Jet Blue experiences - Washington DC?

[Raya]

We generally fly Delta and like the way they treat us. Two years ago we had to fly to JetBlue for the first time. The ride was pretty unremarkable except the tray table and one of the arms of my seat were broken. The table had been tapped up right, the arm was just hanging. The flight attendant said it was an older plane, there was nothing to be done about it, and no I couldn't switch seats.

So now I'm planning our next trip and Delta has really terrible times (6am or 4pm). Jet Blue is has much better times, but I don't want to spend another flight dealing with broken equipment. I'm wondering if the Jet Blue flights from DC to Orlando might have better planes/better service? Has anyone had experience with that route?

 

[kylenne]

I wouldn’t be dissuaded from booking with them based on your previous experience, that is not really the norm. JetBlue is my airline of choice, I fly with them several times a year and while I’ve never flown the DCA-MCO route, (typically JFK-MCO and JFK-LAS to see family) I’ve never run into issues like that with their product. At worst, once in a while the IFE doesn’t work (DirecTV sometimes glitches) but even that is not that too common. Their Airbus fleet is pretty well maintained with the A320s getting refreshed interiors recently and that’s what they are using most often on that particular route.

 

[Leigh L]

Issues with the plane/comfort/etc haven't ever been my issue with JetBlue at DCA, it was more about reliability. They're my preferred route from DCA-MCO, but I haven't booked them in a long while.

However, I'd more liken that to pandemic conditions. I flew them before the pandemic with no issue. And also during the pandemic and it was great. However, I wasn't worried about reliability then since time was so flexible, so if they moved our flight no big deal.

At some point, they cut all their routes down from 4-6 nonstop per day to 2 nonstop per day but it looks like they now have 4. We had a few flights moved on us, but I can't remember the timeframes. Time wasn't as flexible at that point, so we began flying SWA (DCA) and United (IAD) more often.

Thinking about giving JetBlue a try again though! Prior to the pandemic, they were the best airline to MCO IMO. From checking random dates it looks like they generally list 4 flights per day but sometimes only fly 3 (dropping the evening or second to last flight of the day if the random dates I checked are any indicator).

 

[tony67]

I've not had any issues like that and I fly with them very regularly.

As a PP stated - many of their planes have been refreshed in the last year or so I think - when you book it will say something like A320 Restyled when you click the link for seats.

If its some short secondary route they may still have some Embraer's IDK, but I avoid those.