I've never flown JetBlue and would much like to sometime; unfortunately they do not service the markets I fly.

With respect to the NYC area, some of my flights include Continental via EWR, Delta via JFK, and connections between NW & KLM at JFK. Most of my flights via JFK are international to domestic or domestic to international, with the exception of a few times where I used JFK as my final destination/origin airport for NYC. With respect to Newark/EWR, most of my flights again are domestic to international or vice-versa; at times I use EWR as my final destination because of NJ Transit access into NYC or South into NJ. Also use LGA for NYC.

Now, with respect to Jet Blue being late I noticed they are second to Continental when it comes to Air Traffic Control / Flow reasons. CO operates a hub at EWR, which would explain their placement on the list (and yes, I'm used to chronically delayed flights arriving and departing EWR).

Looking at JetBlue schedules, it seems they like to do quick turns - if you combine that with the Air Traffic congestion of the entire NYC area and the resulting ATC delays, I believe this accounts for a good percentage of the delays, keeping in mind once they fall behind schedule early in the day it only gets worse later in the day (snowball effect).

To complicate things, especially in the evening or if wx exists in the area, JFK, along with EWR & LGA and sometimes "ZNY" which is New York Air Route Traffic Control Center start Air Traffic Control traffic management programs.

These programs can range from a "ground stop", meaning departures to JFK from nearby airports are held on the ground until released at a specific time; this allows current arrivals to clear the airspace (if you were to depart, you would circle, burn fuel, and still be delayed - but also take up airspace in an already crowded area). Additionally there are "Ground Delay" programs which are similar in nature along with traffic management programs which affect actual departures at JFK.

With the evening rush, which also includes inbound European international arrivals (and departures), things can get busy and a ROC-JFK flight may be ATC delayed to allow the international arrivals to land which have been airborne for 7+ hrs and need to land at JFK.

Despite the ATC problems, I feel JFK is the best managed NYC airport of the three. Even though I may be delayed, once the flight is ready to go there usually are not long waits for depature compared to EWR or LGA. Things seem to run more smoothly on the ground.

In closing, when I travel overseas and have a choice between EWR or JFK (LGA is domestic only, other than Canada) to make a connection, I prefer JFK. Also, NYC & the east coast has had it's share of weather problems this spring going into the summer. With time, perhaps B6 can address some of these problems. Having a couple of spare A320s at JFK may prove helpful, providing they don't already keep spares (spares cost money and don't make money if not in the air w/pax, but they can also greatly improve operations by being swapped in to handle delayed flights; i.e. aircraft scheduled for JFK-ROC is still in FLL, toss a spare on instead of taking a 3 hr delay).

Cheers,

SDF_Traveler