Jimmy Brown’s flight was one of 23 jetliners forced to land in Connecticut because the freak storm forced traffic away from New York City airports.
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Jimmy Brown has learned to deal with a good bit of inconvenience.
Since a diving accident left him paralyzed from the waist down several years ago, the 32-year-old from Staten Island’s Huguenot neighborhood has spent the better part of each day in a wheelchair.
Before he boards an airplane, he deprives himself of water. Since airliner bathrooms aren’t generally wheelchair accessible, Brown fears having to relieve himself mid-flight.
On Saturday, Brown was aboard JetBlue Flight 405 when the plane was diverted from Newark to Hartford’s Bradley International Airport because a freak October snowstorm pummeling New Jersey.
After the jet landed, Brown and more than 100 other passengers sat trapped in the cabin for at least eight and a half hours before they were allowed to deplane.
“I flipped out on the plane and used some vulgarity. I made some comments saying how I need to get off the plane. 'This is way too long. I can’t sit here anymore. I have bad circulation,'” Brown told NBC New York.
Brown’s flight was one of 23 jetliners forced to land in Connecticut because the storm forced traffic away from New York City airports.
As the smaller airport struggled to find resources and accommodate the unexpected planes, Brown says he was left to languish in a stuffy cabin while his wife watched him suffer.
“She saw what her husband went through. 'He can’t get the circulation he needs. He needs other people to get up and then he gets humiliated on a plane. He’s got to pee in his own seat,'" Brown said of his wife. "I mean, this stuff is terrible.”
JetBlue issued the following statement in response to a request for comment by NBC New York:
“Due to a confluence of events, including infrastructure issues in New York/JFK and Newark, JetBlue diverted 17 flights on Saturday. Six of those flights diverted to Hartford. We worked with the airport to secure services, including remote deplaning and lav[atory] servicing.
Obviously, we would have preferred deplaning much sooner than we did, but our flights were six of the 23 reported diversions into Hartford, including international flights. The airport experienced intermittent power outages, which made refueling and jet bridge deplaning difficult.
We have communicated directly with our customers impacted by this confluence of events to apologize as well as provide a full round-trip refund, as it remains JetBlue’s responsibly to not simply provide safe and secure travel, but a comfortable experience as well."
Two days after the tarmac trouble, Brown said he had yet to receive a personal apology from Jet Blue.
"I got a $30 voucher from McDonald’s. That’s about it," Brown said. "So if that’s the thanks they were looking to give they can keep it.”
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