AER LINGUS's new US regional airline partner, JetBlue, led airlines in cancellations last Friday after a winter storm threatened air travel in and out of metropolitan New York's airports, reports Jon Ihle.
As of Friday afternoon, JetBlue had cancelled 360 "ights from JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports - nearly twice as many as American Airlines - as forecasts called for freezing rain and snow accumulations of up to two feet in the region. US Airways had yet to cancel any east coast departures.
JetBlue called off the "ights rather than risk repeating their wellpublicised $30 million customer service "asco in February, when more than 1000 "ights were cancelled, leaving thousands of its passengers stranded at airports and trapped for hours on idle planes after snowstorms wreaked havoc on "ight schedules across the country.
This time the discount airline preemptively cleared its schedule and noti"ed passengers via text, email and website updates. It is also waiving cancellation fees and penalties.
In February, Aer Lingus concluded an agreement with JetBlue to provide integrated ticketing from Ireland to all US destinations served by the American airline.
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