Wednesday's ice storm in New York City stranded passengers on Jet Blue for as long as 10 hours – without ever taking off. The ripple effect forced Jet Blue to cancel all flights to and from 11 U.S. cities this weekend, leaving many to question why it's taken the airline so long to get back on schedule.

"I've seen worse, so it must've been more than just the ice storm, but we'll probably never know really what everything was that contributed to it," said Jet Blue customer Liz Demartino.

Jet Blue would not give an interview on camera.

But spokeswoman Alison Eshelman told News 13 one of main reason for thee cancelled flights is federal aviation rules that limit the number of hours flight crews can work without rest.

Under FAA rules, pilots are restricted to just eight hours of flight time within a 24-hour period.
Flights attendants can work up to 14 hours per flight, but they must have a minimum of 8 hours rest before their next flight.

Jet Blue canceled 170 flights Saturday and 135 flights Sunday. More cancellations expected Monday.

Eshelman said Jet Blue wanted to give flight crews time to reach the city of their scheduled departure, while still complying with FAA guidelines, and that the company never considered breaking those FAA regulations out of concern for the safety of its workers as well as its passengers.

Eshelman said Jet Blue crews know their schedule well in advance and that Jet Blue did not want to place workers on flights and in cities they were never scheduled to work to deal with this crisis because it would have complicated staffing for upcoming flights.

Eshelman said customers are being offered refunds and other special offers/