JetBlue TrueBlue - JFK - PHX roundtrip report, Outstanding!




JerseyVics
Apr 2, 07, 10:57 am
Just wanted to post my experience flying Jet Blue to Phoenix last week.

With all the posts knocking the airline I must say that I'm glad I booked them for this trip because it was simply all I expected and more.

To get some things out of the way first I must say that I was disappointed in the fact that they charged me to switch a flight. I booked the cheaper of the two direct flights from JFK to PHX, but intended to go standby on the early one. Well it turns out that the connecting flights between JFK and PHX (either Boston, Washington D.C. or Long Beach) are considered "previous" flights too so I had to pay $25 to have a confirmed seat on the 8am departure. No big deal.

On the return trip, the weather was beautiful both in Arizona and New York but the flight was delayed a good two hours. Luckily the customer bill of rights worked out well for me, because before I could even complain on the boards or directly to the airline they send me an e-mail with a $50 bux credit, so it took care of my earlier $25 expense and gave me that much for the next flight... Cool beans! Now why would I complain? you might ask, its common for flights to be delayed... Well what got me was the fact that while waiting I called the 800 to check the status of the flight and the customer service rep told me that the flight left the gate and returned because of technical difficulties. At the moment I thought she lied to me, but thinking about it now I think this happened to the plane in NY the same plane we were waiting for in Phoenix. No harm done...


The flight itself was really just what I expected of Jet Blue, comfy seats, good entertainment channels, cold Arizona ice tea, it was great! On the return trip I changed seats to 2A from my booked row seat, which was nice except the woman sitting next to me made me real nervous when she started freaking on take off and then said she wasn't feeling so good. I scrapped my plans to catch some Z's on overnight flight because I was on puke patrol. But luckily she changed seats to somewhere in the back of the plan and I ended up sleeping for a few hours.


Phoenix wasn't my original destination. I put over 2250 miles on the rental car driving up to the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas strip, Shelby USA headquarters, and a bunch of towns on the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. I even went to Tijuana, Mexico for a couple of minutes but ended up standing in line for 2 hours getting back into the US of A. It was incredible. The area that I liked the most was Tempe (yes, they should change the name to Tempeeee cause thats how it's pronounced, I used to call it Temple, but there's no "l" in it) and Scottsdale. Of all the places I've been to, Scottsdale was fantastic, real impressive. I ended up going to the Pavilions car show on Saturday night and there was a ton of classic and exotic cars there to enjoy. The highlight of the trip was the Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, I couldn't find the damn place so somehow I stumbled on the Cardinals Cheerleaders rehersal, there was a couple of dozen of the hottest chicks I've seen in a while.

Very cool trip, and I'll be booking them again shortly to use up that $50 credit plus two free round trip coupons I've managed to rack up so far with my True Blue membership.


--Russ :)


defiance96
Apr 2, 07, 12:31 pm
In terms of the longevity of this airline, the Bill of Rights is troubling me. I had a long delay last month, and ended up with a $50 credit on a relatively cheap ticket (RDU-JFK).

I don't believe David N. about the changes being cost neutral. As much as the cheerleaders might like a nice customer service experience from time to time, I'd rather see the airline still alive in another two years, since, for me, its not about the service, but about the pricepoint and destinations served from JFK.

The Bill of Rights is going to run the airline into the ground. Given how many times I know my eastbound flight has been delayed for controllable reasons, I cringe thinking about the business plan of this airline.

jetBlueNYFL
Apr 2, 07, 2:36 pm
JerseyVics, sounds like you had a great trip! I love it out west...especially the Tempe/Scottsdale area. It is awesome and so beautiful with perfect weather. Glad to hear the jetBlue experience was great. I, too, agree that charging $25 for the earlier nonstop as opposed to hopping on a connection for free makes no sense. The connection costs jetBlue more money to send you to the final destination, while the nonstop frees up space on the later flight for last minute purchases.

My parents flew JFK-PHX last week as well and had a great jetBlue experience as always. They also flew PHX-FLL on US the other night and experienced a 5 hours MX delay...no compensation! Nothing more than crackers and cheese with water. At least they will get to enjoy jetBlue's perks again on the FLL-JFK run soon.

In response to defiance96, jetBlue has actually offered vouchers for delays within their control for some time now. It was just never set in stone. I've been on several flights way before 2/14 that experienced controllable delays and almost right away the gate agents dished out $25 or $50 vouchers. This was usually on delays over 2 hours. Also, free snacks are offered at the gate on these plus weather delay flights. It's a nice touch that people DO remember and tell their friends and family about. The B.O.R. is now unique to jetBlue and while it may be somewhat costly, it establishes "priceless" goodwill with the company.


JetBlueFA
Apr 2, 07, 4:49 pm
Good to hear we are still doing what we promised to do as far as the bill of rights goes. I'm also glad to hear you had such a great flight!

