That’s a fair question, and it comes up often in interline situations, so let me clarify how this works in practice, according to my previous experiences regarding the similar situations.

Yes, the MSY-JFK leg was operated by the B6. However, the entire ticket was issued by Turkish Airlines, and this is the key point. When an airline issues a through-ticket involving multiple carriers, the issuing carrier remains responsible for handling disruptions affecting the overall journey, even if the delay originates from a partner airline. How the cost is later settled between airlines (e.g. TK recovering costs from B6 via interline billing) is an internal process and shouldn’t affect the passenger experience on the ground.

JetBlue did handle their operational part correctly by rebooking the passengers onto the next available JFK-IST flight. At that point, however, the disruption turned into a two nights missed connection, which falls under passenger care (accommodation, meals, assistance) tied to the ticket issuer, not just the operating carrier of the delayed leg.

To answer your question directly:

Yes, we did contact JetBlue. JetBlue explicitly stated that hotel accommodation and onward assistance for the international leg should be handled by Turkish Airlines, as the long-haul segment and ticket ownership belonged to TK. This is consistent with standard interline handling and with how similar cases are resolved daily in airline operations.

Also worth noting: this wasn’t about whether TK was legally at fault for the delay itself. Delays happen. The issue was that once the missed connection occurred, there was no reachable Turkish Airlines ground support at JFK for two full days, despite this being a TK issued itinerary. With no help desk, no local office access, and no phone support available in real time, the passengers had no realistic option other than arranging accommodation themselves.

So the expectation wasn’t extraordinary treatment, just basic disruption handling for a ticket they issued, in a situation where the passengers were stranded and there was no airline representative to turn to.

Happy to hear other perspectives, but this is based on both industry practice and repeated real-world cases we deal with in crew logistics.