JetBlue TrueBlue - NY to Seattle: Direct or Connect in Boston

I am about to book my first Jet Blue flight and can use some advice. I'm flying from New York to Seattle on business in mid November. Obviously, I'd prefer a direct flight but my only option is the red eye which doesn't get in until 11:30 PT. My other option is flying to Boston and connecting to a flight that gets me in at 9pm PT. I suppose what I'm asking is, how reliable are Jet Blue connections? Am I safer going with the direct flight? I really need to be in Seattle the next day. I realize, of course, that no one can predict weather... Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have found Boston to have fewer problems even with connections. Weather really doesn't effect Boston to much unless it is a major event. NYC usually has daily ground stops and ground delay programs which may delay the arrival of your NYC-SEA aircraft. If you want to book NYC-BOS-SEA but then find that the NYC-BOS flight is delayed due to weather or what not you should be able to try and standby on the NYC-SEA flight or even get switched out right so you don't have to worry about the connection and even vise versa.

The NYC-BOS-SEA trip gets you away frm JFK before the dinnertime / evening congestion really paralyzes the place, and Boston Logon never suffers the congestion delays JFK does. I'd book via Boston, and you'll get to SEA in time for a decent night's sleep too.

The problem with BOS however is if weather hits JFK, things will get really bad. If the weather hits anywhere, actually, the E190 schedule between JFK-BOS can get very messy.

If you are concerned about arriving in Seattle so late, just book the American Airlines nonstop that day, which looks to have a better schedule, and isn't much more expensive than B6 right now.

I've flown this route countless times on all 3 airlines that service it (AA, DL, and B6).

AA (flight 269 I believe) has a daily departure at 4:30 or thereabouts. This flight always seems to be late whenever I'm on it. Given that, as well as AA's lackluster service (I was once on a SEA-DFW flight where there was no beverage service) and bag charges, I try to avoid this flight. However, AA has lately tended to be the cheapest option of the three, fees excluded.

DL usually has 4:30 and 7:30 departures (as well as an 8am). These are good options, usually DL flies 757s with PTVs on this route, though during the offseason they've thrown in 737s. I've had great luck with the 4:30 flight in terms of an on-time arrival. However, the 7:30 flight is usually a nightmare. I've almost always been at least an hour late on that flight. DL has drastically raised prices on this route though. I haven't flown them since January.

B6's flight 83 is is a mixed bag. I recall several times where I have been very late, but there is one time where I actually arrived an hour and a half early! That was during peak holiday travel no less. B6 has, by far, the best Y product of the three. However, T6 is a zoo, though luckily that will be fixed soon with the opening of T5.

I would advise against connecting in Boston - it can only cause problems that will lead you to lose sleep the night before :)! Too many things can go wrong at JFK.

Thanks everyone! Wow! A 50/50 split. Two say connect thru Boston; two say go direct from NYC. Do we have a tie breaker? Other airlines in economy are not an option. The extra comfort is important to me.

Thanks everyone! Wow! A 50/50 split. Two say connect thru Boston; two say go direct from NYC. Do we have a tie breaker? Other airlines in economy are not an option. The extra comfort is important to me.

Comfort? You could charter a private jet. :D

But, since that's probably not an option, I'd go with the direct flight. Either way, you have to fly out of JFK. Atleast you're dealing with one less plane that might have MX issues and one less city that might have WX issues in. That's just my humble opinion.

But, since that's probably not an option, I'd go with the direct flight. Either way, you have to fly out of JFK. Atleast you're dealing with one less plane that might have MX issues and one less city that might have WX issues in. That's just my humble opinion.

^
Fewer flights = fewer chances for things to go wrong. The only reason I'd take the BOS connection is if you had a need to be in SEA earlier in the evening. Otherwise you spend 3-4 hours extra travel time on the outbound, which I'd avoid when possible.

Like everybody else said, if you don't have to get there early than take the direct. Less moving parts means less chances of things going wrong. You can always doube check the day of travel but I'd still stick out for the direct flight and just wait.