How's JetBlue?

[KMZOB]

I've always flown Continental....but to save some money on our Trip in September, I'm considering flying JetBlue. I am interested in hearing your experiences. How are they with Kids? Customer Service? How are the planes? I believe they are pretty new...is that true?

Thanks in advance for any input you can give me.

 

[randbmom]

We've flown as a family to MCO three times on JetBlue out of Boston, and we've now given up SW out of Providence as a result. While the fares are usually discounted, you CAN choose seat assignments, unlike some other low fare airlines. I've also flown JetBlue to Vegas twice in January. All flights no delays or problems.

I had a very good experience with customer service in fall of 2004. I was booked for an October flight to MCO for 4 and when my Mom entered hospice care in September, I made a call and they credited the four flights and the customer service agent waived the usual $50 fee without my even asking. We rescheduled for May 2005 for the same fares with no problems.

I find the flight attendants a bit like SW, with some tongue in cheek humor, but I enjoy that. It makes me feel like I'm on vacation.
The best part of JetBlue is the inflight TV in every seatback. It's a big treat for my kids to be able to watch hours of uninterrupted Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, and we barely hear a peep out of them.

I say go for it. Save some $$$ and watch some TV to pass the time.

 

[MrsNick]

Another bonus for JetBlue: The LEGROOM! Their leather seats have the most generous seat pitch in coach in the industry. I had already booked seats on JetBlue for our flight to Florida this summer, but not for our return flight home. Could've gotten very cheap one way flights on Continental. DH (who is 6'3") said nuh uh! He wants the JetBlue seats for the legroom. Cost slightly more, but it was worth it for my DH not to have to fly with his knees jammed into the seat in front of him.

Other perks (in no particular order): Dunkin' Donuts coffee, changing table in the restroom, good flight attendants, assigned seating, if fare decreases and you call them they will credit you the amount for a future flight with no change penalty, they don't oversell flights, and they don't seem to change flight times once they set a schedule (they changed our flight down to be later by 15 minutes - no big deal. Last summer, Continental, on the other hand, changed our flights down and home not once but twice to quite different times )

That said, they are a low cost carrier and not a legacy airline. So. That means that they cannot book you onto another carrier's flight. This is one reason that a frequent traveler like Bavaria won't book JetBlue.

Inability to cross book passengers on other airlines was one of the reasons they had difficulty getting passengers to destinations during that winter storm in February. The other was they couldn't get planes and crews positioned where they needed them. That said, JetBlue seems to have learned from mistakes it made and performed much better a few weeks later during another winter storm. I don't think you'll see this kind of massive meltdown on JetBlue any time soon. JetBlue has a loyal following (including us, now, lol).

 

[bradk]

the planes are relatively new. when JB started, obviously their planes were brand new, so this still puts them at a relatively much newer fleet than most legacies and even budget airlines have. and they add more as time goes on. i don't know how it is now, but there was a time where it was very possible for carriers to have planes in their fleet upwards of 20 years old.

according to data from airfleets.net in 2006, JB's average fleet age was the youngest at 2.8 years. American's fleet represents the oldest at a 13.3 average with Delta very close at 13.1

but it's really not news that such old planes are being used on a regular basis, it's been that way for years (airlines usually retire planes around 25 years), so that shouldn't really be considered a factor in my estimation.

even that aside, JB's philosophy is to operate as a customer service department that happens to own an airline rather than being an airline with a customer service department.

every passenger was taken well care of (relatively speaking) in regards to the weather debacle at a cost of ~$40 million to JB, most of its stock value and its president & CEO (JB was founded by former SWA execs for what that's worth)

 

[KMZOB]

Thanks Everyone! Looks like we will be flying JetBlue!

 

[TDC Nala]

I personally couldn't care less about the seat assignments and wouldn't pick a flight based on that, so I will fly whatever has the lowest price and the best times, sometimes that is going to be Jet Blue.

The plane I was on last Monday had only two seats per row. I don't know if that's a problem for families with mulitple children or not.


Preboarding was offered only for families with children age 2 and under, but then there are those assigned seats.

Very good selection of snacks! There are several alternatives to choose from.

Flying Jet Blue is a strange sort of experience. From the moment the passengers are seated, they're absorbed in the TVs. No chattering or moving around on the plane. They turn them off for takeoff so the flight attendants can do the safety presentation, so don't get too interested in the show you're watching. The woman next to me got a bit upset that they'd turned off Heroes.

 

[bradk]

about 20% of the JB fleet are Embraer ERJ-190s. those are the ones that have 4 seats across, grouped in 2s. I believe they all have XM radio in addition to DirectTV. I'm not sure which flights they're really used on, but I suspect it's shorter flights. The only time I've been on one was flying between LGB and LAS (incidentally, that flight didn't fare too well for DSS but the XM worked just fine).

the other 80% are Airbus A320s which are 6 seats across, grouped in 3s. and these planes all semi-recently had the first row removed, giving the seats before the exit rows the largest amount legroom. previously, JB had removed the last row to increase the legroom for the seats towards the rear of the plane. Some of the A320s have XM as well.

snacks and soft drinks are unlimited on JB as well. yours for the asking.

incidentally, make sure you book and check-in online. you get double the trueblue points, which range i think between 2-8 per domestic flight, depending on range. for example, I believe JFK-MCO is 4, but booking and checking in online gets you 8 each way, or a total of 16 per round trip. 100 points gets you 2 one way passes. Each passenger gets their own respective points.

during the holiday season last year, they were even giving bonus points of 2 each way when you checked in online (incidentally, this included using RAC at the WDW resort)