Jet Blue newbie- what to expect?

[MillauFr]

Agree with someone else here. If you are near Philly I would just drive up to JFK and book a non-stop to MCO. Their terminal 5 at JFK is pretty nice compared to some of the other terminals like 7 which is a third world dump. We recently flew JetBlue from San Juan to Seattle connecting in JFK and it was on par with Alaska and Delta.

 

[MarBee]

Agree with someone else here. If you are near Philly I would just drive up to JFK and book a non-stop to MCO. Their terminal 5 at JFK is pretty nice compared to some of the other terminals like 7 which is a third world dump. We recently flew JetBlue from San Juan to Seattle connecting in JFK and it was on par with Alaska and Delta.

Thanks! JFK is pretty far from us, so we’d be in the car as much as we are in the air lol. Plus our taxi (my retired dad) wouldn’t be able to take us and drop off there. But definitely trying it out through PHL. As far as dumpy terminals go, PHL is pretty bad so we are used to that lol!

 

[nkereina]

We like the seatback TV and satellite radio on JetBlue, but one thing I learned the hard way is that (at least for the JB planes I've been on recently) they still have the old style headphone jacks for it - the round pointy kind. I have an iPhone and have the headphones with the flat end now. Luckily, they usually sell headphones that work on the flight for $5 I believe, but I had old ones at home I could have brought if it had crossed my mind.

We fly Southwest most frequently, with Jetblue as our "backup plan" if something doesn't pan out with Southwest. To Orlando, we have found both airlines are pretty comparable in terms of pricing, but Southwest generally has better times for us - nonstop there in the morning and a late nonstop on the way back. Jetblue tends to have the opposite schedule, with an evening flight there and a morning flight on the way home, which is never ideal for us. We have found service to be comparable on both, and it is nice to have the assigned seats with JB when we do fly with them.

 

[Miffy]

Well, I always fly JetBlue to Orlando, but I'm in NYC and fly out of LGA. That you'd have to fly to Boston first and then to Orlando seems like an immense waste of time/distance to me. You're not even going in the right direction. Are American's prices out of Philly that bad? They fly direct to MCO from Philly.

 

[Miffy]

Or you could take Amtrak to Newark Airport and fly from there. JetBlue's prices out of Newark are often really good--better than JFK or LGA. Just something else for you to mull over, but this does add train fare to your trip cost.

 

[JustinS30]

Hello!

I’m toying with the idea of flying Jet Blue for the first time for a Spring Break flight since airfare is (expectedly) high everywhere. They do not offer direct flights out of my home airport (PHL), so we’d have a layover in Boston.
I can use some Chase Ultimate Reward points to transfer to the Jet Blue point system, and they offer two tiers of flights: Blue and Blue Extra for 4,000 more points a person.
I’m just wondering what to expect on Jet Blue. I’ve flown other budget carriers (Southwest and Frontier). Wondering how they compare.

I’d preferably not like to but any bags and just pack school bags to put under the seat in front of me. I wasn’t sure how Jet Blue handled personal items.

Also, is it worth the upgrade to Blue Extra? How likely am I to be seated with my children?

Thanks in advance for any help, insight, and advice you may have!

JetBlue is one of the best coach seats I’ve flown in recent memory. I feel like the seats were roomier then SW, and choosing your seats ahead of time is a relief given you’re flying with children. Blue Extra I believe gives you a checked bag (I have a JetBlue Plus credit card so I get a checked bag anyway so I haven’t looked into that as much). I’ve always had good service with them, comfortable flights, and on par with in flight refreshments. I’d recommend for sure.

 

[skyblue17]

I love JetBlue but I don't use it if there's a direct option on another airline, especially since the price difference isn't usually that large. If your points are only specific to JetBlue, it might still be worth it, as it's definitely one of the better airlines for flight experience. It's not as great if you need to rebook due to flights being canceled as the legacy airlines though and tossing in a layover only complicates things.

 

[MarBee]

Well, I always fly JetBlue to Orlando, but I'm in NYC and fly out of LGA. That you'd have to fly to Boston first and then to Orlando seems like an immense waste of time/distance to me. You're not even going in the right direction. Are American's prices out of Philly that bad? They fly direct to MCO from Philly.

Since it’s the start of Spring Break in this area, American’s prices are (expectedly) super high. I’m kind of stuck with the dates, though, given school/work schedules. I’m actually hoping one of the budget airlines (frontier/spirit) come down in price. But JetBlue is looking like a great backup!

 

[gparr]

I just booked 2 R/T tix from Richmond, VA non stop - $71 each way ($142 r/t) for the end of March . Love it!

 

[grossmansr]

I just booked 2 R/T tix from Richmond, VA non stop - $71 each way ($142 r/t) for the end of March . Love it!

I might be on there with you. I apologize in advance for my kids, who have never flown before, and might not be the best passengers. At least it's a relatively short flight!

 

[gparr]

I might be on there with you. I apologize in advance for my kids, who have never flown before, and might not be the best passengers. At least it's a relatively short flight!

