the taxpayers can recoup some value, since it's clear the will is no longer there for taxpayers to fund and voters and government to properly oversee such infrastructure. If private companies manage to run the infrastructure even worse, maybe we will rediscover the will to build truly great well maintained public works.
2
I have not flown out of JFK since TWA folded its wings . If flying into the Metropolitan area, Newark, which itself is no picnic, is nevertheless far preferable, especially since the connection to NJ Transit rail was established years ago.
I can see why airlines using aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are popular. If you are flying an A380, you have to be showing up with 400 other people, all at once. That means flights to major hub airports only. On the other hand, the 787 and, to a lesser extent, the Airbus 330-200 allow flights on a more human scale. My best flight back from Europe last year was Icelandic, Paris Orly to Newark, with a change of planes in Iceland. The aircraft were 757 narrow bodies, which meant that boarding and deplaning were like the old days. And Orly was civilized.
3
I understand our President a little better in the wake of the latest JFK and New York City dysfunction. I can only imagine what one must do in order to get anything done there. The mix of airport workers, construction employees, and the like sounds like an orchestra whose players never learned their instruments.
1
It's pretty obvious that airports all around the world look better and work better than so many of ours because those countries don't spend what we do on weapons and other military priorities. The amount we spend on "defense" is obscene, both in real dollars and as a percentage of our overall federal budget. As long as that's what we, through our elected officials, want to do, our airports and other infrastructure will continue to deteriorate.
8
"When can I catch a flight home?" These entitled travelers stranded at JFK should ponder the immortal words of the airport's namesake: "Ask not what your airline can do for you, ask what you can do for your airline."
This, if my experience is anything to go by, seems to be the general philosophy of airline / airport customer service.
1
It is always a shock to arrive back home through JFK. From the luggage carts that cost you money (when most other major hubs provide them for free), to the absolute chaos in the customs area, where the line handlers bark orders at you, to the squalid luggage claim area, to the dreary international arrivals area... Welcome to an impoverished nation, I mean, New York! It's a horrible way to greet visitors, never mind residents. Comparing it to airports like Charles de Gaulle, or Schijphol, or even Cape Town International is plain embarrassing.
16
Agree. I'm usually already in a bad mood when coming back from vacation, and the experience at JFK always makes me wish I hadn't come back. It's awful.
3
I was contacted today (Monday) by a student trying to get back for classes, which started Monday at the Ohio State University. He is a graduate student who went home to Turkey for the Christmas break. He is stuck at JFK and the best the airlines can do is get him here on THURSDAY afternoon!!! If they don't have the seats on the planes, why don't they rent a van and drive him and the (undoubtedly) many others who need to get to the Midwest. They could get them out here in a day. This is shameful.
4
If he could get to Penn Station, the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited can get him to Cleveland, albeit in the middle of the night.
3
That is disgraceful, but rather than live in that toilet known as JFK airport for three days, he should take the A Train (a subway) from JFK to the Port Authority bus terminal at 42nd Street in Manhattan. There he can buy a bus ticket to Columbus.
4
I hope you are reading these comments, Senator Schumer. Please, please push through with your plans on investigating Port Authority!
3
Got home by the skin of our teeth after a four day snow cyclone induced elay delirium. Only to have one of our bags rerouted to Brussels in a luggage tag mix up at JFK by some rude idiot. Sat on plane at JFK for four hours while they kept sending lame excuse after lame excuse to our pilot. We finally made it out just as terminal 4 was shut down due to freezing water in Arctic conditions after the water main break. Only to arrive home without the suitcase filled with my kids' presents.
3
I've been saying this (and writing it) for forty years and more: anyone who depends on JFK who doesn't live in the dungeons of Queens, instead of making an effort and getting out to or flying into Newark's Liberty Airport, deserve whatever they get.
Now, I get that some airlines only fly out of JFK, but if you're traveling to Dubai on an Emirates flight, I can only say that you deserve what you get, as well.
2
That is what happens when you fly into a third world city.
Now try LaGuardia and you are in for a real shocker.
P.S. No offense to the great third world cities of the world intended.
