JetBlue TrueBlue - Stuck in Long Beach - learned some interesting things

So this is my first time flying JetBlue in about a year. Not terribly thrilled. There's good, bad and ugly... Let's get the bad/ugly out of the way.

- Flight was announced delayed at 1:00pm from LGB to SFO. Reps announced plenty of seats available still on a flight to Oakland at 1:30pm, but then started turning people away when they realized all the work involved in moving the bags from one plane to another may delay the Oakland flight. Asked those of us with bags to stay put, that the delay was minor.

- Delay was extended to 4:00pm. Pilot announced that a replaced navigational computer still was not working properly and that they were on the phone to some folks in Brazil to try and figure out what was wrong. Yikes? This does not calm my nerves! Though I do appreciate the honesty.

- At 5:00pm, it was announced that there was no way the plane was taking off. After 3 hours of waiting. Lame :-(


Now, the good (and interesting)

- Rep at the counter informed me that JetBlue offers a free taxi voucher to LAX! She would refund our ticket (no voucher for the delay though) to use on a competing airline who could actually get us home and pay for our cab, free.

- They put out snacks for the entire terminal (there were a lot of delays). That was very, very cool.

- They decided to use the plane from an incoming flight from Austin to get all of us home since it had no other destination. SWEET! Go JetBlue - no other airline would do this IMHO.


Anyway, it's interesting!

Comments?

- They decided to use the plane from an incoming flight from Austin to get all of us home since it had no other destination. SWEET! Go JetBlue - no other airline would do this IMHO.

Most airlines will shift planes around to cover broken equipment. WN is the best about it, cascading minor delays through a series of flights while they repair one busted plane, keeping the overall inconvenience to a minimum and getting the plane fixed, at least in airports where they have sufficient flight volume.

So it sounds like they ended up flying your flight with the replacement aircraft rather than actually canceling it, right?

The voucher to get you to LAX was a nice touch, assuming you could find seats for a reasonable price. I don't blame them for not wanting to move folks with checked baggage. That seems like a reasonable policy.

Most airlines will shift planes around to cover broken equipment. WN is the best about it, cascading minor delays through a series of flights while they repair one busted plane, keeping the overall inconvenience to a minimum and getting the plane fixed, at least in airports where they have sufficient flight volume.

So it sounds like they ended up flying your flight with the replacement aircraft rather than actually canceling it, right?

The voucher to get you to LAX was a nice touch, assuming you could find seats for a reasonable price. I don't blame them for not wanting to move folks with checked baggage. That seems like a reasonable policy.

Despite my bickering, yes, all this is actually a pretty reasonable response to a delay. I guess it's only frustrating because the entire trip is 6 hours by car (heh). We've been here 7 hours :(

The replacement flight has not arrived here yet, so I can't tell you how the trip went :) The inbound flight is on flightstats.com and shows the inbound plane on-time at 7:30pm PST here, so they can turn it around and I guess we'll be going around 8pm.

We'll see what happens.


Does anyone know how the voucher delay system works? Has anyone ever received a voucher from JetBlue? Are they hard to use? I'm referring to the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights... If they do take off at 8pm, then we'll be 6+ hours, which apparently is a full refund in the form of a credit/voucher?

- Darren

Good luck!

The voucher system is supposed to be automatic and they will send you an email with the details. I'd give it a couple days before following up on the situation, especially with the holidays mid-week.

Good luck!

The voucher system is supposed to be automatic and they will send you an email with the details. I'd give it a couple days before following up on the situation, especially with the holidays mid-week.

thanks :) Hope that's true! That'd be cool. I will say, the gate staff here have treated us really nicely. If this had happened on United (where I am 2P) I suspect I would have been SOL by now. Maybe I will fly JetBlue more often.


Another question... Does anyone fly this route often? Is it always late? The flightstats rating shows it's on-time 0.3 out of 5.0 times, but I don't really know what that means...

so why is it that snowstorms are considered "uncontrollable" but a failed navigation computer isn't? is JetBlue supposed to have kept the computer from failing somehow, or is the "controllable" part that they should have had a spare closer to hand so it was a short delay rather than a 6-hour delay?

is it just that the difference is that they're willing to pay compensation to one airplane's worth of passengers, but not to a whole airport full?

so why is it that snowstorms are considered "uncontrollable" but a failed navigation computer isn't? is JetBlue supposed to have kept the computer from failing somehow, or is the "controllable" part that they should have had a spare closer to hand so it was a short delay rather than a 6-hour delay?

is it just that the difference is that they're willing to pay compensation to one airplane's worth of passengers, but not to a whole airport full?

