nsx

I agree with more short hauls and fewer routes with more frequency. The new aircraft will accomplish this quite nicely. B6 began with the idea of doing certain things differently and better than WN, so I don't agree that copying WN is necessarily a win.

As to the $29 prices, they never made sense except for us consumers. IMHO, WN has figured out how to price to market value: decent walk-up fares, far fewer deeply discounted seats sold, and dramatically higher pricing for peak flights which will sell out regardless. In the short time I have watched B6's pricing, it seems pretty good (for maximizing revenue, that is) but I'd bet that adding a higher fully refundable fare would increase yield.

audio-nut

Then they would have to overbook

nsx

Correct, but they already must do so to some extent because of the liberal funds re-use policy. For example, several times I have tried to get a seat assignment when purchasing a ticket and been told "the system will automatically assign me a seat". To me, that sounds a lot like an overbooking situation.

Like you, I recalled that JetBlue's lack of nonrefundable fares was originally explained by the lack of overbooking. So I did a search: http://www.google.com/search?q=jetblue+overbook

Compare the cached version with the current version, and you will see something interesting. The former bullet item "A sure seat – JetBlue doesn’t overbook or do the bump!" is gone. That may partially explain why the flights are more full these days.

Overbooking lowers costs and thus prices. It's good for all of us in the long run, provided that the airline strikes the proper balance of risk between oversale and empty seats.

FWAAA

The bullet item is in both the current version and the cached version.

Sure it does, but there's no evidence that B6 is overbooking. From the top of page 3 of the 10-K (filed 2/14/06):

I recall seeing some federal overbooking stats recently, and jetBlue's numbers are almost zero.

dinosims

IIRC, Jetblue, in 2005, had only 6 VBDs and 0 IBDs. I think the only thing that message proves is that Jetblue just doesn't allow all of it's seats to be assigned while booking. I'm pretty sure you can't select bulkhead seats (usually reserved for unaccompanied children) as well as 26 D-F (reserved for onboard wheelchair, if there is one). However, if those seats are free as of 24 hrs. prior to flight, they probably open them up to be selected at check-in.

nsx

Whoops! My bad. I didn't scroll down one of the pages. Well, at least I didn't start a thread on that bogus premise.

If I were a JBLU shareholder, I'd hope for just a little bit of overbooking. Enough to fill more seats while still being best of industry in denied boarding.

Since I'm only a customer I prefer the current policy: I can buy the cheap flight and standby for the expensive one on the same day. It worked the one time I tried, and I saved $140.

cxn

Overbooking works well when you have many flights. What B9 needs is additional flights + overbooking.

Looking at their flight map, they are really lacking in the LAS service. This is where B9 could pick up some passengers from WN. And with full flights from the west coast on LAS, another airline wont hurt but help the market.

curbcrusher

I just returned from my first trip involving B6 and want to share my thoughts, but don't feel they warrant a new thread.

I flew PHX-JFK-PIT.

PHX-JFK was a redeye on "Bippity, Boppity, Blue" in 12A. Boarding was a free-for-all (IIRC, load was 117/156), but without incident. DirecTV worked as advertised, but it was disappointing that half the channels were running informercials (not necessarily B6's fault, that is just the nature of late-night TV; would be nice of they had the option of carrying/switching to other channels to avoid informercials). Snack and beverage service was stellar. The FAs were prompt and very friendly for the entire flight. In my experience on other redeyes (UA), FAs do snack and beverage and then expect everyone to just sleep and not bother them.

JFK was a bit of a PITA. Taxi to the gate seemed to take an awfully long time. My connection, scheduled to leave only 40 minutes after my arrival, was nowhere to be found on the monitors. After getting that information from a GA, I made my way to the shuttle to the temporary gates. The shuttle was a hassle, mitigated by the fact that there was no wait.

JFK-PIT was on an E190 (obviously; I neglected to note the plane name) in 12B (though I moved up to 11B before pushback because 11AB were empty). The plane was much more comfortable than an RJ (I am 6'4" and was able to stand straight in the aisle), but still a noticeable decrease from the comfort of the A320. The 190 suffers the same gate check issues as RJs due to smaller OH space. XM and DirecTV worked as advertised, and the controls seemed more refined than on the 320 (the buttons were easier to press). Snack and beverage service was good.

At PIT, I appreciated that there was a baggage service rep at the carousel, presumably to quickly handle any issues (none for me).

Overall, ^.

jetBlueNYFL

Glad to hear your experience went well. Just keep in mind, if you connect through JFK again in 3 years the temp. gates won't be a hassle for you! Welcome to the world of jetBlue flying!

JetBlueFA

It's nice to get a well balanced, thought out, and class thread about the ups and downs of our airline. I totally agree with many of the things that where posted in here. We aren't the best airline out there, and we know that, but we do try our hardest for the amount of aircraft and size of operation that we have.

Again great post and thank you for posting your thoughts and opinions!

alive2maro

As a frequent business traveller and normally a legacy airline customer, I have been similarly dissatisfied with the seat assigment system. Especially since I rarely have the ability to book more than a few days in advance and in the case of JetBlue usually on a TransCon redeye. However, to be fair, I am not the target market for JetBlue who is focused on courting a different customer.

Also the few (1 in 5) trips that I have not had a middle seat it has been a very pleasant trip.

jetBlueNYFL

I agree with you. Just keep in mind that if you book on jetBlue last minute and can't get an aisle or even window seat...you can ask at the airport if they can reassign you a seat...rows 1,2,3, 12DEF(exit), 26DEF are all open for airport-only assignment. Usually if you ask, you're able to get one.

TWA Fan 1

I am a "road warrior" frequent flyer. 95% of my travel is for business. I now fly jetBlue as much as possible simply because I love the legroom and I love the airline.

Regarding the seat assignment system, the only difference between jetBlue and the legacies is the lack of any inventory set aside for elite ff's.

This being said, I have flown plenty of middle seats as a last-minute purchaser on the legacies as well. At least when you do that on a jetBlue transcon, the ticket costs about $500 while on CO, AA or DL you could be looking at $1,200 or more.

And, even in the middle seat, you have the great legroom, cmofy seat and PTV which make jetBlue's middle seat the best one inthe business.