Scary Christmas

For those that haven't yet seen, our dear Alex had a very scary experience trying to fly home to Ireland for Christmas after her US tour with Jenny Oaks Baker. Most of the flights got cancelled due to the nasty winter weather.

Here's the news story of what happened to Alex's flight:
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/flight-en-route-dublin-airport-28810768?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button&fbclid=IwAR1N9tZdvf6NntU9iBYF2Z6wSAAt9YMFTVW_BBPnMsyxMqqg6mt86eLfWdg#amp-readmore-target

Alex was on the plane. I'm so glad she's ok, but the treatment she and her passengers received was awful, especially at Christmas time. Here's Alex's post:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046589301801

I WAS ON THIS FLIGHT YESTERDAY.
I’m sharing this on social media in the hope that these multi billion dollar companies might in some way be held accountable for the appalling treatment of their passengers who’s hard earned money is what keeps them in business.
After a terrifying experience of seeing the right engine of our plane EI 106 go up initially in sparks and then flames shortly after take off we were told to prepare ourselves for an emergency landing back to JFK airport.
People were extremely distraught at seeing this happen and none of us knew if we would even land safely.
There was much panic around me and many children and adults visibly shaken.
When we did land safely thanks to the very calm piloting of our Aer Lingus captain we were made to sit 3 hours on the plane because there was no gate for us to dock at.
None of us knew if it was even safe to be on the plane especially since one engine had caught fire and the plane had just prior to take off refueled to make the 6.5 flight back to Dublin.
When we eventually got back into the terminal building we were told Aer Lingus would be sending an empty plane the next day 24 Dec to fly us home in time for Christmas and we would receive a confirmation via email with our new flight details.
Then we were instructed that we had to collect our bags from the arrivals hall because we couldn’t wait at the gate if there was no outbound flight but that a Jet Blue representative would further instruct us on hotel accommodation etc.
The arrivals hall was freezing as the doors to it opened up to the curbside pick up and the temperature outside was -12
We waited there for 2.5 hours for our bags, we were not offered food vouchers or drinks of any kind there were children and babies crying and some very distressed parents with no car seats or buggies to put infants into.
There was NO provision made for any passengers for hotel accommodation, they assumed every passenger lived in New York and could and would go home until further updates on the rescheduled flight.
Jet Blue and Aer Lingus are claiming in the news that they did all they could to provide accommodation and make provisions for their passengers that is simply untrue they did NOTHING they abandoned us and left every single one of us to pick up the pieces of what was their responsibility to their passengers.
It was heartbreaking to see such a lack of humanity, unaccountability and basically to be treated like we were an inconvenience to them when we asked basic questions, all the passengers were extremely patient, no one raised their voices and rallied to help one another, those that lived in the NY area offering to open their homes to those with children and I myself was offered a bed by a very sweet couple.
I am grateful that we all touched down safely and I perish to think of what the outcome might have been had this “technical issue” happened over the Atlantic Ocean.
For now we have been rescheduled to fly tomorrow 25 Dec and arrive 26 Dec
It’s not acceptable to treat people like this and even more unacceptable to lie and say the total opposite to the media and general public.
Not much spirit of goodwill towards mankind by Jet Blue/Aer Lingus ground staff at JFK
Happy to be alive and grateful for the kindness of strangers.

I had a few Christmas wishes this year, but after reading this, I'm just grateful Alex is ok and I hope our other ladies get home safely too with all the storms.