News
| Apr 15, 2023

Fort Lauderdale JetBlue flight forced to land in The Bahamas

/ Our Today

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

Due to Florida airport closed due to extreme flooding

A JetBlue flight from Newark, New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale, Florida was diverted to the Bahamas on Wednesday (April 12), due to extensive flooding of the Florida airport.

Passengers on the flight to Florida ended up in The Bahamas instead of Florida. After three hours in Nassau, the plane went back to Newark, some nine hours after it first left the airport.

Fort Lauderdale airport had shut down because of heavy rain and flooding forcing the JetBlue flight 205 connecting Newark with Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to be diverted to Nassau Lynden Pindling International Airport in The Bahamas.

INTENSE RAINS IN FLORIDA

A JetBlue spokesperson told Insider the airline sought other Florida airports to land at, but due to the extreme situation and numerous diversions caused by the flooding and airport closure, it was safest to land in Nassau.

The unplanned visit to the Caribbean was caused by intense rains in Florida that flooded the airport, which had to shut down. Flights at the airport resumed yesterday but with only one runway available.

Passengers on the flight were reportedly offered a US$500 JetBlue credit as well as full refunds if they didn’t want to reschedule their trip. Flight diversions are relatively common, and flights can be diverted for a number of reasons, including unruly passengers, snakes on planes, and issues at the airport of destination.   

However, diversions that see a US domestic flight land in another country are less common, as passengers could be required to have visas and passports they don’t have with them to get off the plane. The Bahamas requires US citizens to have a valid passport to enter the country.JetBlue flight 205 was canceled on Thursday but operated normally yesterday.    

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Bahamas diversion flight Florida full refund JetBlue Newark

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