15
Too many people translates into too many problems. It will never be solved with airports nor subways. It will simply transition into India, Pakistan, Mexico and London. Simply unstable.
1
"...Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority, said that he was ordering an investigation of the water main break and the continuing flight problems. He emphasized that the terminal with the flooding was operated by a private company, not the Port Authority."
Allow me to explain: If government decides to employ private investment for public infrastructure (partly to fund new a tax cuts to billionaires) then that same government does NOT get to point a finger away from itself when things (unsurprisingly) go awry.
30
"He emphasized that the terminal with the flooding was operated by a private company, not the Port Authority."
Has it occurred to anyone that the fact that each terminal at JFK is run by a different private company is part of the problem? Frankfurt is run by a private company too - one of them. Of course passengers won't be able to get a straight answer, because the right hand isn't talking to the left!
21
While I fully sympathize with the many legitimate tales of woe documented here, as well as the various comments holding one political or corporate entity or another responsible, there is another reasonable solution to most weather related airline snafus: fully fund an expanded, long distance Amtrak. The price would be cheap compared to the total costs for airlines, passengers, and the employers of business travelers for these backlogs.
The real question is how do we pay for such in an anti-tax era, when Americans are not wanting to pay for services they actually desire? As well, how do we pay for such in an era, when Americans do not seem to want to make corporations pay for publicly financed infrastructure that benefits those corporations? I don't have an easy, perhaps any ongoing, answer to those critical questions. With one exception: California's financial black hole of a phony "high speed rail" system could easily pay for a decade's worth of backlogged improvements and the expansion of Amtrak nationally, including both capital outlays and maintenance.
An added benefit of expanding long-distance Amtrak is that we will be aiding what is possibly the last American institution where people from different backgrounds and who hold different beliefs actually sit down and talk with each other.
11
You've never traveled beyond the Boston-Dc belt on train -- or you would understand the huge problems faced by passenger trains. Freights have the right of way.. BTW most of the train stations are amateur hour in terms of getting passengers off and on... Hauling suitcase up train steps-- hello Chicago and DC is NO FUN.. and the conductors often women really can only do so much.
The day of the train was over already in the 1960s-- when many a BeauxArts station was closed or torn town.
Being sentimental does not solve problems. (OFten trains are running empty.. one can't have an entire transportation system for special occasions.)
Patience is a virtue and necessary.
Try taking the bus if you want to meet people from other nabes than yours.. Man going somewhere to pick up nephew from prison.. Trains are very expensive.
3
BUT we are taxed for these services. Airports charge the airlines, which in turn charge the passengers for all of this. PANYNJ isn't losing money every year -- they're raking it in.
2
The politicians and publicists who constantly preach with hubris and arrogance that New York is the greatest city in the world ought to re-think that myth. Because that is exactly what it is...a myth. A great city has the infrastructure to support it: great airports, consistently working subways, streets that are not constantly dug up due to water main breaks and faulty electrical wiring, roads that are not riddled with potholes and worse. I've traveled to African countries where the airports are so much better than JFK/LGA. We have hit rock bottom. At the least, it is due to mismanagement; at the worst, it is due to graft and corruption. Either scenario means that New York cannot claim the mantel of "greatest city in the world." Far from it. In fact, it is an embarrassment. Developers can build all the gleaming skyscrapers for millionaires they want but at the end of the day, it is all for naught because the city will implode from its own greed.
37
I was stuck for over 2 hours on the tarmac at JFK on a return flight from Europe. Yes, there was snow and icy conditions, but this had more to do with lack of logistical planning. Amateur hour for JFK.
8
On a practical basis the airlines themselves "own" the airports. So are you surprised when you are treated like garbage from the second you step into the airport? I mean they have been treating you like that on their airplanes for years.
They are very good at it regardless of the venue.
5
Prior to retiring I travelled the world for business racking up over 16 million miles in the air. All I can say is thank god I'm retired. When I travel now it is by car.
7
And this is exactly why there's limited public transit in the US out of the Northeast.. It's an attitude problem.. HOWeVEr.... guess what the ulitmage in public transit on the highway system is on its way.. It's called the self-driving, self-learning car... and it will be fantastic for everyone.