The plane that you took does a PHX turn out of JFK. The same inbound cabin crew but a fresh pilot crew boards in PHX. So if the plane was having a mx issue in JFK then that would delay your departure.

futurewhitehat
Apr 3, 07, 11:56 am
The PHX-JFK red-eye saved me back in February. I had booked a cheap AA flight about 8 months prior. We got to PHX fine and had a great time in.

Prior to going to the airport for our return flight on a Sunday morning, I checked on-line and everything was in order. When we reached the counter at PHX we were advised AA could get us to Dallas, but our connection from Dallas to JFK was cancelled. Nothing until "possibly" Tuesday afternoon from Dallas to JFK, and that was going to be via Baltimore. The AA counter person told me jetBlue has a red-eye and the B6 (why is jetBlue referred to as B6?) counter is across the way. While my wife stayed at AA, I was able to get 4 tickets on B6 to get us home by Tuesday morning. It worked out so much better than considering going to Dallas and finding a hotel and then getting a flight from Dallas to JFK on Tuesday, possibly Wednesday.

Seat13c
Apr 3, 07, 12:17 pm
why is jetBlue referred to as B6?

Each commercial airline is assigned a 2 letter identifier by the IATA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IATA). For JetBlue (yes, it is a less obvious), it is B6. Other airlines include CO for Continental, NW for Nortwest, and F9 for Frontier.

a330300
Apr 3, 07, 3:47 pm
Unless the redemption rates on vouchers go up, I don't think it'll affect the company too much. Like a previous poster mentioned, JetBlue pretty much gives away vouchers like candy - $25 for delayed bags, etc. Similar to Independence Air's Happy Bags campaign, the actual cost of the vouchers is relatively low due to the redemption rates.

JerseyVics
Apr 4, 07, 11:00 am
Unless the redemption rates on vouchers go up, I don't think it'll affect the company too much. Like a previous poster mentioned, JetBlue pretty much gives away vouchers like candy - $25 for delayed bags, etc. Similar to Independence Air's Happy Bags campaign, the actual cost of the vouchers is relatively low due to the redemption rates.


that is so true, I have an award flight waiting to be redeemed and I don't know if I'll be flying again by August of this year. I'm sure I will but I doubt I'd want to redeem a free round trip for a $39 JFK - BOS round trip.

I'll be sure to redeem the $50 bux though, I'm assuming that it doesn't expire so I can let it be until I need it, I'm curious though how I could redeem it online so that I still get double points for online booking versus calling the 800 number.

--Russ

defiance96
Apr 4, 07, 11:20 am
that is so true, I have an award flight waiting to be redeemed and I don't know if I'll be flying again by August of this year. I'm sure I will but I doubt I'd want to redeem a free round trip for a $39 JFK - BOS round trip.

I'll be sure to redeem the $50 bux though, I'm assuming that it doesn't expire so I can let it be until I need it, I'm curious though how I could redeem it online so that I still get double points for online booking versus calling the 800 number.

--Russ

You assume wrong. The $50 will expire in one year.

You can't redeem it online.

JerseyVics
Apr 4, 07, 11:28 am
You assume wrong. The $50 will expire in one year.

You can't redeem it online.

yea it says that right in the e-mail, I should pay more attention.

at least I have more time to redeem it than the award flight.

oh well

jetBlueNYFL
Apr 4, 07, 12:51 pm
You assume wrong. The $50 will expire in one year.

You can't redeem it online.

You're right, it can't be redeemed online - HOWEVER, any vouchers can be redeemed on the phone and are still eligable to earn DOUBLE points - just tell the agent since you can't book online.

dinosims
Apr 4, 07, 2:23 pm
I'm curious though how I could redeem it online so that I still get double points for online booking versus calling the 800 number.

--Russ

Or, you could book it online, and then call up and ask to apply it to an itinerary you just purchased, and they'll refund the $50 to your original form of payment.

j3823x
Apr 4, 07, 7:06 pm
that is so true, I have an award flight waiting to be redeemed and I don't know if I'll be flying again by August of this year. I'm sure I will but I doubt I'd want to redeem a free round trip for a $39 JFK - BOS round trip.

I find it really crazy that you're forced to use it within a year but the rules are the rules.

Nevertheless it can be used by someone other than you. There must be someone you can think of that could put it to good use. One option, if push comes to shove, is to PM one of your favorite posters here and offer it up to them or one of their friends.

Also, assuming you earned the reward last August, you have to use it by this year's August, but its good for tickets as far out as the schedules go, probably till Jan or Feb 08 at that point.

But don't let it go to waste! Its a decent gift for someone.

Tanic
Apr 5, 07, 1:20 am
Each commercial airline is assigned a 2 letter identifier by the IATA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IATA). For JetBlue (yes, it is a less obvious), it is B6.

Jet Blue's ICAO identifier is a more sensible JBU.



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