JetBlue acts quickly to avoid another storm snafu

A JetBlue employee assists a customer at the check-in counter at JFK International Airport in New York, February 19, 2007. JetBlue, seeking to avoid a repeat of the public relations disaster it suffered earlier his month, said it notified travelers as quickly as possible of flight cancellations on Monday due to a new winter storm on the East Coast.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp., seeking to avoid a repeat of the public relations disaster it suffered earlier his month, said it notified travelers as quickly as possible of flight cancellations on Monday due to a new winter storm on the East Coast.

The low-cost carrier said it canceled about 20 percent of its flights scheduled to arrive or depart New York on Monday because of the storm. It phoned travelers on Sunday warning of the cancellations.

A JetBlue spokeswoman said the airline called passengers an hour or two earlier than it would have before a February 14 storm forced the last-minute cancellations of some 1,200 flights, stranded passengers on grounded planes and snarled operations for days.

Monday's storm was the first test for JetBlue since the February 14 storm exposed flaws in its plan for dealing with major weather-related cancellations. Other airlines also were reporting canceled New York flights.

JetBlue said last week it would pay out $10 million in refunds to passengers affected by the February 14 storm. The airline issued $16 million worth of vouchers to delayed passengers for future travel and has promised better communications with customers and improved procedures for dealing with delays and other difficulties.

Shares of JetBlue were down 17 cents at 12.91 in early trade on Nasdaq.