It was a new year to remember, but the memories aren’t necessarily good ones for passengers trying to get back to New Haven for the start of 2023.
“Everyone’s like, ‘what do you mean we can’t land?’” said Sunny Nariyani of New Haven.
Their stories start out much the same way and end in very different places.
Nariyani was coming back from Tampa on Jan. 3. Bill Grant of Franklin was trying to get back from Nashville on New Year’s Eve.
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Both men said the pilot made two unsuccessful attempts to land at Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN).
“The captain goes, ‘Oh we’re going to divert to Hartford, to Bradley,’” Nariyani said.
“They made the decision to divert the flight and land in Atlantic City,” Grant said.
Local
Grant said Avelo Airlines told passengers they’d be reimbursed for food, transportation and hotel costs up to $200.
“New Year’s Eve, Atlantic City, where are you going to get a hotel room for 200 bucks?” he said.
While Grant rang in the new year in New Jersey, NBC Connecticut confirmed with the airline that five other Avelo flights diverted to Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Windsor Locks on New Year’s Eve.
Arlene Horenstein, of Simsbury, was on one of those planes. Heavy fog in New Haven prevented the flight from landing there as scheduled.
“I’m not blaming the weather. The major problem is the lack of communication and nobody to help,” Horenstein said. “They just dumped us at Bradley.”
Nariyani had a similar experience a few days later. He said he ended up staying an extra night in Tampa because his flight back was delayed. So by the time the plane landed at Bradley the following evening, he and the other passengers just wanted to get home.
But he said Avelo wanted to try going back to Tweed once the fog cleared.
“And after all of that, we’re like we don’t want to go back in the air,” Nariyani said.
Because Avelo does not operate out of Bradley or Atlantic City (ATL), the passengers said there was no one there to help them once they got off the plane.
“The only person who was working the jetway was actually from Air Canada,” Horenstein said.
“All the communication was electronic. You’d get emails or texts, but you weren’t getting someone that was there making personal announcements,” Grant said.
Grant’s flight did return to New Haven on New Year’s Day. He said his wife went back and forth with the airline for more than a month.
After she mentioned they had spoken with NBC Connecticut Responds, Grant said they were reimbursed for their additional expenses.
But Nariyani and Horenstein said they have not gotten the same response. They arranged their own transportation home from Bradley, then went back to Tweed in the following days to get their cars and luggage.
Nariyani said it took three days before he was able to determine where his bags ended up.
In response to NBC Connecticut’s inquiries, a spokesperson for Avelo said, “While we know diversions are frustrating for our customers and an inconvenient disruption to their travel experience, they are extremely rare.”
He emphasized that safety is a priority, and said when Avelo has to divert to Bradley, passengers should be reunited with their bags at the same time.
“There was one occasion over the holiday where this was not possible due to unavailability of ground crew at BDL to unload the aircraft – so bags were transported to Tweed the next day,” the spokesperson said.
Landing at Tweed
While some of this turbulence is the result of launching a new service, another factor is the airport itself. Tweed’s runway is 5,600 feet long.
NBC Connecticut spoke with an aviation expert who said anything under 6,000 feet makes the pilot’s job more challenging.
“On a really bad day, it can make the difference between seeing the airport and landing successfully or not,” said Kit Darby, a former commercial pilot who is now an aviation consultant.
Bradley and Avelo confirmed that Avelo made unscheduled landings at BDL a total of 27 times in 2022.
We asked Darby for some perspective.
“You’ve got to make the safe choice,” he said. “So when you first hear 27, it’s a really big number. And then when you look at the plane and the airport and the weather conditions, it’s very understandable,” he said.
Tom Rafter, executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority, said the airline is experiencing some growing pains since launching service from HVN in 2021.
“From the luggage, the landside movements, the vehicle movement, they have tried multiple iterations and they’re getting better each time,” Rafter said.
Rafter took over as executive director in January. He said the planned runway expansion, along with some technological upgrades, will allow planes to land in lower visibility, potentially cutting down on those weather-related diversions.
But that is still years away. Until then, he is asking passengers for their patience and understanding, reiterating that the decision to divert is based on safety.
In the meantime, the passengers we spoke to believe the airline should be more prepared for situations like these.
“I wish they had a better communication strategy. I wish they treated their customers better,” Nariyani said. “I want to give them another chance. But they have to do a lot before they earn my trust back.”
Avelo told us, “When mother nature causes us to divert, we do our best to take care of our customers. We reimburse them for all reasonable travel-related expenses to get home.”
Nariyani said he received partial reimbursement and future airline credits, but it does not cover his full out-of-pocket costs. Horenstein said she is waiting to hear from Avelo about her situation.
Avelo's Full Response
“In those very rare occasions when we do have to divert to BDL, it is because safety is always going to come first – we will never compromise safety for convenience. Period full stop. When mother nature causes us to divert, we do our best to take care of our Customers. We reimburse them for all reasonable travel-related expenses to get home and we reunite them with their checked bags at BDL. There was one occasion over the holiday where this was not possible due to unavailability of ground crew at BDL to unload the aircraft – so bags were transported to Tweed the next day.”
In a follow up email, the company spokesperson said,”…we know that we can always do a better job at communicating with and engaging with our Customers in these situations – which is why we are making significant investments in our Customer Support Center in terms of people and technology. Customers can contact our Avelo Customer Support preferably by phone at (346) 616-9500 or by email at support@aveloair.com.”
How Common Are Flight Diversions?
Numbers NBC Connecticut reviewed show nationwide, fewer than 1% of all flights are diverted. The top 10 domestic airlines are required to report their arrival data to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Avelo said that in 2022, 27 out of 2,584 flights diverted to BDL. That amounts to 1%.