LOL no worries...it will all be good!

 

[DVCgrace]

I would say that Jet Blue is on par with Southwest, and above the ultra low cost carriers like Frontier.

This trip, I'm flying down on Southwest and back on Jet Blue to maximize savings and optimize park time. My last two Florida trips have been Jet Blue round trip, and I've been happy with my experiences.

Jet Blue is based out of New York. I don't know where near Philly you're located, but it might be worth your while to make the trek north for a direct flight from JFK.

Closer to Philly would be Newark, which is where I fly out of from northern NJ - JFK is really a hassle from even NJ, that flying to BOS would be easier, imo!

 

[MarBee]

So an update to an old thread:

Obviously my April trip to Disney didn’t happen (neither did my June trip).
In an effort to be optimistic, I started looking at flights for April of 2021 (fingers crossed!)
Turns out that Jet Blue now flies nonstop PHL to MCO!
So I’m actually excited to give them a whirl if circumstances pan out!

I’m thinking of transferring some Chase UR points to purchase a flight in April. I’m used to using points on SW where they’re fully refundable. Does anyone feel like tutoring me on cancelling/changing JB flights booked with points? What am I in danger of losing?

 

[pooch]

Be aware, even when you are able to chose seats, that does not mean you will sit together! I booked 7 tickets, 4 adults, 3 kids and a lap baby with assigned seats. Our boarding passes had the seat numbers on them. When we got to the airport, they had split us up into singles all over the plane. I had to fight with the gate agent to get each child with an adult and still ended up with one sitting across the aisle. There are no guarantees!

 

[MarBee]

Be aware, even when you are able to chose seats, that does not mean you will sit together! I booked 7 tickets, 4 adults, 3 kids and a lap baby with assigned seats. Our boarding passes had the seat numbers on them. When we got to the airport, they had split us up into singles all over the plane. I had to fight with the gate agent to get each child with an adult and still ended up with one sitting across the aisle. There are no guarantees!

Thank you! Is this typical? Or just a one-off situation with Jet Blue?

 

[pooch]

I don’t think it’s typical just saying it can and does happen.

 

[TTA Rider Matt]

My recommendation is for you to call JetBlue AT LEAST once a week to make sure your flight is still operating. I was supposed to travel 7/20 from NY and back on 7/31. Well, my 7/20 flight was cancelled and my 7/31 flight was pushed to 8/1 WITHOUT NOTICE. Not an email, update on my JetBlue app, nothing. So we called and got on a new flight. The night before we were supposed to go home, we found out again that our flight was cancelled and moved to the next day. Spent an hour and a half on our last night getting on a new flight. The only reason we found out either time that our flights changed was in confirming our Magical Express reservations.

My parents are going in October and my dad said his flight was booked 2 weeks ago, and they already changed it, again without notice. So...you should definitely call to make sure the flight is still operating, frequently.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Love Jet Blue! We flew Jet Blue LAX to Orlando a couple of weeks ago. The flight out was on one of their older planes. Those are still better than 90% of the other planes flying on any other airline. Not all the stations on the TVs worked, it took a while but I was able to get WiFi to work. Plenty of room between seats - no need to buy upgrade seats unless you are really tall and need the extra legroom.
Then we flew back on one of the new planes!
It was like flying a whole new airline. For starters, the cleaning routine was second to none. They handed us all a sealed bag with two disinfectant wipes and a small packet of hand sanitizer. We were told to wipe down everything around us as soon as we sat down, then save the second wipe for if we got up during the flight. We were instructed not to put anything in the seatback, and they came through the cabin every 30 minutes or so to collect trash
The new seats are REALLY comfortable, the new entertainment system worked flawlessly. WiFi was a breeze, roughly 50 channels, all perfect signals, plus HBO movies included, Prime connectivity if you had an account. Podcasts galore. They also has AC and USB power ports between each seat.

LSS - if you get on a new Jet Blue plane you are in for a treat. If you get on an older plane it is still one of the best flying experiences. IMHO, they are the Disney of flying when it comes to COVID safety.

Also IMHO from our observations;
Don't fly Spirit - we could only describe the crowd getting off a plane disembarking from Chicago in the gate next to us as "Clown Car". No idea how they go so many people on that plane.
Don't fly American. It was the only airline we saw that was actively cancelling and consolidating flights. There's a good chance the flight will be packed and it will be rescheduled - good luck with that.

 

[pooch]

I don't think any airline is immune to consolidating flights at this point. DD flying next month on Jet Blue and her evening return flight was moved to early morning instead and the three nonstops that day were consolidated to one. She was able to change the flight to the next morning - again the normal 3 nonstops consolidated to one. Every airline is doing it to some degree.

 

[DVC-Don]

Booked my first Jet Blue flight a couple of weeks ago for October. Got an email yesterday that the flight has been cancelled and wound up booking Southwest. Albany, NY to Orlando, FL.