JetBlue TrueBlue - A collection of bad experiences on B6 (a master thread for the "cheerleaders")

So the common complaint: "Cheerleaders" for B6, or really any other airline, typically don't post the bad experiences, only the good. My assumption is that anyone with any loyalty to B6 has a TrueBlue account which lists your complete flight history..so...here is your assignment.

Go through your list of past flights....and list your Top-5 worst experiences with JetBlue.

Example:

1.) OCT 2006, AUS-JFK: The flight was delayed for nearly an hour, with no real need. We were outrightly lied to that it was something technical with the aircraft. The real reason: The TVs were broke and they decided to try to reset /fix them by powering down the aircraft a few times. They finally had to admit what the real reason was when they had to confess that the TV would not work during the flight. I felt lied to. Not a good reason to delay a flight, particularly since there was weather moving into NYC at the time.

2.) OCT 2006, PHX-JFK: Medical emergency onboard a redeye, with a flight crew who, while handling the situation, just seemed so stressed and panicky, that it didn't seem professional. Made all passengers near them feel on edge.

3.) SEPT 2006: RIC-JFK, completely obnoxious gate agent who wouldn't shut up about "teaching" us all about JetBlue and how to plug in headphones to watch the Television. This went on for about 30-45 minutes. Yes, it was a new market at the time, but it was also just bizzarely terrible to listen to when I just wanted to relax before getting on a plane.

4.) OCT 2006: JFK-DEN: Coffee lid disaster. Spilled it everywhere. Wasn't properly secured by the FA who rushed it over to me. Grrr.

5.) NOV 2005: Website was completely wrong about the hours of operation for check-in at SEA. I went early based on that information, thinking I could check-in and then get a nice dinner post-security-check. Instead, found myself stuck waiting for hours in the terminal, with no ability to print out a boarding pass (the kiosk had been turned off), and no where to go, since I had just returned my rental car.

(Thats honestly as bad as its gotten. I did my best to find something worse to complain about.)

I don't know, I have flown Jetblue at least a dozen times, and I have never had a problem with them. I have never had a problem with United, or US, or Continental. I don't really like American all that much, but that is on personal reasons, not because they have wronged me in any way. You complain about the one hour delay. I just consider that part of airline travel today. You take the good with the bad. But, you are right, that must make me a cheerleader.

What a great thread idea! Good job, defiance96! Contrary to what the occasional bashers believe, we do have our complaints. My name and signature proudly shows my support for this great airline...excuse me, customer service company that happens to fly airplanes :D, but jetBlue is NOT perfect. I just think they do a better job 9 times out of 10 than the rest of the industry.

Well, my flight history lists 44 flights I have taken between Aug. 30, 2005 and Aug. 5, 2007. Obviously there were more flights before 8/30/05. I'd estimate about 20 or so. It's hard to keep track of exact dates and routes, but I will try my best. Anyway, here are my top 5 worst experiences that come to mind (in no order):


Late August 2004, redeye SAN-JFK...older FA who was very rude. She reminded me of an elementary school teacher yelling at kids.

Just over a year ago, JFK-FLL, rude FA who did not smile once and spoke very unclear over the PA.

The infamous Feb. meltdown...that Fri. night (2/16), FLL-JFk, 3-hour delay due to the ripple effect of jetBlue's lack of organization that week. To be fair, I was alerted of the delay 3 hours prior to original departure and I received a $100 compensation voucher.

SEA-JFK redeye last March...2.5-hour Delay with NO explanation. For a flight that is supposed to depart just before midnight, taking off after 2am sucked...everyone was EXHAUSTESD. No reason at all for the delay...but not weather or ATC. To be fair, snack tables were set up at the gate (other airline customers even came over to enjoy the jetBlue snacks!) and $50 vouchers were offered to all pax. IMO, $50 was not enough, but more than other airlines would give.

Most recent, 8/3/07: sat on taxiway at JFK for 3+ hours after pushback and a 40 minute delay gpomg tp FLL. Can't blame jetBlue for ATC issues, and all airlines experience this at JFK especially. It was just irritating that there was literally 2 updates from the captain the whole time. Additionally, on the return wanted to change my flight same day confirmed from PBI to FLL. Long story short, spent 45 minutes on the phone with res. at 1am my time. Phone rep was very helpful and poltie; her supervisor was a complete idiot. I wrote in to SpeakUp (for the first time actually complaining) the other night and will post the response here when I get one.

