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NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Four JetBlue (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile , Research) employees and a New York City corrections officer were arrested on Tuesday on charges of splurging with credit cards forgotten by passengers rushing to catch their flights, prosecutors said. The arrests come as the low-cost airline struggles to rebuild customer confidence after a February storm triggered the cancellation of some 1,200 JetBlue flights and left passengers stranded or fuming on grounded planes for hours. An probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau found that the five, who included three customer service agents and a flight attendant, went...

JetBlue Airways recently made headlines after the worst operations breakdown in its seven-year history led to more than 1,000 canceled flights. There’s been just as much good news about the way chief executive David Neeleman responded to the crisis - by bending over backward to admit failure, accept responsibility, apologize and compensate customers for their inconvenience. Everyone from public relations experts to aviation analysts is praising Neeleman for doing things that are largely unheard of in corporate America. While many chief executives would have ducked for cover or dispatched a spokesman, Neeleman appeared on David Letterman’s show and said, “I’m...

JetBlue canceled 68 flights because of snow Monday, nearly a week after the airline pledged to compensate customers for more than a thousand canceled flights from the Valentine's Day storm two week earlier. The canceled flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport affected flights to or from Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; Washington, D.C., Portland, Maine; and Chicago. The company also canceled flights into and out of Chicago and the Washington, D.C., area over the weekend. The cancellations were an attempt to make sure crews and planes were situated so the company could quickly resume operations after the snow, JetBlue...

What do JetBlue and Britney Spears have in common? Both have experienced a serious reputation collapse in the past several days. In the case of JetBlue, it had a lot to lose. Troll any cocktail party in Palm Beach these days and you'll meet weekenders who swear by JetBlue. These are the folks who head out to Kennedy Airport on a Friday afternoon, climb aboard the 3:05 flight, confidant that they'll arrive in time for dinner and a well-earned weekend in the sun. They probably don't even care that Delta is offering a cheaper nonstop; they like JetBlue. More importantly,...

r bill of rights Tuesday that promises vouchers to fliers who experience delays in a move it hopes will win back passengers after an operational meltdown damaged its brand and stock price. JetBlue customers will be compensated based on the length of the delays. The vouchers range from $25 to the full amount of the ticket. The delays include airplanes unable to taxi to the gate within 30 minutes and flight departures held up for a minimum of three hours, according to a program copy provided to The Associated Press. If JetBlue cancels a flight within 12 hours of its...

NEW YORK — Low cost fares, quirky blue potato chips and even a mea culpa from JetBlue Airways' founder may not be enough to ease passenger anxiety as the airline braced for another day of disrupted flights Monday. The company said it would be canceling almost a quarter of its flights but hopes to be fully operational on Tuesday, almost a week after a Valentine's Day snowstorm created a meltdown for the airline. David G. Neeleman, the company's founder and chief executive, told The New York Times in Monday's edition that he was "humiliated and mortified" by the breakdown in...

Thanks to the stupidity of JetBlue, we now have Congress coming to the rescue with more regulations. JetBlue debacle spurs passenger rights bill in congressBoxer to introduce legislation in Senate to boost fliers' rights

(CBS) QUEENS Jet Blue Airlines apologized late Wednesday to dozens of passengers who were kept sitting on planes at New York's JFK Airport for 10 hours or more without ever taking off.

<p>Last year, thousands of JetBlue Airways passengers became unwitting participants in a highly unusual test of pilot fatigue.</p> <p>Without seeking approval from Federal Aviation Administration headquarters, consultants for JetBlue outfitted a small number of pilots with devices to measure alertness. Operating on a green light from lower-level FAA officials, management assigned the crews to work longer shifts in the cockpit -- as many as 10 to 11 hours a day -- than the eight hours the government allows. Their hope: Showing that pilots could safely fly far longer without exhibiting ill effects from fatigue.</p>

EW YORK -- A Pakistani-born pilot is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for discrimination, claiming the airline rescinded a job offer and told him it was because of his background. Faisal Baig, a U.S. citizen who was raised in Yonkers, claims in the suit that an airline manager told him in March that he was a "security risk." According to the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Baig asked, "Are you saying that you are not hiring me because of my name or my religion? ... Are you saying you are not hiring me because of where I'm from?" The manager...

Pakistani-Born Pilot Sues JetBlue, Claiming Racial Discrimination NEW YORK (AP) -- A Pakistani-born pilot is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for discrimination, claiming the airline rescinded a job offer and told him it was because of his background. Faisal Baig, a U.S. citizen who was raised in Yonkers, claims in the suit that an airline manager told him in March that he was a "security risk." According to the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Baig asked, "Are you saying that you are not hiring me because of my name or my religion? ...

