Flight: B6 687
Carrier: JetBlue
Origin: Boston General Edward Logan Intl. (BOS/KBOS)
Destination: Washington Ronald Reagan National (DCA/KDCA)
ETD: 11:10 EST/1220z UTC
ETA: 12:49 EST/1310z UTC
Duration: 1:39h
Fare: Economy w/o Extras
Aircraft: Airbus Industries A320-200 N649JB "Fancy Meeting Blue Here"
Seats: 16EF,17EF


After only one night in the Holiday Inn Beacon Hill in Boston (see below for comments on the numerous hotels we visited during the trip), it was time to head to the airport again to meet the rest of the gang. The others had booked this flight by lowest price and had only paid about USD 50 per person for the single leg, while my later booking yielded approximately USD 80 (still a very reasonble price for a single leg of this distance - definitely on par with LH's intra-german single-trip fares). And as I had neither heard nor read about JetBlue before booking the flight, I didn't really know what to expect. Wikipedia (at least the german version) lists JetBlue as a low-cost airline while the in-flight services announced on their website led me to the conclusion that B6 is definitely not a low-cost carrier (in terms of no-frills etc.).

Check-in was a bit fussy as the booking system had crashed just before I arrived in the check-in hall and I had to wait for about 15 minutes while the attendants tried to boot every single check-in counter in order to find one that was working. One piece of baggage is free, additional baggage may be checked for a fee (which is quite reasonable as well). B6 more or less have their own terminal in Logan, which didn't look very special. Just an ordinary domestic airport terminal with a limited number of small shops, an electronics vending machine and quite a lot of Dunkin' Donuts outlets (obviously, DD are a sponsor of B6). Security did take veeeeery long (I believe we queued for about half an hour as they clearly had too few trays to put your hand luggage through the x-ray machine) and we proceeded to have a paper cup of coffee while waiting for our flights. The waiting areas have seats with power sockets and usb ports (to charge phones) but otherwise resembled the usual waiting areas in airports around the world - no lounge here, of course. By the way, the queue for "even more"-customers (who receive exit row seats or seats in the first several rows of the plane, as well as fast-track security at a certain fee) was almost as long as the queue for standard passengers. Glad that we haven't taken the extra offer.

The flight was delayed by about half an hour due to late arrival, but they made announcements every few minutes to keep us informed. Boarding went as usual, and the plane was really packed. The seats are quite comfortable, and, being used to LH and LX NEK products, I found the slogan "even more" quite appropriate - even in row 17, the legroom was better than expected and absolutely ok for a flight of this duration (sorry, I forgot to take a legroom shot). The seats on this plane very much resembled the old LH product in terms of cushioning and appearance.

After a quick takeoff, we did a full circle around the airport (very strange as I couldn't find any SID that would require a 360 degrees turn) and service commenced. And this did indeed impress me. Instead of delivering small servings of drinks from the trolley as I'm used to by flying LH or LX, the FAs came round to take orders. Definitely not a low-cost airline, serving their regular passengers in a way that you'd only get in business class back in Europe. And instead of pouring a small amount of coke from a bottle, they served an entire regular can.


A full can of coke

While alcoholic drinks are subject to a (not really cheap) fee, coffee and tea are Dunkin' Donuts branded and also come in quite large servings compared to european standards.


Dunkin' Donuts tea

After all passengers had received their drink, snack service commenced. We had the choice between a sweet option (I don't really remember what it was) or their signature potatoe chips made from purple Vitelotte potatoes (these chips are quite expensive if you are ever able to find them in a local supermarked back home) which were handed out from a large bag.


Purple chips

The rest of the flight went fairly uneventful (my companions were mostly playing around with the live tv entertainment system which is built into every headrest) and although all of them are more or less afraid of flying, nobody seemed to be overly anxious. After a spectacular approach to RWY19 we landed about 10 minutes behind schedule, collected our baggage and took the hike to the metro station.

I really have to say that the level of service and especially the value for money have impressed me quite a bit. Usually, I don't expect too much from economy class flights (and even from shorter business class flights), but this airline really outperformed anything that I've ever experienced in economy class. If I had to take domestic US flights, I would not hesitate to book them again, regardless of alliances or mileage programs.