Ouch: JetBlue Transatlantic Flight Has Double Diversion (2024)

Imagine being on a transatlantic flight and diverting due to a technical issue, only to have the same exact thing happen on the replacement flight. Well, that’s exactly what some JetBlue passengers are currently dealing with (thanks to James for flagging this)…

JetBlue Airbus A321LR returns to Paris due to technical issue

This situation started on Thursday, July 11, 2024, and involves JetBlue flight B61908, scheduled to operate from Paris (CDG) to New York (JFK). The flight was operated by a less than one-year-old Airbus A321LR with the registration code N4076J.

The aircraft took off from Paris at 2:05PM local time, and it flew for about 90 minutes, making it just off the west coast of Ireland. At this point the crew made the decision to return to Paris due to a technical issue.

The plane ended up landing back in Paris around 3hr20min after it departed, at 5:25PM local time.

A passenger onboard claims that there was a single JetBlue representative there to assist passengers. In reality, it seems most people just got rebooked on a replacement flight the following day. That’s because JetBlue was planning on flying in an aircraft part from the United States, so that the plane could be fixed, and reenter service.

Unfortunately that didn’t work out all that well…

Same JetBlue Airbus A321LR then diverts to Dublin

This morning (Friday, July 12, 2024), JetBlue reportedly sent everyone on a bus to the airport in preparation for the replacement flight, only for it to be delayed by “hours.” I guess the fix took longer than planned.

I can appreciate how that’s challenging for airlines — they obviously wanted to get everyone on their way as quickly as possible, but it’s also hard to predict how long a fix will take before the part arrives.

After an extended delay, there was finally some good news, as the aircraft took off from Paris at 4:17PM local time, just over 26 hours after the passengers had previously departed Paris. In this case, the flight flew west for well over two hours, making it way past Ireland and over the Atlantic.

However, at that point the pilots made the decision to divert, as the same issue reportedly happened as the previous day. So now this JetBlue A321LR is being diverted to Dublin, where passengers will likely spend the night.

Below is the Twitter/X update on that from the same passenger (this contains some bad language — and for what it’s worth, this lady is a comedian and not just a very angry person, so I think the language is intended for comedic effect, or something).

I’m curious to see what happens next, and if JetBlue attempts to fly these passengers out on that plane for a third time, or if people just get rebooked on other flights and/or other airlines.

Bottom line

A JetBlue Airbus A321LR scheduled to operate from Paris to New York had to return to Paris due to a technical issue. JetBlue flew in a spare part, and about 26 hours later, the flight was attempted again with the same aircraft. Unfortunately the same issue reportedly happened during that flight, and now the plane is headed to Dublin.

Obviously this is an incredibly frustrating situation for passengers and the airline alike. I trust that JetBlue tried to fix the plane and assumed the correct fix had taken place, or else the airline wouldn’t have attempted to operate the flight again. But sometimes the same thing happens again, embarrassing as it might be…

At least these passengers will be eligible for €600 cash compensation plus all their expenses covered, thanks to the EU261 policy.

What do you make of this JetBlue double diversion?