LK1234

Thank you RWPrincess. Yes, she's better.

ijgordon

Very touching, thanks for sharing.

FBWFTW

YOU should be ashamed of yourself. Are you as soulless as Jeff Smisek or something?
You think they ONLY care about the publicity?

Let's review:
-They have a "hub" at MCO
-ALL their training is in Orlando/MCO
-IIRC, some of THEIR employees were either at the club or had friends there.
-Their employees CARE about their pax-as evidenced by the care the FA's and entire plane gave to the grieving grandmother.

In other news:
-B6 flew police officers from the entire country to the NYPD funerals NO CHARGE in the not too distant past.
-During Hurricane Sandy, B6 rounded up food trucks and provided 25000+ meals in the affected communities.
-They matched $100K in donations to the One Fund after the Marathon Bombings in Boston
-In addition, after the Marathon victims had to relive their horrific experience, B6 flew them all to Red Sox spring training in FL. (They had entered a contest and B6 just did it for free!)

I suggest you google the term
"N598JB" and take a good hard look at the plane. Make sure you read ALL the words on the plane. Everytime there's something B6 can help with, they step right up to the plate no questions asked.

I'm proud to have so many friends from pilots to FA's to ramp workers and dispatchers that work for B6. I can honestly say that they'd all do these kinds of things with or without company backing. But in this case the company leads the charge and sets the example for their employees to follow.
Stick that in your publicity stunt bonnet and have a glass of sunshine. It sure seems like you need it.

chrisny2

That's beautiful - I hadn't seen it before. Thanks for sharing it.

FBWFTW

You're welcome! They certainly seem to always practice what they preach. Hence my bit of a rant above ;-)

RWPrincess

I flew on N598JB aka Bluemanity last month. I too have a number of crewmember friends and their enthusiasm and passion for the company is definitely obvious.

I just want to also reiterate my earlier post in that JetBlue made one announcement about the free flight offer. The rest of the press is a result of that announcement going viral quickly.

Other airlines and corporations have also responded to the events in Orlando:
--Both the Walt Disney Company and NBC/Universal made $1 million donations to One Orlando Fund
--JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, sent flowers to the funeral of the Universal team member who died. He had worked the Harry Potter and Forbidden Journey ride at Islands of Adventure theme park.
--I've seen posts about Delta and Southwest also offering flights to family members
--One of the victims is a Southwest crewmember and they have been posting about her recovery and how they've supported her. I've also seen crew members from other airlines posting about her.
--Lots of formal and informal vigils being held in Orlando and throughout the world. There is a big one at Magic Kingdom at 11:30 tonight and Oriental Trading Company donated glow sticks for the event.

So the activity is not exclusive to JetBlue. They are just getting a lot of the press because one of their initial posts went viral quickly. Not a bad thing.

lquig1952

I think while - JetBlue did receive positive press - I don't believe that was their goal. I worked for AA for 40+ years and we've done similar things for other catastrophes as a community effort...
JetBlue has a presence in Orlando - and I would rather error on the side they did it for the right reasons - vs - publicity ...
They could have gotten publicity any other way - any day !!
Half full glass - please !!!
The families of the Orlando victims could have choosen to use another airline if they wanted to.

7Continents

Agree with the rest, if people who had a true reason for help in an unhappy situation got it, who cares about some non-tangible side event?

stevens397

Reminds me of a story that affected my wife's family. The family's cemetery plots are in a very old site in Queens dating back to the 1800's. Very, very few of the people buried there have identifiable descendants. As you can imagine, this beautiful cemetery was totally overgrown and an eyesore. Fortunately, the family plots were near the entrance so they would pay a caretaker to keep that area trimmed but you could barely see the rest of the cemetery. Very sad.

Some NY synagogues would sporadically come and try to help but it was an overwhelming job. Then one day the Mormons decided to help out this Jewish cemetery. Some were skeptical and wondered what their ulterior motives were. These rest, like my wife's family, were just grateful. Should we not simply appreciate acts of kindness without worrying over their motives? How would you feel if their motives were good but in the end, they did nothing?

The good news is that an organization was finally formed and funded to rescue a number of cemeteries like this. We were shocked at the next visit to see how magnificent this cemetery was.

morex4

Free publicity? Who cares! I didn't see the other airlines jumping to give them free flights. I am guessing many of those heartbroken families could care less if the airline got publicity out of the goodwill gesture.

donaldsc

As long as Jet Blue does not run TV ads telling the world how wonderful they are, I can't see any problem with their generosity. How is it hurting the OP?

DON

copwriter

JetBlue has on several recent occasions offered free flights for up to two officers from any agency who wanted to attend the funeral of a slain police officer. The funerals I remember specifically were for NYPD cops who were killed, but it seems like there have been others. I have not seen one JetBlue-sponsored ad/announcement about this. They have made the offer known through organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund, and just quietly delivered the mourners to their destinations and back.

pcoll

Alaska airlines also offered free airfare for family members and partners for the travesty in Orlando.
They also provided a large donation to the fund.
Seattle had our pride weekend this last weekend and Alaska employees did a great tribute to Orlando and such positive messages in the parade. They were one of the stand outs in the parade IMHO.
Seattle Pride.