Originally Posted by
jetsetter
Ticket Counter Experience:
The Hyatt Crystal City shuttle dropped me off at DCA at Terminal A. Apparently this terminal is somehow disconnected from the main DCA terminal building. At some point, I thought B6 might be operating out of the CO gate area, but this appears to be a different building than the mmajor parts of DCA.
They are physically connected via a hallway. It is about a 5 minute walk to the checkpoint where CO/DL operate from.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
Lousy Change and Same Day Change Provisions:
Even US Airways treats its lowely Silver preferred members better when it comes to same day changes. JetBlue only allows a pax to standby for free on an adjacent flight, either the next earlier or later (I forget which one) flight? Otherwise they charge a $40 same day confirmed change fee. They also have a legacy carrier like draconian $100 standard change fee, and language that if you miss your flight you will forfit the funds, I suppose technically even if you don't call them beforehand on the same day.
One can fly standby for free on the immediate prior flight or $40 same-day change or $100 change fee. These fees are rather lower than what most other carriers charge. And B6 offers the free standby to everyone, not just top-tier elites like UA, CO, DL, etc.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
I am constantly back and forth from DC to Boston, and these rigid change provisions are unacceptable! As I said even US Airways generally allows same day free standby for even silver preferred members. I am often having to change the date or time of my flight often at the airport.
You are welcome to purchase flexible tickets to meet that need.
Plus, the US free standby option is only available if they cannot confirm you on the desired flight; in that case it would be $50 compared to the $40 on B6. Yes, it is waived for Silver elites on US but not on most other carriers. I do not think that the B6 policy is particularly uncompetitive here.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
Southwest is also very compelling in this regard with no change or cancellation fees or hassles. If I accidentally miss my Southwest flight they've never given me a hard time about either confirming or going standby later on. I have not really tried to get on an earlier WN same day flight other than in a weather irrops situation when of course they did not charge me. I routinely cancel and change trips, and WN and its robust web site win hands down in this regard for flexibility!
Sure, no change fees, but you always pay the fare difference. If you paid $69 for the ticket and want to fly 2 hours early and the new flight is $269 then you pay $200, not $40 or $50 or free. Also, WN has
recently made some adjustments to their TTF policy that are not particularly customer-friendly.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
JetBlue Web Site
As noted earlier, not the best site, heavy use of flash, hard to use, not very robust. Random errors like I got with web check in. No cell phone boarding passes.
I couldn't agree more, particularly about the Flash bit.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
Rule 120.20 FIM
I am not sure if B6 has a rule 120.20 agreement to move pax to other airlines. WN has no such agreement. This is where being a legacy elite can shine. Even FL can FIM to US and UA. FL once gave me a FIM to US to fly to DCA when I had an issue with my FL BWI flight.
B6 does, actually, now, though it is only used in very limited circumstances and with limited OALs.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
WiFi
Already mentioned. I don't see what JetBlue is holding out for waiting for this new provider. WN and @gogoinflight have good offerings and programs and real products available now. But some might rate the free tv as more important than WiFi.
Almost everyone rates TV more important than paid WiFi. The usage rates from gogo are pretty depressing. As for why they're waiting, it has to do with the fact that they had a product in development but
failed to actually get it out the door. Now they've
announced another product that will be quite impressive, assuming it gets into production, but it is still 18 months out. Pretty much every set of numbers I've seen suggest that being WiFi-enabled doesn't drive revenue to the carriers so it isn't particularly compelling.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
This might sound negative, but it just could be that JetBlue is really not after the high frequency traveler who travels say 50 to 100 segments a year. They might be focussed on people that take 1 to 5 trips a year, and those customers might be thrilled with the JetBlue experience!
I'm not sure that any of the points you noted above confirm this assertion. The in-flight experience on B6 is probably the best Coach experience in the domestic US market and the Caribbean/LatAm that B6 is growing in to. Given that the vast majority of folks are flying in Y - even if they are flying a lot - that is actually a pretty compelling offer.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
They dont' care about the same kinds of aspects of the product and service that I care about.
While this is certainly apparent from your review, I'm not so sure that it means your views represent those of all FFers.
Originally Posted by
jetsetter
My bigggest issue is with the $100 change/cancel fee and the lack of free flexible same day change options. I can live with it if unofficially B6 is not going to practically charge me these fees.
B6 will charge you those fees if you are supposed to pay them. I wouldn't expect otherwise. That said, there are a free and a discounted same-day change option that are pretty competitive in the market unless you're top-tier elite.