A late December snow storm in the northeastern U.S. caused havoc at airports from Washington north through Boston. The situation at northeastern U.S. airports caused delays and cancellations across the U.S., and seriously affected international flights.
The snow storm was a tough one, to be sure. At one time or another, seven major northeastern airports were closed due to the snow, some for more than a day. Even Amtrak had to shut down its Northeast Corridor train traffic for quite some time. In many locations more than two feet of snow fell.
No where, it seems, was affected more than New York City’s airports; LaGuardia, Newark and JFK International. At John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport (JFK), commonsense seems to have been thrown out the window more than anywhere else.
The airlines had no choice but to cancel thousands of flights. Despite the fact that in the aggregate the airlines canceled more than 8,200 flights, affecting as many as 1.2 million travelers, I don’t think anyone can take general issue with the way they handled the storm, except possibly that passengers could have been informed of the changing situation they faced, more quickly and more fully.
There were two incidents, however, both at JFK International Airport, which challenge the imagination, defy commonsense, and which, could have and should have been avoided.
At JetBlue’s Terminal 5 at JFK airport, three JetBlue security guards confronted New York Daily News photographer Steven Sunshine, who was covering the flight delays at JFK Airport. At the time, Mr. Sunshine was photographing the giant board showing JetBlue’s flight delays and cancellations, due to the huge storm.
The guards ordered Mr. Sunshine to delete his photos, and warned him he could be in trouble for taking photos on “private property” even though he showed them his press identification and informed them he was working on a news story. They then escorted him out of the airport.
JetBlue spokesperson Jen Cardillo said Mr. Sunshine should have asked for clearance at least 72 hours in advance. Of course, no one knew in advance the storm would be so devastating. Ms. Cardillo said security officials only intervened to avoid “potential disruptions” to travelers. “We weren’t prepared to have our terminal photographed.”
When Mr. Sunshine tried to place a formal complaint with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who own and run JFK International Airport, Port Authority officers refused to take a report and apparently suggested they would confiscate Mr. Sunshine’s NYPD-issued press card if he pushed things too far.
In my opinion, it’s not coincidence that our nation’s founders, included “freedom of the press” in the “first” amendment to the Constitution.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Having a free press is essential to maintaining a free society. To even generally require three day’s notice to enter a facility open to the general flying public, a facility located on government owned and operated property is on its face outrageous.
Do JetBlue’s actions make sense to you? By taking his photographs, was Mr. Sunshine disruptive? The notice requirement is bogus, as far as I’m concerned, and guards shouldn’t be asking a press photographer to delete photographs taken of a news event.
Talk about flying in the face of commonsense!
Among the 28 flights, carrying thousands of passengers, stranded on the tarmac at JFK during the storm were Cathay Pacific Flight 840, from Hong Kong, for nearly 11 hours, China Airlines, Flight 12, from Taipei, for more than nine hours and Turkish Airlines, Flight 1, for more than 6 hours.
With so many airplanes on the ground, unable to leave the airport, I fully understand why many planes couldn’t get to a gate upon landing, but to strand 3 flights for so long, seems to me to be unconscionable.
Steve Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said while some domestic flights experienced delays of more than two hours, the passengers were eventually unloaded from the planes by bus and taken to the terminal. Mr. Coleman said that was not possible for international flights, because the passengers would needed to be held in a secure area before going through Immigration and Customs, and there was no suitable area at JFK for that.
Talk about flying in the face of commonsense.
When a flight reaches a gate at JFK, normally passengers leaving the plane are immediately directed to Immigration and Customs. They don’t go to a holding area first. I’ve been on international arrivals at JFK a number of times. Like other international airports such as Philadelphia and Miami, U.S. Immigration and Customs handles passengers from a number of flights simultaneously.
It might take a few extra guards to ensure passengers go to Immigration directly from the plane, but passengers could have been bused to the terminal and immediately directed to Immigration and Customs. A few years ago I landed at Gatwick and was bused to immigration since they had no available gates. The same was true at Frankfurt this past summer.
Does it makes sense that passengers should have had to stay in their planes for 6, 9, and 11 hours because they can only be unloaded directly at a gate? Shouldn’t Port Authority officials have been prepared to get them to Immigrations and Customs with only a short delay?
Snow is not a rare occurrence in New York. The Port Authority should have detailed plans to handle it. JetBlue has to deal with the press and press photographers almost daily. Properly handling these situations should have been easy.
It’s only commonsense!
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