I travel all over-- train, but, plane, car... It's not bad at all.. Glass= half full? half-empty.
We are increasingly become third world nation. The infrastructure is crumbling, and absolutely nothing is being done about it. I can't imagine why anyone from abroad would want to travel here. Gun violence is rampant, bridges, tunnels and subways are crumbling and there are few train routes. When they want to go home, the terrible condtions of our airports keep them from leaving. It,s a disgrace.
19
While I fully sympathize with the many legitimate tales of woe documented here, as well as the various comments holding one political or corporate entity or another responsible, there is another substantial, reasonable solution to most weather related airline snafus: fully fund an expanded, long distance Amtrak. The price would be cheap compared to the total costs for airlines, passengers, and the employers of business travelers for these backlogs.
How do we pay for such in an anti-tax era, when Americans are not wanting to pay for services they actually desire? How do we pay for such in an era, when Americans do not seem to want to make corporations pay for publicly financed infrastructure that benefits them? I don't have an easy, perhaps any, answer to those critical questions. With one exception: California's financial black hole of a phony "high speed rail" system could easily pay for a decade's worth of backlogged improvements and expansion of Amtrak nationally, including both capital outlays and maintenance.
2
Long distance train service is not a solution. We are not Europe. By the way Europe has and the Europeans use airports. Difference is they are better maintained. Graft and corruption in NY is the issue here. Funds are available and have been. Just spent and stolen on short term things. Fix is easy. Throw out everyone namers in this article They finger point now but they are the problem
1
More examples of decrepid infrastructure. If it were properly maintained, there would be no water leak and everything would have run smoothly. Again, this is another example of your GOP making America great again. We prioritize tax cuts for the rich and let everyone else fend for themselves.
13
Abandon hope. You are in a Port Authority facility in New York City. Incompetence and excuses are what the Port Authority does best. It's always the other guy's job, the other guy's fault.
10
Corruption is the root cause of JFK's problems, just as it is with the MTA: croynism leads to incompetence, since friends or friends of friends are preferred over more competent competitors. Eventually, you have an organization which lacks organizational structure, that has no idea how to run things. Sound familiar?
8
Has anyone flown out of Dubai recently? US airports are a disgrace!
8
JFK's woes have less to do with infrastructure and much more about the corrupt Port Authority. Why are each of the terminals in JFK basically individually run fiefdoms with their own management and rules. Where is Governor Cuomo on reforming the Port Authority?
22
The Port Authority has been favoring New Jersey for decades. It is a bloated beast with patronage hires from Trenton and Albany who treat New York City like a giant trough.
New York should take back control of our airports, the excess revenue from the bridges and tunnels should be split equally between both States. As for the actual Port, each State should pay for their own terminals and split the cost of dredging channels.
12
I arrived at Terminal 4 from Amsterdam yesterday. Plane landed at 3:30 p.m.; I arrived home in Astoria (same borough as the one in which the airport is located) at 8:15 p.m. There is only one bathroom in the luggage pickup area and of course, it was closed. When I asked a Port Authority worker where I could find another bathroom, she told me there was one outside of the secure area. Which, naturally, would prevent me from coming back to pick up my luggage. Welcome to the United States of "low" taxes for no infrastructure investment and bad management.
43
Classic.
1
One of the busiest airports in the world, and it's in Trump's backyard, so he must be to blame for this.
4
Please, Port Authority. Hire experts from a civil aviation/airport authority from a foreign country that has a track record of running a world-class airport -- I'm thinking of you, Singapore, with your impeccable Changi Airport -- to run the embarrassment that is JFK International.
11
Singapore. Isn't that where they cane people? Maybe that's what we need for the people, including the private contractors (the bosses, not the minimum wage baggage handlers) who run this operation.
Welcome. We are officially a third world country. Get used to it.
Why is anyone surprised by our major infrastructural dysfunction?
This is truly who we are and what we're all about.
Anyone ever read about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire?
33
If only we as Americans were passionated about fixing our infrastructure as we are about the war machine we would have gleaming airports and subways and railways. We would have clean looking streets but alas we have been fooled.
