mdc57

I was interviewed today by a reporter from the NY Times about a thread I posted in late April regarding a long departure delay (12 midnight to 3am) at Sea-Tac for a JFK bound "red eye". The reporter was writing a feature story on jetBlue that may appear in the Travel section of the Sunday Times on 5/22.
Who ever said FTers don't have "juice'?

caligirl

Thanks for the heads up I will be looking for it.

prhs1989

I believe that it would appear on 5/21, since the sunday paper doesn't have the travel section.

jeffreyt

What is causing the travel delays on B6? Growing pains?

gooseman13

Nope, travel section is in the Sunday Times. In some instances, like Home Delivery for example, I believe they include the Sunday feature sections in with Saturday's paper, but it is a Sunday section, and is packaged as so at newsstands.

Looking forward to that article!

prhs1989

I get home delivery, so I guess that I will see the article before you.

justageek

I couldn't find anything in today's online edition.

Buster CT1K

That's because 5/21 and 5/22 are next weekend.

dhammer53

The article really nailed Jetblue. Looks like the party is coming to an end.

B6 has tv and new planes.
As far as I'm concerned, many times B6 is more expensive that other carriers. I'd prefer to pay less; get my miles, and sit up front.

www.nytimes.com

Head over to travel. It's free.

B6 was also nailed for having the worst ontime performance.

justageek

Exact link is
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/05/2...el/22prac.html

I don't think they were "nailed," but the article did bring a lot of attention to their poor on-time performance. Also, Neeleman came across as arrogant to suggest that he is going to reduce delays at FLL and LGA. AFAIK the delays there aren't JetBlue's fault; they have to do with weather and/or ATC. I don't see what he can do about it (I doubt that "working with the FAA" is going to get B6 aircraft priority over other airlines).

What I'm really surprised about is that the article didn't mention the refueling stops on BOS-west coast transcons during winter headwinds!!!

WheelsFirst

I don't really get it though, why does the NY times go out of their way to criticize B6 when the other carries are doing miserable things like reducing legroom, cutting meal service, cutting pillows, cutting staff levels, dumping their pensions on the taxpayers, etc. etc. etc.?

Maybe some of the allure has worn off, but maybe it hasn't as their load factor is going up. The fact that they can charge the same or more than the legacies means that people want to fly them over the others.

I think the truth is that it's really impossible for a US carrier to have a great level of service with the way things are over here...

jeffreyt

There was nothing new in that article. Lame if you ask me.

marcelin

Either New York Times reporter Lisa Kalis is bad with statistics, or she selected figures to confirm something she had already made up her mind about. The text gives only three months' worth of results. The table is even worse: it focuses on problem flights, instead of giving systemwide results for each carrier. Annual, systemwide results would more closely match the experience of a typical passenger.

Here are 2004 systemwide on-time arrival results for a few carriers:

• 82% - JetBlue
• 80% - Southwest
• 80% - United
• 79% - Continental
• 79% - US Airways
• 78% - (All reporting carriers)
• 77% - American
• 76% - Delta

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

It is true that JetBlue's on-time performance slipped during the first three months of 2005, and that some JetBlue flights are consistently late, but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Post-2001 gains in on-time performance for legacy carriers were achieved in the context of drastic reductions in traffic, and may not be sustainable. A three-month dip for a growing carrier like JetBlue says absolutely nothing.

Paul Marcelin-Sampson
Santa Cruz, California, USA

scoobiedo

Cancelled flights don't get averaged into an airline's' on-time performance, correct?

Where can we read cancelled flight statistics for each airline?

marcelin

That's a good question. I am not sure what the Times did. In the BTS figures I quoted, the carriers were penalized for cancellations and diversions.

Use the BTS link in my prior post. The number and percentage of flights cancelled are listed, as is the number of flights diverted. You can use the filters and the "Recalculate" button to select a specific carrier. Clicking one of the year bars in the first graph switches to a mode that lets you select an entire year, again using the filters. Elsewhere on the Department of Transportation Web site, you can get data for specific flights.

Paul Marcelin-Sampson
Santa Cruz, California, USA