Originally Posted by hobo13

The OP says it's their first time flying JetBlue. Moreover, the OP's trip is one in which arriving on schedule is most likely critical. It is well-documented here on FT that many frequent flyers avoid JetBlue for critical flights such as this -- just see the other thread where a poster says they will fly DL to BOS because they don't want to risk JetBlue canceling the flight and subsequently missing the Red Sox game. They will fly JetBlue home when it's not critical. Yes, Sox games are expensive, but would you rather miss a baseball game or a cruise?

There's no hijacking of threads going on here -- the premise behind FlyerTalk is that people share information. If I was considering flying JetBlue for the first time, I would sure as heck want to know that they have a higher probability of leaving me stranded. I might still fly them, but at least I would be informed. And if I have extra time, I would allow an extra day or two (or perhaps book back-up refundable tickets on a legacy) such that I'm assured of getting there. There are lots of ways to hedge the risk of flying B6.

What type of thorough examination would you like? Shall we quote the on-time statistics? Personally, I don't feel they are of much use. I care more about the fat-tails of the distribution curve. How often does an airline fail to get a pax to their destination within 24 hours? Within 48? That's the stuff that matters to people who are booking a flight and need to be somewhere for an event. But the media, and the general population, don't understand statistics, so you're not going to find those sorts of numbers. That's the beauty of FlyerTalk -- the collective wisdom of thousands of flyers is aggregated into one place. Lots of people share their JetBlue experiences, good and bad. I can point out how BOS-DEN has been canceled 3 times in a stretch of 4 days, or how my buddy got stranded in SJC after B6 canceled his flight and wanted to rebook him for the following Weds. On the other hand, you can point out how wonderful JetBlue is because you get to watch TV. In the end, lots of opinions are shared, and we all learn from it.

Finally, I'll point out that if all the JetBlue detractors left this forum, it would be a pretty boring place. And not particularly useful either.