31
This quote from the article pretty much sums it all up: Though the Port Authority serves as the landlord and overall operator of the airport, maintaining the runways and roadways, the airlines and other private companies operate the six terminals and are responsible for getting passengers and their baggage on and off planes, and the planes to and from the gates.
I am so sick of the "PRIVATE CONTRACTOR" model. This is and has been the demise of good jobs because the middleman always takes a cut of the profits instead investing in the business. Come on New York- this airport could be gold mine. Take responsibility- take it over- offer good jobs with fair wages and see what a force of happy NY employees can do to welcome the world!
22
Well said.
Because government in NY does such a great job with what?
2
With collecting garbage for one thing. With fire and police. With our public school system. But the Port Authority is a quasi-governmental agency with tons of dough from sky-high bridge tolls and just as much incompetence.
Unbelievable.
I've watched the utter mess at JFK over the weekend and now there is this? JFK seems to be right down there in the swamp with Atlanta Airport and some of the air lines that were frequently dark last year due to totally avoidable, frequent computer crashes or power outages.
This sort of stuff really begs the question of: Who is running this ship and why are they paid so much?
18
There are 7 billion people in the world. You cannot continue to increase the number of travelers going through a small, mis-managed, fixed number of square feet.
Go to Hong Kong or go to Shanghai. Your luggage will be waiting for you at baggage claim. You won't be waiting an hour for a suitcase.
Get a clue New York. The world got bigger while you were sleeping. Your airport is too small and too badly managed.
39
Notice all the finger pointing among the Port Authority, the airlines and the terminal operators. Responsibility for all this bungling starts with the Port Authority and ends with the governors of New York and New Jersey who have made the PA a center of political patronage and a source of funds for non-transportation projects. Governor Cuomo just announced a plan for aid to Puerto Rico in his state of the state address, but had nothing to say about fixing the airports. He's clearly more interested in running for President than he is about his responsibility to New Yorkers.
18
My daugher's Delta flight Friday night was delayed five hours, causing her to miss her connection. She described the airport as chaotic. Delta's flight status website totally blew it, not giving the delay even after the plane had departed five hours late.
4
I was supposed to fly out of JFK Thursday night (4 Jan). The airline was impossible to reach and their call center line continuously busy for days, was finally rebooked on a 6 Jan flight that got cancelled (and again great trouble to reach the airline) and now supposedly flying out on 9 Jan, five days after my original scheduled flight. And I feel lucky compared to the people stuck at JFK.
6
And, despite the fact nobody can reach the airlines, the airport, port authority and news outlets all urge travelers to "call your airline" to find out if your flight is on!
5
For an international gateway to arguably the most important city in the world JFK is literally pathetic and it’s administra dyfuntional.
Memo to Port Authority: In winter, expect snow.
The solution is to take the airport out of the hands and political interference of the Authority and put it in the hands of an autonomous not for profit operator such as Toronto’s GTAA. It may not be a perfect solution but it is a heck of a lot more efficient and effective than what we have now.
27
Well the performance of the GTAA four years ago when Toronto was hit with a severe ice storm was no better than the JFK.
I understand from the news that the Head of the JFK authority and members of his team held a press conference, even that did not happen at the GTAA, there was total abdication of responsibility by the management, both senior and middle.
So I am not sure what the right solution is
4
One winter day leaving from LGA for Denver, we ran into a winter storm and ended up in Fargo, from which we flew to Albuquerque... there was a small food problem.. There wasn't any (nor in Fargo). We may have had pancakes or pretzels but nothing else. We finally were allowed to disembark in ABQ with food vouchers, eat something quickly and reboard for Denver which we reached at 19PM.
And there was the famous 3-day strike at Heathrow... People could have been stuck in lots of places worse than NYC. Bathroom issues are big ones and need to be resolved.
Only so much preparation is possible children..and the winds were fierce. People love to complain and it's definitely time to bring bck the Know-nothigns.. but are people are people willing to admit that most of us don't know a lot. I liked the people in Racine who did not know who Paul Ryan is -- and I bet they vote.
That memo to the PA should also advise them that to learn how to protect water pipes in freezing weather they could consult any semi-competent suburban homeowner.
