Not true -- I do remember I was able to view the available seats BEFORE purchasing the ticket ONLINE when I initially made my reservations (trust me when I say I wouldn't have paid for a ticket w/o knowing what seat I would be able to get). It was only when I went to CHANGE the flight back and the only seats available were middle seats that the seating diagram did not appear online. As I stated in my email to Jet Blue, the message I got when I pressed the button to select my seat was rather cryptic "this flight is filling up fast, your seat will be system assigned". After I submitted my credit card # to pay for the $175 change, I noticed "the system" didn't assign me a seat -- that's when I called Jet Blue and THAT'S when I learned the only seats available were middle seats. The agent put me in row 23 and said "it's the closest to the front of the plane" so I wasn't going to hold out much hope that an aisle or window seat would be available at the time I check in.

They want you to do everything online and offer you a discount ($25 vs. $30 change fee) if you do, but in hindsight, if I had called instead, I most likely would have had a chance to ask the "friendly" rervations agent what the seating available was like BEFORE my credit card was charged (or not charged which it wouldn't have been had I known).

So now I'm flying back home first class on United. I'm out the $175 for the Jet Blue change fee, my United Express change fee ($100) and the original price of the Jet Blue return flight and I'm paying about four times what I planned on paying for my flight back, but I will be comfortable in a seat that has more leg room than Jet Blue and also reclines, I will not be hungry or dying for something cold to drink, nor will I have to risk missing a connection to retrieve baggage to recheck in and get myself through airport security yet another time because of using two different airlines that don't have a baggage handling agreement. After the trip out I had I deserve a comfortable ride back home, not stuck between two people for four and a half hours. Maybe someday I'll try Jet Blue again, but it will be on a flight no longer than an hour and not cross country, and it will be to one of Jet Blue's destination cities and not require an airline switch. And then again, maybe I never will. At this point, I really don't care to see the inside of a plane for a very long time.