I misread your post, I thought you said they were trying to leave NYC....
The problem is that JetBlue has three flights a day from Salt Lake City. One to the NYC area (JFK) and two to Long Beach, California.
Ahhhhh......that makes a little more sense, now. And it's not like you can just drive an hour and hit a major metropolis.
So, I'm a little more sympathetic to this family. But I still think that they're pretty foolish.