2
"If I can Make. It. Here,
I can't go Any. Where.
It's up to you
New York, New York."
13
Oooh, Schumer will conduct a "thorough review," I am sure the guys poorly mismanaging the Port Authority are scared.
15
One of the biggest issues is that airlines don’t like to cancel flights. They would rather delay them, as it makes their stats look better, and it keeps passengers sitting around waiting for the green light from air traffic control, often for days on end.
Add to that the fact that we don’t have EU-type compensation for delays – especially given that the airlines can easily blame the weather for the disruption – and there is no incentive for the airlines to send passengers home. Combined with a large number of foreign airlines who choose to fly from their originating airport despite the predictions of weather-related doom, and it’s no wonder there’s enormous congestion.
This isn’t just about infrastructure. T4 at JFK is run by the Dutch, who are pretty good about such things. No, this is about airline greed and a total lack of regulation that might provide passengers with protection.
30
This question will become more common in the airports of coastal cities around the world.
2
Did Atlanta move to the coast?
3
The JFK international entry was so shockingly rundown and chaotic last year that I was embarrassed to be an American.
35
You just noticed this? Last year? It's been decades.
7
I had never been to JFK before, so no, I’m not stupid.
1
Interesting to read that the maintenance of runways and roadways is Port Authority responsibility, but the actual operation of the six terminals is by private companies. This sounds like an indictment of putting essential public services into the hands of corporations.
23
The airspace around JFK is saturated. It's literally impossible to land one more flight a day at that airport.
Expanding high speed rail in and out of NYC would lower the demand for regional flights. The time slots freed up by no longer needed regional flights would give JFK a little more breathing room when weather events like this occur.
21
'The airspace around JFK is saturated. It's literally impossible to land one more flight a day at that airport.'
That assertion is incorrect. Peak hours - mid-afternoon to mid-evening - are saturated. If air carriers had to buy slot times at auction we would see more efficient use of the public assets, specifically airports and air space.
7
Sure and I am still waiting for my personal jet-pak.
Trains are NOT happening either. The tracks were built 150 years ago.
9
Golly, I hope the first class lounges weren't affected. It would be heartbreaking to imagine all those wealthy travelers inconvenienced in some way.
America is officially a third world country.
24
The 1% no longer fly commercial. They fly on private jets they either own or lease. Maybe if the wealthiest still flew on commercial flights, flying would be a better experience for everyone.
24
Reading these kinds of stories, I always feel for the passengers. The longest delay I had was at LAX flying to JFK--six hours. Apparently, construction limited the number of take-offs and landings at JFK. So frustrated and angry I wanted to get in my car and drive three hours home, only I didn't have a car! Can only imagine what these poor people have gone through.
4
I was stuck in JFK for 12 hours on Saturday. The whole experience was a Shakespeare-worthy comedy of errors -- first some machine responsible for removing our baggage from the airplane malfunctioned due to freezing temperatures, leaving us waiting for two hours to pick up luggage. Then my JetBlue flight was delayed a total of eleven times (I know this because I got an email every time) and changed gates at least five. When we finally boarded the plane eight hours after our scheduled time, we sat at the gate and then on the tarmac for at least an hour and a half. When I arrived at my destination, my baggage was nowhere to be found. JetBlue promised to send it on the next flight, which ended up being canceled. The actual "next flight" experienced a 12 hour delay. What's especially shocking is that my experience clearly qualifies as a "mild" inconvenience compared to what others went through.
The thing that adds insult to injury is knowing how much money each and every one of these thousands of passengers payed for the privilege of being part of this debacle.
72
Rent a car if available and drive home to VT next time.
3
Yes, you are indeed lucky. JefBlue cancelled our flight after moving it several times. Then they dropped us like hot potatoes. An agent told us they really cannot help us re-book and we all have to do it online. Fine, indeed. But only if their server worked! I had constant "internal error" messages. Then, they gave us the wrong carousel information to claim our checked luggage.
I ended up taking a bus to DC. I couldn't bear to come back to JFK for a re=booked flight.
