Passengers stranded overnight at Island Airport

To the Editor:

The D.C. flight was a disaster from beginning to end. It started with a broken light bulb, choice of a poor route, and the fact that the lavs couldn’t be cleared after hours on the tarmac. The restaurant closed at 10 pm, and no food was provided until the next morning.

The New York pilot and D.C. crew had to sleep in unauthorized FAA space, and were thus prohibited from flying the next day. There were no beds available on the Island at any reasonable price, which meant people had no place to go. Some people had homes and/or family as backup, but many didn’t have that option.

JetBlue was miserable in the entire situation. Delays weren’t caused by weather, they were caused by mismanagement. Oh yes, and the next morning there were no JetBlue personnel around to try to remedy the scene. No one to help rebook, make connections, etc. Heads in the sand. Report was that the next available seats on a JetBlue flight to DCA were Tuesday (following the debacle on Saturday). JetBlue issuing a $300 credit? What a joke, because I’ll never fly JetBlue again.

The M.V. emergency services were good, but there was no airport manager around, and no information area. Nothing. And the waiting area for boarding was/is a plastic tent, with plastic sides and three porta-potties. And the floor area was subject to water flowing from the belting rain. The terminal area was dry, but very cold.

I love Martha’s Vineyard, and have been there for the better part of 82 years. But it’s time to realize that these storms are not unusual anymore. Martha’s Vineyard has to have a shelter situation for sleeping, food facilities that are functioning, and people who can oversee a crisis and work on solutions. My family had the means to get a taxi to Oak Bluffs, a ferry to New Bedford, an Uber to Providence, and a car rental to get home. It took all day. So from Saturday at 2 pm to Sunday at 8:30 pm, we were in turmoil, pressure, and discomfort. Not a refugee camp situation, I fully admit, but a bungled, unpleasant situation that should not be part of the transportation scene — for the airlines or the terminals.

Mary Jane McKeePotomac, Md.