Originally Posted by
sulsk
Hello everyone,
As you all know, I was a JetBlue customer last year. Unfortunately, my experiences with the airline were so awful that the national media actually picked up my tale of JetBlue's failure to have efficient flights between BOS and JFK.
When did the national media carrier a story about our horrible flights? Surely you mean National Media of the United States!
Check-in: I arrived at BOS with plenty of time. Due to the commuter rail schedule, I had a choice of either being risky and showing up shortly before departure or being unnecessarily early. I'm so glad I showed up early because the "self-service" line was not moving at all. The "counter service" line moved twice as fast. (I observed an acquaintance start at that line at the same time as me.) The line for people with boarding passes had one agent. There were no staff members circulating by the kiosks or ensuring people were in the right line (I suppose there were staff cuts.) So, the one agent had to scream every few minutes that this line was for people with only boarding passes. Like children, she made us all hold them up. Finally, a supervisor came and started calling people from our line over to the agents designated for counter service to speed things up.
Self service lines never move quickly because people usually don't know how to use the machine or are scared of it, like it is going to eat them or something.
Boarding: Boarding went very smoothly. We were all on the plane in a timely manner.
Gotta love the E190
Why aren't we moving?: After sitting at the gate for about 10 minutes, the captain came on the PA to announce JFK was on ground-hold. He said we would know more information at 4:30.
Was this the day JFK had zero visibility due to heavy heavy fog? Might be the reason for the delay
Enjoy the DirecTV: Despite the delay, passengers were in good spirits. The TV was enjoyed by all - especially me ready to unwind from the stress of finals.
Gatta love the ole TV
You mean we have to do something?: The in-flight crew was not so remarkable. When I went up to the lav, I over-heard them, while reading their magazines, complaining about the pilot's instructions to disarm the doors so they can bring the temperature probe on board, which was needed to cool the plane. But, I did appreciate that the FA gave me a free sample of airborne when I asked, as per a DirecTV announcement. I liked that the crew told passengers they could not do a beverage service because we were not yet released and if we did start moving, everything would be returned.
We can't get up unless we are released by the flight deck crew. You never know when we could get a sudden release, oh wait it happened
Sudden Release?: At 4:40, the lead FA said we were released and we all needed to sit down. From that announcement, it seemed like departure was imminet, but the flight deck quickly qualified that statement to say we were approved for a wheels-up time of 5:10.
Sudden releases happen often which is why we needed to be ready at the drop of a hat to get airborne, otherwise we could miss our slot and be delayed for another several hours
In the air: The shortest part of the trip was being airborne after taking-off a bit earlier than the captain told us we would. It was very bumpy and when only about 1/4 of the cabin had their drinks served (nobody got snacks), the captain announced he wanted the crew to be in their seats due to the turbulence.
I hate New England winters and the rough weather that is associated with them, it been seated for the entire flight several times
Nose-to-nose: So, we land. Then, we stop in the middle of a taxiway. A few nutty passengers thought we were at the gate so they got up, which grew the ire of the lead FA. We were on an active taxiway. The flight deck said something unusual had happened - due to a ground control error, we found ourselves nose to nose with another aircraft. He said ground control was working to correct the error and "company" may come to tow us. After 30 minutes of sitting around, "company" towed us to the gate. I do not know if the situation in terms of being nose to nose with a KLM jet was one that may have led to disaster. I'd rather not think about it.
Opps, ground controllers must have been under a lot of stress with all of the delays.
We're home!: Previously, the FA said to remain in our seats so those with connections could exit first. They did not remind passengers of that so people with tight connections did not exit first. The cabin said they were sorry for the two incidents, which both were not JetBlue's fault, causing our flight to be over 2 hours late.
If it was an E190 it shouldn't have taken too long to deplane
Baggage Claim: I got my bag this time. But when walking back to my car, I saw two FAs from my flight smoking, in uniform, by the terminal. That did not give me a positive image of the company.
Where else should they smoke besides designated smoking areas? Surely you don't want them to smoke inside!
All in all, I was pleased with the communication between the crew and customers. I liked how accommodating they were in terms of pulling a few people off in Boston to take non-stop flights rather than try to connect in NY. The service to customers with connections could have been better on the ground, I believe. At other airlines, when there's a delay, agents are ready to help passengers on their way. I think it probably has to do with JetBlue's growing pains. Having so many people making connections is new for the infant airline.
There is your normal statements, i was wondering when they would pop up. First you say the company impressed you with the fact they pulled customers off the flight so they could put them on the direct flight so they wouldn't miss their connection, then you said the company wasn't accmodating to connecting customers. Which is it? We know how to treat our customers. We aren't an "infant" airline as you so quaintly put it. Since our inception we have had connecting customers, so to say we don't know what we are doing is factually wrong!
I'm not going to say I was impressed with the experience. But, I don't want to blame JetBlue, so before I can call myself a TrueBluer I will fly them again, in January, and report back.
You sure have an odd way of showing how well we impresses you even though you don't want to blame us. Blame us for what? Severe fog in JFK? Ground Controller error? Accmodating customers in BOS? Flight crew smoking in designated areas? Us being an "infant airline"?