I've recommended JetBlue to friends and family. Alas, the seem to work well only during sunny days. As soon as crisis hits, they abandon their customers.
1
The inconvenient truth is that not much we can do at the mercy of mother nature & human failures. May be it is a good time for us to think about the New year resolution if one does not have it yet. May be we can ask president Trump to speed up the infrastructure repair or upgrade so that we won't face the same situation at the same time next year. Of course, our national debt will go up further if not a trillion or more. God bless America.
1
First problem is that all flights are fully booked, to assure the most profit for the airlines. There is no capacitance in the system to make up for the lost seats, in case of weather delays.
There are 14, 000 airports in the US. Why are thee only 140 with commercial flights?
As usual, our politicians simply do not care. They fly in private planes from and to private airports.
Spring will come, and all will be barely acceptable again. Change the politicians!
4
There are far more than 140 airports with commercial flights. Here's a list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_United_States
1
The FAA ranks over 500 commercial (not cargo) service airports in the U.S.
https://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/...
2
Non working subway. Non working airport and LaGuardia being one of the worst. Great stuff happening with all those NY tax dollars.
11
Welcome to NYC! The richest city in the richest third world country!
6
Give us more luxury housing!
4
Deregulation + corporate profit motive (causing insufficient staffing) + no money for insfrastructure (thanks tax cuts for billionaires) = a giant mess.
18
Sad and true.
1
La Guardia of course is an even worse airport, and New York City has a railroad station for interstate train travel, Penn Station, that is beyond hideous. And this is supposed to be the greatest city in the world?
44
I disagree. I will choose LaGuardia every time over JFK if it's an option, even if it's more expensive. LaGuardia is small and close to Manhattan, and in my experience security is usually a breeze. JFK is a nightmare: it takes an hour to get there, always at least an hour in security lines, then you have to walk through miles of endless terminals to find your gate. Sure you can pay an extra on top of the base fare $5 to take the subway to JFK, or you can take the Q70 straight to the E and F trains, or the M60 straight to Manhattan for a regular subway fare, in half the time.
I'm only speaking from experience in the Delta terminals C& D which have been recently renovated - I don't know about the rest of the airport.
Senator Schumer should be concerned with funding the Federal government not airport and airline operations.
New York City is overcrowded. What our airports and subways are are trying to tell you is: "go away, we don't want you, visit LA."
4
There is a partial, reasonable solution to most weather related airline snafus: fully fund an expanded, long distance Amtrak. The price would be cheap compared to the total costs for airlines, passengers, and the employers of business travelers for these backlogs.
How do we pay for such in an anti-tax era, when Americans are not wanting to pay for services they actually desire? How do we pay for such in an era, when Americans do not seem to want to make corporations pay for public financed infrastructure that benefits them? I don't have an easy, perhaps any, answer to those critical questions. With one isolated exception: California's financial black hole of a phony "high speed rail" system could easily pay for a decade's worth of backlogged improvements and expansion of Amtrak nationally, including both capital outlays and maintenance.
28
When these storms occur, the burden seems unfortunately placed on the passengers to take charge and become creative with solutions. After Hurricane Sandy hit and we were in NYC, we saw that we would not get a flight out of any airport in surrounding states for days. We were able to have the airlines switch our flights to an airport in NJ, rented a car before the airport ran out of rental cars, and drove 9 hours to catch a plane. But we were lucky.
12
typo: should say we drove to NC!
Every year at JFK it's as if they have never seen snow before. An inch or two throws the entire place into chaos, much less a more serious storm. Deicing can take hours and planes get so backed up that flight crews sometimes time out before they can take off.
29
Many of the people who work at JFK (also LGA) are low-paid,no-benefits people who work for te 3d party contractors the PA contracts with to "run" the airports. Many of these people rely on public transit - esp nyc public transit - to get to work, and it can be problematic in bad weather. Furthermore, given the way many of these people are treated (I wonder if they got paid whent he airports shut down Thursday), one could hardly argue with them if they just decided it wasn't wortht he effort to get tot he airport in the weather we had Friday, Satuarday & Sunday.