Mechanical failures are generally considered to be within the airline's control, as they can perform appropriate maintenance or have necessary spares available to deal with them. Weather cannot be managed.

Looks like the flight finally got out at 8:30pm, likely using the aircraft that was scheduled to operate the 6:05pm departure that was canceled. I guess they had either low enough loads or sufficient people moved to other flights that they could combine them down to a single plane.

Weather cannot be managed.

Obviously weather cannot be controlled, but it can be managed around to some extent, or at least the recovery from a period of bad weather could be managed....

Again, I'm just still a little frustrated that a one hour mechanical delay gets a voucher, but the fact that JetBlue couldn't fly me out of Seattle for three days after flights resumed in Seattle (six day total delay) doesn't!

Obviously weather cannot be controlled, but it can be managed around to some extent, or at least the recovery from a period of bad weather could be managed....

Agreed...bad choice of word on my part.

Now, the good (and interesting)

- Rep at the counter informed me that JetBlue offers a free taxi voucher to LAX! She would refund our ticket (no voucher for the delay though) to use on a competing airline who could actually get us home and pay for our cab, free.


Comments?

And I bet if you take them up on this, you likely get nothing under the Customer Bill of Rights, because it would be seen as a non-purchase. You requested a refund, and they gave it to you. So its not quite clear to me this is a good thing at all, especially given what you'd likely pay for a walk-up fare.

i have a 3.5 hour layover in LGB in a few weeks. i've never been, so what is there to do? any bars/restaurants to get a bite to eat?

And I bet if you take them up on this, you likely get nothing under the Customer Bill of Rights, because it would be seen as a non-purchase. You requested a refund, and they gave it to you. So its not quite clear to me this is a good thing at all, especially given what you'd likely pay for a walk-up fare.

Depends. I'd rather my money back in cash than a voucher, assuming I am not going to get to fly anyways. If there were seats open and a reasonable fare (the great unknown) then getting real cash back that could potentially cover the new ticket would be better than a voucher and a flight 6 hours delayed with some uncertainty around that number at the time the taxi was offered.

i have a 3.5 hour layover in LGB in a few weeks. i've never been, so what is there to do? any bars/restaurants to get a bite to eat?

Ammenities at LGB are a little more basic compared to most airports. If you don't mind renting a car and passing back through security at LGB, you may want leave the airport for something good to eat/drink.

Outside of security, up above the main ticket lobby is a good restaurant called the prop room. If you don't mind going back thru security I would recommend eating there as the food is good and gives you a great overview of the field and our operations.

Outside of security, up above the main ticket lobby is a good restaurant called the prop room. If you don't mind going back thru security I would recommend eating there as the food is good and gives you a great overview of the field and our operations.

thanks! what's the beer selection like?

i also have a 4 hour layover at JFK on my way to OAK, i'm excited to see the new T5!

They recently remodled and I don't get out to LGB much in the winter, but from what I remember they do have a pretty good beer selection.

They recently remodled and I don't get out to LGB much in the winter, but from what I remember they do have a pretty good beer selection.

awesome thanks! first time on B6...i'm excited.

Hi folks,
Well, here's what ended up happening.

JetBlue did, infact, figure out a way to turn the inbound aircraft from Austin around to have it take us to San Francisco. I think they get big points for that. In my experience, United would have just stranded us with a cancelled flight (although, in their defense, United would have 30 other options to choose from so no biggie).

Even more so, JetBlue made good on their promise and sent ALL passengers on the flight a full refund for the entire trip due to the extraordinary circumstances. I received my voucher by email. I confirmed my other traveler, on a different PNR, received one also.

This actually seems more then reasonable - I would have been OK with a one-way voucher for the flight segment that was delayed so horribly. In addition, they put out free snacks and drinks in the concourse! I've never seen that done before.

I can't say this was a good experience. Airport to airport took nearly 12 hours for what is a 6 hour door to door drive! But I guess JetBlue can't have every plane working perfectly all the time. We know it, they know it, so at least they refunded the fare.

I won't stop flying JetBlue due to this incident (unlike United Express, which I've now learned to avoid at all costs). Thanks for being reasonable, B6!

- Darren

Thanks for working with us, Darren. Glad our LGB crew took good care of you.

Hi folks,
Well, here's what ended up happening.

JetBlue did, infact, figure out a way to turn the inbound aircraft from Austin around to have it take us to San Francisco. I think they get big points for that. In my experience, United would have just stranded us with a cancelled flight (although, in their defense, United would have 30 other options to choose from so no biggie).

