New York, NY —

Jet Blue has offered refunds and free flights to passengers who were stranded on airplanes for at least 3 hours during Wednesday's snow and ice storm. The airline has been criticized for leaving hundreds of passengers on its planes for up to 10 hours on the runway. Founder and CEO David Neeleman has acknowledged they could have been out sooner if the airline hadn't asked airport officials for help. Neeleman says Jet Blue waited nearly 5 hours before calling in shuttle buses to unload 10 jets stuck on the runways at Kennedy Airport. Six flights were stranded for more than 8 hours.