I am an ED RN who went to Haiti 8 weeks after the earthquake to work in a free emegergency clinic. I went with a non-profit group which meant that I paid my own way, which was just fine. However, I was REALLY upset the way Jet Blue handled us and our situation on the way there. I flew to Boston from Baltimore and then the plan was to fly from Boston to Santo Domingo. Unfortunately we had to take ground transport to Port au Prince, but the good news is that the Port au Prince is now up and running. There were extremely high winds in Boston and our flight was scheduled for departure, March 13th at 10:09 pm on flight #891 (BTW, I flew BWI to Boston on flight #1326). As it was we had a long journey ahead. I understand that high winds are something an airline cannot control, and I appreciate the company being safety conscious, believe me. But, our flight was delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed until finally just plain cancelled sometime around mindnight. As travelers with a good intention mission, we tried to be cool about it all and go with it. Thing was, Jet Blue couldn't figure out any other way to get us on our way to Haiti until something like 11pm the next night. So, like 24hrs later.in cancelling so late, we were offered no hotel vouchers and "slept" in our sleeping bags in the children's play room. We were given a few food vouchers, but of course at that point nothing was really even open until the next morning and we had to stay in the airport for 24 hours on average.in addtion, when the finally did decide to cancel our flight, we were forced to retrieve all of our bagage (mind you we were each carrying light weight duffels for ourselves, but enormous bags of medical supplies for the people waiting for us. The baggage carasel got all backed up or something (it was like Mayhem at that point and we were exhausted, but quietly so and going about our business). The bags avalanched on one another. They fell off the carosel, medical bags just didn't move and my tent was open, missing a small sack of stakes and detached from my duffel b/c the straps had literally been wripped off. Now, I have traveled with that bag since I bought it in Australia 20 years ago and it was in perfect condition. No reason why straps (oh and the little buckles that used to be a part of the straps sailed by on the baggage carosel when it did move) should have literally been torn off, tearing open the top of my tent bag. So, the tent was gone for quite a long time. I had the duffel with the big tear where the tent used to be and eventually got the bag with medical supplies (weighed more than I did), but around 2am or so someone finally found my tent. I was super nice to all the young women and men working that night by baggage claim in that little office for "complaints" b/c I think they were going to cry. They were working sooooo hard in an awful situation that was not their fault. I yelled at no one although I myself was in tears as I tried to find my stuff, lug around this heavy medical bag and figure out what I'd do in Haiti without a tent and in the airport for more than 24 hours while the walking wounded and injured waited for us in Haiti. Ground transportation from the Santo Domingo to Port au Prince got so messed up b/c of the delay that we had to sleep on the street in Santo Domingo from 3-ish am to 7-ish am to get our ground transport since we were over 24hrs late. But, really, the worst part of all, was NOT any inconvenience to us or to me, but rather to the people of Haiti that we were trying to help, in addition to the staff we were coming down to replace. Because we could only run the clinic sun up to sun down due to electricity issues, we lost A LOT of time that we SHOULD have and COULD have been down there helping these people. That's what brought most of us to tears... Was just the idea of all those people waiting for us and us sitting around on our butts waiting for what we didn't even know what and not being treated particularly respectfully in the process. To me, not treating us with respect, was disrespecting the people that we were trying to hellp and the medical mission that we were on. Now, add to that they we still were out the same amount of money (money that could have been put towards more supplies or another trip) to be there SO much less of the time. We felt SO bad. Because of the shortened length of stay we did our best to dive into the situation with both feet without orientation and functioned just fine on our mission, but it was way too short and we've been asked to return. I cannot afford another airline ticket, but I want to return to complete the mission that I started... To actually GET the chance to be there at least a week. That's what we should have been there for. We saw hundreds of patients a day and so for the time that we were not there and the other team had to prepare for departure, that was hundreds of men, women and children that we could have helped that day. If you are unsure of my authenticity, go to http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_14822604 and you'll see an article about the mission in which I NEVER mentioned our VERY late arrival or anything about any travel troubles b/c in the scheme of things, that wasn't even on the radar. The only reason it is now, is b/c I feel like I was there such a short time to begin with and with so much anticipation and help to offer, and then was there an even shorter time and it just wasn't fair to the Haitians or the people trying to help the Haiti community. They have asked me to come back. They would like me to come June 15th-22nd. I can only think of one way to do that since I would still have to pay my way as far as everything else and that is if Jet Blue steps up and helps me get there. Either A) by compensating me for the travel situation and the poor way in which we as people and our belongings (which in this case couldn't have been more important) were treated or B) I had to have been eligable for a million frequent flier miles, but b/c the agency booked it, I have no idea if that was done and since there was shere chaos when we checked in, who knows? But, I flew from BWI to Logan to Santo Domingo. This time I would actually be able to fly directly into Port au Prince and would be mid-week to mid-week and therefore probably a lot cheaper than the first time. So, I wonder. Will Jet Blue set it right for Haiti and for those of us whose missions were cut short and who were barely acknowledged. Then when we do finally fly, we experience even more hours and hours of delays and then we have to pay for like pretzels. Unreal. Thank you for your time. This message is an independent message not to do with the agency in any way. I'm just trying to figure out how the heck I can afford to get back down there to finish what I started and I would NOT want them worrying about it. They have enough to worry about down there.
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