JFK Airport: A First and Last

Let me begin this post by saying I've flown JetBlue a few times before, always with exceptional services. This was my first and only time I've flown out of JFK airport, and this is the first and only time I've ever experienced such awful service from any airport I've ever been to. My best friend Krista and I were rushing through subway stations and buses to be able to catch our 8:00 pm flight back to Orlando on time, and we ended up getting to the airport at 6:30 pm when we like to get there two hours before our flight time to play it safe. Let me also add that I am a frequent flyer, I know what size luggage fits on the overhead of the plane and I always bring the same small luggage everywhere I travel. We came from Orlando(MCO) to JFK with the same sized luggage and had no issues on our way to New York.

When we finally arrive at our terminal, we dash to the general TSA line. Our boarding passes get scanned and we proceed further into the line where we are stopped by a very rude man who insists our luggage is too big to fit in the plane's overhead. I tried explaining to him that there was no need for us to measure and check our bags, but he just wasn't going to hear it from me anymore. A TSA agent then escorts Krista and I out of the line, not only forcing us to pay $30 each to check our bags onto the plane, but wasted our time trying to get to our plane before it would leave without us. We were panicking.

Nearby were a few ladies who work for JetBlue who were in charge of checking people's bags, they were watching us closely and could sense something was wrong. Luckily Krista asked one of them to put the tag on her luggage, because she asked if everything was alright. We explained to her and the other ladies with her what happened and they agreed with us that this was a completely ridiculous misunderstanding. She offered to have us take our luggage go through an express TSA line because she knew we were in a hurry, but we already payed for our bags to be checked onto the plane. So she took our bags and we got through security within twenty minutes going through the express line. We get to our gate with fifteen minutes left before the boarding process would begin. That left us with no time to buy and eat a decent dinner before our flight, so we ended buying a few snacks from a shop across our gate.

The boarding process begins, and what do we see? People with larger suitcases and more than one carry-on item boarding our plane. That's when it really hit us that we have been taken for a ride because this man saw two young girls he thought he can take advantage of just to make JetBlue make an extra sixty dollars.

Little did he know we wouldn't let this rest. For days I tried calling and emailing JetBlue and JFK airport to complain and demand full refunds for us both. I eventually got through to someone at JetBlue and granted us our money back. JFK airport will never again be an airport I will fly into or out of.