2
This isn't unique to JFK and airlines in general. Look at mass transit, subways, in large cities, old and deteriorating. Amtrak, the same. Roads and bridges. Utility pipes. Electrical grids. Our infrastructure is failing. We are great at building. But maintenance? Not so much.
54
Shame that guy running in 2016, who wanted to rebuild our infrastructure, didn't win.
4
So we see "who," but info on theinfrastructure? what water main? where, underground or a toilet? why: concrete, iron ductile? aging pipe? how?
4
Apt metaphor for USA in 2018.
27
Reading this, I am almost relieved my flight to JFK was canceled, though a two day delay and a rerouting to Newark Liberty means work delayed and meetings missed.
3
Once again a tale of bad service, poor planing and shoddy attention to conditions all links once again with the Port Authority. If there ever was a poster child for government incompetence and corruption, this must be it.
12
Weather delays and disruptions can happen for all sorts of reasons, but what's especially disturbing about these reports are the conflicting stories travelers were told by the airlines, as well as the gross inaccuracies, and in some cases outright lies.
This is all too common: airlines blame the weather, congestion at the destination airport, other airlines, but almost NEVER take responsibility themselves! And often deceives travelers and even simply lie. There needs to be some "truth in explanations" code for airlines (akin to truth in advertising standards) --with steep fines for violators!
61
I agree. At best, the airlines know nothing! At worst, they send out wrong information to confuse the already confused, tired and angry passengers.
3
The airlines prevaricate because they don't have any real solutions to the problems and don't know what to say otherwise. Just like politicians.
3
JFK has become an embarrassing third world airport in need of a complete re-design and renovation. Welcome to the United States. How do you like us so far?
72
We are a third world country now, not just JFK.
29
I was born in a third world country. Traveling through JFK makes me feel I never left home - same deteriorating infrastructure and incompetence. I spent 4 hours in Inchon airport (S. Korea) where they offer free showers for passengers, an ultra modern and clean airport, lounging areas.
25
The only reason we're a third world country is that there's no fourth world.
3
NYC does not work anymore. State and city politicians have wilfullly failed to maintain the subway and JFK.
47
“I hate traveling in the first place, so this is like kind of a nightmare,” she (Brittany Morris) said."
That about sums of my view. Airports are among the least favorite places I ever want to be. "Enjoy the flight" is a hideous joke.
16
Things were not improving on Sunday, even without the water main break. My husband showed up for a Saturday night JetBlue flight that was delayed by 4 hours after he got to the airport, so he stayed til after midnight only to be told that the flight was now cancelled. He waited on a line with hundreds of people to rebook and there were only 3 JetBlue people working. So he called JetBlue to rebook for an 8 am Sunday flight. That plane sat on the tarmac until 10:30am when it returned to the terminal and rescheduled for 1 pm. At 12:30 pm, that flight was cancelled. There was also no wifi in the terminal. I found my husband a flight on a different airline at LaGuardia and he finally flew out, no problems, with no help whatsoever from JetBlue. No more JFK and JetBlue for this family.
46
Same experience. JetBlue dropped us like hot potatoes. No help at all. I ended up taking a very nice bus from NYC to Bethesda, MD. I decided I do not want to see that airport again. No more JetBlue for me as well.
10
i have limited experience with Jet Blue, but my impression was that most of the reservations people handling their phone calls are very sweet housewives working from home in some place like Utah who have absolutely no knowledge of airports or what is going on at them.
1
We were scheduled to arrive 3:30 at JFK on Friday. This was canceled though the storm had been finished for over 12 hours. We were then told they couldn't rebook until Monday and we had to leave from a different airport over an hour and a half from us. This morning we woke to find they had the canceled the flight to JFK AGAIN! The reason: weather issues related to Thursday's snowfall. We had to rebook again for our original flight leaving four days later. But we were issued a warning this time. "There may be cancellations and delays flying into any NYC airport. Because of... weather."
4
Maybe everyone should stay home for several weeks in the winter, if they can! Maybe 'business as usual' isn't anymore, ............
9
You can't do anything about the weather, and you may not be able to predict broken pipes, but the airlines, who are making record profits, would help everything a whole lot if they hired a sufficient number of staff. Flying has become a dreaded nightmare. We consumers can only hope that one of the airlines figures out that it will significantly improve their business if they decide to treat their passengers better.