NEW YORK — A flight to Puerto Rico was diverted to John F. Kennedy Airport shortly after takeoff early Sunday because a fight broke out on board, officials said. Three women were questioned and one was briefly detained, FBI spokeswoman Christine Monaco said. The FBI was still investigating and would decide later whether charges would be filed, Monaco said. It appeared that one woman had started a fistfight with the other two, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area's airports. The fight took place on JetBlue Flight...

As the U.S. airline industry unraveled over the past five years, JetBlue Airways Corp. proved that a carrier with the right mix of low overhead, cheap fares and distinguished service could succeed during a punishing downturn. The outlook for most big airlines is still pretty grim, with Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. in bankruptcy, and the rest unlikely to show a profit in 2006. What has changed, though, is that investors now lump JetBlue among the lackluster. The tarnish on JetBlue's reputation comes just as a few money-losing carriers, such as AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Continental...

JetBlue is hitting some turbulence By James Bernstein Once a darling of the airline industry, JetBlue Airways Corp. is now in a spot many industry experts once thought hardly possible: the red. For the first time since it began flying in 2000, the airline - known for its low fares and such extras as leather seats and individual TV sets - lost money, $42 million in the last quarter of 2005, an amount larger than expected. In announcing fourth-quarter results last month, JetBlue said that, based on current and expected fuel prices, the airline does not expect to make a...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The pilot who successfully landed an airliner with a broken landing gear at Los Angeles International Airport in September was presented one of North Carolina's highest honors Wednesday by Gov. Mike Easley. Scott Burke, 46, brought the JetBlue airliner down amid a shower of sparks in an emergency landing broadcast live on national television. No one was hurt. Burke, who has lived in Raleigh for about 15 years, received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. "Captain Burke exhibited true courage and skill under tremendous pressure," Easley said. "The 140 passengers on Flight 292 survived because...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp. said on Tuesday it will use new 100-seat jets to begin up to 10 daily flights between New York and Boston, taking on competitors in a long-established air shuttle service on the same route. New York-based JetBlue also said it would use the Embraer 190 planes to start flying from New York's JFK International Airport to Austin, Texas; Nassau, Bahamas; Richmond, Virginia; and West Palm Beach, Florida. The Boston-New York route will make JetBlue a direct competitor of the traditional air shuttle service flown by bankrupt Delta Air Lines Inc. and by US...

"the seventh time that the front wheels on an Airbus A-320 have gotten locked in the wrong position.. ..JetBlue's long-term maintenance of its aircraft. When the planes are inspected for damage and then reassembled, the work takes place either in Canada or El Salvador... JetBlue doesn't fly outside the United States.. Salvadoran mechanics make $300 to $1,000 a month..Roughly one-third of the Salvadoran mechanics have passed the exam that qualifies them for the Federal Aviation Administration's license, while in the United States, such licenses are required for all mechanics employed directly by the airlines."

For years, airlines controlled what passengers saw on their cabin screens, editing out scenes of graphic violence or sex, and banning movies altogether if they showed airline crashes. But now, with three U.S. airlines offering live television feeds and on-board Internet access expected to be available within a year, passengers can see anything they want -- even news coverage of an event in which they might be taking part. After the drama aboard JetBlue Flight 292 unfolded live on television Wednesday, executives of Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which like JetBlue shows DirectTV on its flights, began to rethink their policy of...

The problems with JetBlue Flight 292 marked at least the seventh time that the front landing gear of an Airbus jet has locked at a 90-degree angle, forcing pilots to land commercial airliners under emergency conditions, according to federal records. No one has been injured in the incidents, which span about a decade. There are more than 2,500 planes from the Airbus 320 family, which includes the Airbus 318, 319 and 321 models, in operation worldwide. Aviation safety officials Thursday said the planes have a good safety record. In the most recent case, JetBlue's flight from Burbank to New York's...

On almost any New York-bound plane out of the Los Angeles area, chances are a celebrity will be on board. ADVERTISEMENT click here The ill-fated JetBlue Flight 292 was no exception. Hustle & Flow stars Taryn Manning and DJ Qualls were among the 145 passengers and crew on the plane en route from Burbank's Bob Hope Airport to New York's JFK Wednesday that was forced to make an emergency landing due to defective landing gear. "Yesterday was a life changing day," Manning said in a statement released by her publicist Thursday. "The pilot is a true hero. I'm thankful to...