Phone jam-ups stymie fliers [telecom]

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Phone jam-ups stymie fliers Airlines unable to handle calls after snowstorm

By Katie Johnston Chase and Alexa McMahon Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent / December 29, 2010

As airlines were scrambling to get flight schedules back to normal yesterday, stranded travelers were struggling to reach them, sometimes being left on hold for more than an hour - or worse, disconnected from the call.

Cali Archon of Portsmouth, N.H., tried calling JetBlue Airways for four hours yesterday morning to rebook her 15-year-old daughter's flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But each time, after about five minutes of recorded messages, the system told her: "Please try back at a later time. We are doing the best we can to manage our call volumes at this time. This call will end now.''

And then it did.

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