51
You may not be able to predict broken pipes (in this case broken because they were allowed to freeze and burst) but there is a lot you can do to prevent them, and it doesn't take much knowhow to figure out what that is.
1
But you can be sure that one group is benefiting from all of this: the exorbitantly overpaid Port Authority workers who are taking in overtime at hundreds of dollars per hour. Nothing like a workforce whose rewards are divorced from performance with virtual zero risk of job security unless you're at the very top.
37
Yes, blame the workers for the failure of infrastructure. After all, it's the average PA worker, and not the PA leaders and government, that decide how money is (not) invested into essential infrastructure that is failing and is a joke.
5
Much of the workforce in airports are contractors, including some of those wearing air carriers uniforms. The airports are understaffed as the article states-- made worse by snow etc interfering with workers' ability to get to work. Interesting that the PA notes it has private companies operating terminals but it sounds like these companies were not talking to each other, never mind the PA. Who was looking at the overall picture among the terminalsand who was managing the companies that run the terminals? Then again, if they were letting planes land that they had no gates for, pity the air traffic controllers and credit to them that no disasters occurred.
Also, the airlines overbook in the best of times and run almost full flights almost all the time. They eliminate schedules that are not full so have no margin of error when things go wrong.
I am not excusing poor performance; the PA police are paid so much more than the NYPD. Even in the best of times, it seems security can be questionable at JFK as when there was a rumored shooting or when terminals have had to be evacuated and the NYPD called. But on the other hand, remember it was PA cops who stopped the subway bomber.
This is an example of failure to repair and replace infrastructure. Should we have a major airport prone to frozen pipes, with no restroom facilities until after immigration? Reminds me of how we bleed Amtrak to the point of not having basic safety systems. It is not all the fault of employees!
4
A lot of those workers are paid $10 an hour. I'm not even sure New York State's new minimum wage applies to them. The New Jersey workers, at least around the time of Bridge-gate when I went to a Port Authority board meeting, were making even less. The bosses of the subcontractors they work for undoubtedly rake it in, but not the workers you see. The people that lift heavy luggage from the carousel where the passengers are at Newark Airport - I assumed they were Teamsters or something. No. They are minimum wage people who work for subcontractors.
3rd-world America strikes again.
At a time when we need trillions of nationwide infrastructure investment, America's right-wing decided yet again to invest in a handful of billionaires, rich CEOs and 0.1% shareholders.
Sure this particular incident was ultimately managed by the corrupt Port Authority in Democratic New York and they certainly require radical reform, but federal support of our nation's airports and outdated FAA also requires federal leadership, reform and tax dollars.
The road to the American third world is paved with tax cuts for the rich.
128
Gross incompetencies of Government bodies like the Port Authority cannot be rewarded with more money. They will only waste it again. It’s time to privatize all airports!
3
Been there under the same circumstances and talked the airline into arranging a complementary overnight motel room plus ground transport. Being a former New Yorker I knew that a glimpse of folding green showing through my fingertips might do the trick.
4
We've spent trillions of dollars on NYC's airports, trains, underground, and bus terminals...and not much to show for it.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal recently spent $13 MILLION to renovate 16 bathrooms. Even if you made the commodes out of solid gold, it shouldn't cost that much.
Throwing more dollars at the problem isn't the solution. Let's get good leadership running these facilities FIRST, get the lazy workers out, THEN we can consider improving funding.
I have traveled quite a bit recently and the airport experience at JFK International is not good. The walks are extremely long with no free carts that might make these walks easier, there are no bathrooms between the arrival gate until after immigration. That is unacceptable. Customs agents are essentially yelling at people to go here or there. I can’t imagine landing in the US and not speaking English. And I cannot imagine that all these years later there is any excuse to have people stuck in planes for hours after long flights. How is it that is still a problem? Airports here and abroad have become shopping malls with little concern for the customer. I’m in my 60’s and after our most recent trip I told my husband we won’t be doing this at 80 because the airport experience is too demanding.
111