July 2007: Flights to/from ROC were delayed 5 hours (due to weather). The JFK terminal was PACKED to the gills, and people were getting impatient and upset. Not really JetBlue's fault - all employees that I ran across were professional and courteous. But the new terminal can't come soon enough. And as for the delay in ROC, the gate agents ordered us pizza and brought out drinks, but they made it very clear that the refreshments were only for JetBlue customers.

February 2007: A few days after the whole fiasco, my flight from JFK to FLL had an ETD about 30 minutes past scheduled departure and the gate agents didn't say a word. Nonetheless, we still landed in FLL on time.

October 2005: 3-hour delay to FLL. Once again, no communication from JFK ground crew, and one very rude crewmember who told me that I made a mistake by going to the wrong gate when a false announcement was made over the loudspeaker telling us that we had a gate change (when we, in fact, did not). I reported him.

February 2004: A flight crew from JFK to ROC seemed to be very grumpy when the lead flight attendant made a bad impression in front of everyone. She yelled at several customer and was very rude the entire flight. I bet she isn't working for JetBlue any longer.

January 2004: Rude check-in agent at JFK; no eye contact, no smiles, nothing.

If this is all that I can complain about, I think I'm pretty lucky. There have been several experiences that I've had with JetBlue that have been flawless, such as my May 2007 trip to BOS - all flights on-time, all crewmembers friendly, etc. All airline have their problems - I've become accustomed to JetBlue's and have learned to handle them.

June 2007: BOS - JFK: went on a standby flight only to find out both my original flight and the standby will be leaving at the same time, and according to the person behind the counter possibly on the same plane (A320 instead of the scheduled E190) I sat there for two hours looking at an E190 parked at the gate while we were waiting for an A320 that hasn't even left JFK yet. Un-necessary!

June 2006: FLL-EWR: web site stated flight delays of several hours so on the way to the airport we stopped at the Seminole Hard Rock to kill some time, while calling for a flight status update were informed that the flight took off on time... Got to spend another day in South Florida after a heated 30 minute argument to let the price remain the same as they wanted to charge us for the price difference which was significant.

July 2006: FLL-EWR: Jet Blue made a big stink when my friend decided to change his itinerary. I booked our travel at the same time using a discounted fare through Booking Buddy which was about $10 cheaper than if you were to book direct. The catch was that since we were on the same confirmation number changes made to one person's itinerary would apply to the second person as well. Most ridiculous thing I've ever hears and took a long 45 minute argument to straighten it out, but eventually they cancelled both our trips and rebooked me for the same seat I was alredy confirmed for... Un-necessary again! Meanwhile tried to charge ME for the difference in price since I cancelled my ticket and wanted to rebook! I didn't want to cancel my ticket... I wanted to remain the same... its my friend who cancelled his!


These are the only ones that come to mind when I actually had to demand some common sense solution.... The rest were all weather related and wasn't necessarily Jet Blue's problem. But its funny how they handle some situations, most of them they ask for more money from the customer which I don't agree with.


--Russ

68 segments since JetBlue entered PIT on June 30, 2006. All but 2 were PIT-JFK-PIT (1050/1057) or PIT-BOS-PIT (1290/1297).

Bad experience:

JFK-PIT (1057) nearly every Thursday for the past 8 months:
No specific memorable events, just lots of long delays/tarmac waits. Flightstats.com shows an average delay of 97 minutes for JFK-PIT flight 1057 with an 18% on-time rate. Worst experiences were getting delayed due to inbound crew (non-airplane) issues, and subsequently getting the runaround on a bill of rights payout (happened 3 times so far). Seems that if any sort of "delay" issue exists at JFK, they'll seem to throw any comp out the window (even if it is due to them scheduling unrealistic turnaround times for crews).

Still, the recent fly-one-get-one free PIT promotion is enough to keep me happy.

Nearly all NYC-PIT evening flights are as bad (all things being equal - Delta's equivalent out of terminal 2 is 16%/68 minutes), so I'd rather have some TV to keep me occupied.

