Diverted JetBlue Passengers Plead to Deplane in Newark After Plane Has Trouble Landing at JFK

Chaos erupted on a JetBlue flight when passengers diverted due to weather were told they would be flying back to their original destination instead of being allowed to deplane.

“We gotta get off this plane. It’s dangerous!” one passenger in the aisle said. “We tried to land four times already. It’s dangerous. We’re scared to fly. We want to get off.”

The passengers were headed to JFK International Airport from Cancun in stormy weather when the pilots had to abort the landing four times. The flight tracker shows the wild path it took over New York City before giving up and diverting to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. 

Many of the passengers were frightened and nauseous when they landed at Newark and wanted to get off the plane, but they were told they would have to wait until the weather cleared, then fly back to JFK.

The two airports are 33 miles apart. 

“I don't care about JFK. It's our lives. It's our lives. It’s our lives, I'm sorry,” the passenger in the aisle said. “People are sick back there. People are fainting. People are throwing up.”

Sabrina Ettinger, 26, shot video of the scary ordeal.

“It was really bumpy and it felt like we were flying like this,” Ettinger said, motioning side to side with her hand. “And then going down really fast and then going back up. And it was definitely a lot of motion sickness.”

But the crew insisted everyone had to stay on board and fly back to JFK.

“Everybody wants to get off!” the passenger in the aisle said.

The plane took off and eventually landed safely at JFK more than seven hours late.

“The lack of compassion that we got was something that I don’t think anyone on the flight will ever be able to get over,” Ettinger said.

JetBlue apologized and each passenger received a $50 credit.

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