Even more so, JetBlue made good on their promise and sent ALL passengers on the flight a full refund for the entire trip due to the extraordinary circumstances. I received my voucher by email. I confirmed my other traveler, on a different PNR, received one also.

This actually seems more then reasonable - I would have been OK with a one-way voucher for the flight segment that was delayed so horribly. In addition, they put out free snacks and drinks in the concourse! I've never seen that done before.

I can't say this was a good experience. Airport to airport took nearly 12 hours for what is a 6 hour door to door drive! But I guess JetBlue can't have every plane working perfectly all the time. We know it, they know it, so at least they refunded the fare.

I won't stop flying JetBlue due to this incident (unlike United Express, which I've now learned to avoid at all costs). Thanks for being reasonable, B6!

- Darren

Getting a full refund on a ticket when they actually got you there is a great deal so be happy!. Certainly would not have happend on UA or any other airline. You'd have been lucky to get 5K miles.

Great treatment by JetBlue.

Getting a full refund on a ticket when they actually got you there is a great deal so be happy!. Certainly would not have happend on UA or any other airline. You'd have been lucky to get 5K miles.

Great treatment by JetBlue.

Complete nonsense. I've received full refunds before from UA and AA in similar situations.

well, flew B6 IAD-JFK-OAK...very impressed. i love the directv! and jfk T5 is unreal.

i just hope all goes well for my flights back tomorrow...SFO-LGB-IAD. loads look alright. i hope they're not full, but i doubt it since everyone is leaving washington and not going.

just landed at 5am from LGB. all in all, i'm impressed with B6. i like the specialty drink offerings, but the price is a lil high. not a fan of $7 for pillows and blankets, but it is what it is. i love directv. makes the flight go quicker.

LGB, though, is a dump. but i was only connecting, so i'm sure it's really convenient for the locals...but connecting. man. i liked the bar/restaurant though! sitting outside was nice.

just landed at 5am from LGB. all in all, i'm impressed with B6. i like the specialty drink offerings, but the price is a lil high. not a fan of $7 for pillows and blankets, but it is what it is. i love directv. makes the flight go quicker.

LGB, though, is a dump. but i was only connecting, so i'm sure it's really convenient for the locals...but connecting. man. i liked the bar/restaurant though! sitting outside was nice.

I think you'll find a lot of B6 pax that share your complaints about the $7 pillow/blanket package and expecially the lack of a bar/restuarant at LGB. However, if memory serves me right, JetBlueFA did mention on time that there is one on the property that provides a good view of the airfield.

I think you'll find a lot of B6 pax that share your complaints about the $7 pillow/blanket package and expecially the lack of a bar/restuarant at LGB. However, if memory serves me right, JetBlueFA did mention on time that there is one on the property that provides a good view of the airfield.

yeah, i went to the bar that had a great view of the apron...sat outside and everything. it was nice! 70 degrees compared to what it is now in DC.

yeah, i went to the bar that had a great view of the apron...sat outside and everything. it was nice! 70 degrees compared to what it is now in DC.

Don't remind me about the weather here in the northeast and it being better somewhere else. :mad:

How pricy is the bar at LGB?

Don't remind me about the weather here in the northeast and it being better somewhere else. :mad:

How pricy is the bar at LGB?

pricier then i thought it was going to be. but they serve beers in HUGE glasses.

Don't remind me about the weather here in the northeast and it being better somewhere else. :mad:

Don't remind me! I'm in BUF right now and it is pretty chilly outside. Luckly my next trip takes me to FLL/PBI/FLL and then the trip following that has some nice SJU/HPN/SJU layovers!

Don't remind me! I'm in BUF right now and it is pretty chilly outside. Luckly my next trip takes me to FLL/PBI/FLL and then the trip following that has some nice SJU/HPN/SJU layovers!

PBI, FLL, SJU :D^
HPN, BUF :td::mad:

pricier then i thought it was going to be. but they serve beers in HUGE glasses.

I guess the two balance themselves out. How's the beer selection?

PBI, FLL, SJU :D^
HPN, BUF :td::mad:



I guess the two balance themselves out. How's the beer selection?

let me see if i can remember...they were out of SA, but they had guiness, sierra nevada, bud light, stella, and something else. only like 5 beers...nothing like the sports bar that's at T5 in JFK that had something like 20 taps.

they were on the phone to some folks in Brazil to try and figure out what was wrong. Yikes? This does not calm my nerves!


That's routine. The manufacturer's have engineering support available to the airlines at all times and it's used frequently.

Plus they are the ones that put the darn thing together so they should know more about it and it's systems than our MX guys.