JFK-PIT (1057) nearly every Thursday for the past 8 months:
No specific memorable events, just lots of long delays/tarmac waits. Flightstats.com shows an average delay of 97 minutes for JFK-PIT flight 1057 with an 18% on-time rate.

Nearly all NYC-PIT evening flights are as bad (all things being equal - Delta's equivalent out of terminal 2 is 16%/68 minutes), so I'd rather have some TV to keep me occupied.

Had a 3 hour delay, with broken TVs last night... I think I jinxed myself. Still, my handy travel pillow seemed to do the trick, the seat next to me was open and I did the "double seat recline in the back row" trick, so I was able to sleep in peace from announcement to landing.

Did a transcon recently from SEA - JFK, enroute I called the #1 FA for a dietcoke and to my horror was politely told that there were none to be found. I was about to declare an emergency and divert however the day was saved by a very efficient first officer who broke into his private stash to alleviate my shaking.

I took my daughter to NYC from Buffalo. As you know, everything is "Blue" and the blue potato chips peaked her interest. But, she didn't like them so I asked the FA for a bag of cookies for her instead. You would have thought I had asked for his right arm. He gave me a glare like I haven't seen in a long time and then tossed the cookies at her with a quick wrist flick. Very rude.
All in all though they were nice flights. Everyone else at jetBlue was very polite.

All of my jetBlue experiences have been very pleasant. Having said this, I have been at the airport when other flights were delayed and thought, "Eww, I would not be happy if I were on THAT flight." I think if I had had one of the experiences where an ATC diversion to Atlantic City had occurred I would have been a very unhappy person.

The ONLY thing I can think of is my first departure from Boston. I couldn't figure out which finger in that terminal was airside, I was trying to ask a jetBlue agent in Boston, I was the rude New Yorker asking her to point me in the right direction while a terrified first time flyer was taking up all her time. She gave the passenger her undivided attention. While the agent did the right thing, it frustrated me because I wasn't clear where I was going.

Otherwise, I think jetBlue is the best thing to have happened to New York since the subways were constructed, and I think very highly of the airline.

OK OK so I'm an admitted JB, blue juice drinking, wing wearing kinda gal. I'm sorry to hear some of you have had a bad experience with one of our crewmembers. It only takes one short time, with a bad attitude employee, and you'll remember it forever.

I once traveled on JB out of uniform and didn't intro myself to the crew. To them I was just another passenger. I was shocked at how grumpy my FA appeared when she took my drink order, without a smile. I try, as do many of us here at JB, to be a pleasent as possible. Sometimes, after the 10th person won't even look at me, but just orders a coffee, with no please or thank you, I can feel my smile slipping.

People....please stop mumbling to your book, computer or TV. Look up and speak up! I'm standing over a jet engine here :(and I can hear all the noises in the cabin you don't hear. What I can't always hear is what you want to drink. :confused:

Stick around folks. We trying to do our best and thanks for flying with JB. Simple math...you fly...I fly.

Best regards

Simple math...you fly...I fly.


Looking forward to flying with you!

--Russ

PS. I always smile and use please and thank you...

OK OK so I'm an admitted JB, blue juice drinking, wing wearing kinda gal. I'm sorry to hear some of you have had a bad experience with one of our crewmembers. It only takes one short time, with a bad attitude employee, and you'll remember it forever.

I once traveled on JB out of uniform and didn't intro myself to the crew. To them I was just another passenger. I was shocked at how grumpy my FA appeared when she took my drink order, without a smile. I try, as do many of us here at JB, to be a pleasent as possible. Sometimes, after the 10th person won't even look at me, but just orders a coffee, with no please or thank you, I can feel my smile slipping.

People....please stop mumbling to your book, computer or TV. Look up and speak up! I'm standing over a jet engine here :(and I can hear all the noises in the cabin you don't hear. What I can't always hear is what you want to drink. :confused:

Stick around folks. We trying to do our best and thanks for flying with JB. Simple math...you fly...I fly.

