Originally Posted by
moulder3
I will NEVER understand why B6 customers are cheering the arrival of A220 when it means losing the E190s. B6 will switch from 100 seat planes with NO middle seats and the most comfortable economy seats & legroom to new ~140 seat (longer load/unload and time to get checked bags) planes with reduced legroom, less comfortable seats & MIDDLE seats. I get why it's more economical for B6, but definitely a downgrade in customer experience.
As for the A321NEO, that's not a great plane either. I was excited to fly it for the first time a few months ago but wasn't blown away. It has the AWFUL SpaceFlex bathrooms and is a clear downgrade from the A321Mint and even the A320 from the economy passenger experience. Less legroom, bigger plane (longer load/unload & checked bag times) and again reduced legroom. You could make an argument the A321NEO is better than the non-Mint, 200 seat A321...but it's close.
It's hard for me to think of a better customer experience aircraft than A220. Just think about it this way, i think it was also certified for 6 across seating. Which should given you an idea of how much more width the seats have compared to other narrowbody aircraft. The pitch will still be 32 inches, so same as E90, but the seats will be wider. It will have larger window, larger luggage cabins, wider aisle, quieter interior (has the latest engines) and the newest generation IFE. Sure, it will have one middle seat per row, but airlines have got around that problem by offering 19 inch wide middle seat. I mean this aircraft was touted by DL as a premium experience aircraft. It has drawn rave reviews everywhere. And B6's version will have more leg room, better and free wifi + satellite TV. If I'm B6, I'd promote the heck out of the fact that this aircraft will be primary work horse of the future. It will probably replace a lot of A320 as well as E90 routes.
As for A321NEO, you'd have to compare all-core to all-core and mint config to mint config. The cabin should be quieter with the latest generation engines and it will also have pantry area which CEO didn't have. You can't possibly expect all-core version to be at mint level quality. And you can't expect B6 to be offering 34 inch pitch when all the airlines are offering 28 to 31 inch. But I do think that when mint 2.0 comes out, it will be an improvement over mint 1.0 with all aisle access J seating.
Originally Posted by
synzero
This sounds plausible but what concerns me about this trend is that it is not just cost cutting -- it is a shift in philosophy, to my mind in a self-defeating direction. In other words, penny wise, pound foolish. In my case, because they didn't want to take responsibility for a screwup that was clearly their responsibility, they pushed me not only to switch my loyalty to Delta but to tell my friends, family, coworkers, and people here online about my experience. How much did they save by doing this, and how much did they lose? Not paying lost baggage reimbursement also seems to me to be a losing proposition. I understand the need to cut costs, but to do so by sacrificing customer experience in ways that actually hurt their long-term bottom line doesn't bode well to me.
Delta and Southwest have very high customer satisfaction ratings, yet despite this, they also have the highest net profit margin among major US airlines. I don't think this is mere coincidence. Sometimes "saving money" costs you a hell of a lot of money, and that's something I think JetBlue management doesn't seem to understand. In any rate, I'm going to switch -- if JetBlue recovers in the future, hey, I'll give it a try again. For now, the evidence doesn't seem good to me.
Well DL gets their profit level from over charging hubs that they dominate. It's well known that MSP and DTW have some of the highest fares in the country. They really make very little money in places like JFK/BOS where they compete against B6. Just think about how outrageous the transcon J-fares to places like SAN/SEA/LAS were before mint entered those markets. B6 is the single reason that for NYC customers, our fares are reasonable to most places. And thankfully, that will expand to TATL flights a year from now. And it's for that reason, even though I don't fly them much these days (due to their limited network), I make use of their credit card when possible. I support great airline competition in NYC. And I'm not saying B6 will recover, but that DL is going to start cutting back when the next recession hits. And it's not that far away.