Best regards

I don't know how you do it. Your job definately doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated...atleast in my book. I didn't notice that until a couple years ago when a NWA FA made a comment. I, along with a few other people I was traveling with, were exiting off the aircraft after a long flight (DTW-NGO...appox. 12hr flight), when one of the FAs stopped my co worker and said something to her. Right after we got off the plane, my co worker stopped us for a minute to tell us what the FA said. The FA had stopped her (my coworker) to have her (my coworker) extend her (the FA's) thanks to everyone in our party (7 of us) because we consistantly said please and thank you. My mouth dropped. It was something that just come naturally to myself, and my coworkers as well, to say please you ask for something and say thank you when you receive it as well as making eye contact every time you do it. After that, I kept on thinking "These FA's are overworked with crappy hours, severly underpaid, and really underappreciated by the general pubic for what they do."

Nevertheless, to you flying4aliving, jetblueFA, and all you other FA's out there reading this, you deserve a nice big thank you.

I flew JetBlue again last weekend - both flights were delayed, my outbound by one hour and my return by 2 hours and 15 minutes (both due to weather and ATC problems). On the outbound the gate agent seemed overwhelmed by the passengers asking her questions and the various delays in the airport, but all things considered I think she did a great job.

The inflight crew on both flights were good, especially on the return flight. We boarded and were about to push back when the pilot informed us that JFK ATC had a ground hold on our flight and we would be sitting around for an hour. What's worse - our TV's weren't working (the XM was at least). The inflight crew did a superb job explaining the ATC difficulties to the passengers and distributing water to everyone. Very, very friendly service all around. The pilot was especially helpful in giving three updated over the course of one hour concerning the JFK ATC problems, and he even informed us that if we didn't push back in X amount of minutes, he would allow us to deplane and sit in the terminal instead.

I guess JetBlue learned a lot from the Valentine's Day Fiasco. I really didn't mind the delays because the crew members seemed to go out of their way to help customers left and right. The last time I saw a flight attendant take down and lift carry-ons for customers? My last JetBlue flight this past weekend. Excellent.

Nearly all NYC-PIT evening flights are as bad (all things being equal - Delta's equivalent out of terminal 2 is 16%/68 minutes), so I'd rather have some TV to keep me occupied.

I fly this flight nearly weekly too, or the even more delayed flight 1055. From PIT-JFK I've been on-time about 30% of the time, which is pretty good for anything to JFK. From JFK-PIT I've never been on time and never received anything from JetBlue, even though the delays sometimes are obviously due to their own poor planning of turnaround rather than weather delays.

A little frustrating but my TV has worked on every flight so it definitely makes a big difference in keeping me occupied on the tarmac, and the free wireless in the terminal keeps me occupied there.

Can't say I've had multiple bad experiences on B6, but this is one I had to share. The weekend of July 4th, 2006, flying JFK-FLL. Literally 15 seconds after wheels up the woman directly behind me (middle seat) decides to take her small dog out of the carrier underneath her seat. Maybe the dog didn't like takeoff, but he decided that was the perfect moment to relieve his bowels all over her and her beautiful white tank top. Needless to say the entire cabin smelled like dog poop within 2 minutes. It wasn't enough of a reason to head back to JFK so we all got to put up with it for the 3 hours down to FLL. One FA tried to help by handing her a wad of paper towels and spraying some perfume around the area, but honestly there wasn't anything short of getting that woman and her dog off the plane that could help. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be in FLL.

Can't say I've had multiple bad experiences on B6, but this is one I had to share. The weekend of July 4th, 2006, flying JFK-FLL. Literally 15 seconds after wheels up the woman directly behind me (middle seat) decides to take her small dog out of the carrier underneath her seat. Maybe the dog didn't like takeoff, but he decided that was the perfect moment to relieve his bowels all over her and her beautiful white tank top. Needless to say the entire cabin smelled like dog poop within 2 minutes. It wasn't enough of a reason to head back to JFK so we all got to put up with it for the 3 hours down to FLL. One FA tried to help by handing her a wad of paper towels and spraying some perfume around the area, but honestly there wasn't anything short of getting that woman and her dog off the plane that could help. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be in FLL.

That sounds like a pretty crappy flight :D I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself. Unfortunatly when a smell get's pulled into the air conditioning is seems to remain with the air inside and doesn't seem to get vented out the relief valve. Usually we have some spray that is pretty good but i've never had any luck with doody smells, human or not.