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Originally Posted by inlinesk8ter
I took my first Jet Blue flight on the evening of 5/20 -- from Oakland to DC. I've heard several people ooze Jet Blue and one of the attorneys I worked with told me I'd never fly another airline again. So maybe I entered with an already high expectation, I don't know.
Booking the ticket was easy and the price was good (a little over 300 round trip). But I found the long flight anything but comfortable. I'm 6'2" and a fit 190 pounds. Sitting in a seat that doesn't recline for 4.5 hours made it one of the most uncomfortable flights I recall ever being on. I would have gladly given up the "extra" leg room (I was in row 20) for a seat that would recline. My back was killing me and the pillow I found on the floor didn't do much to alleviate the pressure. I'm not one who can sleep sitting straight up either so it was a LONG night flight. I had a window seat and there was no one in the middle. There was a kid that was taller than me on the aisle seat. He was asleep the majority of the flight -- there was no way to get around him without him getting up. It's hard to imagine what it would have been like if someone was sitting in the middle too. As far as being charged the change fee, plus ticket difference, this is standard procedure and you would probably have paid a lot more if the airline had charged a $100 change fee like AA. |
Originally Posted by jetBlueNYFL
Again, if you ever want to know what seats are available on a specific jetBlue flight, all you need to do is pick up a phone, and dial toll-free 1800JETBLUE and ask the friendly reservations agent your question. The computer system only shows them up to 9 seats at a time, but they can tell if aisles, windows, etc are available on any flight.
Originally Posted by jetBlueNYFL
It would be nice to have the seat diagram online before purchase, but it's not - there must be a reason for that.
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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. |
Originally Posted by EIPremier
Apart from the non-reclining seat, I don't know what else you could have wanted? An empty middle seat these days is quite a luxury. As far as not being able to get past the aisle seat occupant without waking him, this is a reality on any red-eye flight. I'm sure the flight would have been all the worse without the extra legroom on JetBlue and the empty middle seat. I'm not sure how you can expect to be comfortable in economy class on any airline.
As far as being charged the change fee, plus ticket difference, this is standard procedure and you would probably have paid a lot more if the airline had charged a $100 change fee like AA. And if you'll re-read my posts, you'll find I'm not complaining about the change fee, my issue was having to pay it online before I could find out the only seats available on the flight were middle seats. I'm really glad there are so many people that think Jet Blue is the next best thing to sliced bread, I really am. But allow people who might think otherwise the opportunity to express an opinion without trying to minimize their complaint. If the flight had been wonderful, I would have posted about how wonderful it was and how I was ready to fly them again. I don't expect perfection -- particularly in air travel, but my Jet Blue experience fell way below what I consider to be "acceptable" regardless of the price. |
Originally Posted by inlinesk8ter
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).
That said, I'm sorry to hear that you had a horrible seat selection and what appears to be a subpar flight to what I've typically experienced from their level of customer care. I hope their CSRs can offer some consilation and potential compensation for your poor experiance. I don't disagree with you at all that you could've had a poor experience, i've flown jetblue countless times and the majority of the time service is great. But there have been several times when the lead FA just shouldn't be an lead FA because she was completely lost... regardless, I wish you all the best. |
the crowning glory
I just called to cancel the Jet Blue reservation for tomorrow. The agent tells me "there will be a $30 cancellation fee." I sigh heavily. She says "is that allright?" I explain to her that the reason I'm cancelling the flight in the first place was because I didn't find out until after I made the change how full the flight was and that only middle seats were available, that I had already paid a $30 change fee plus the difference in ticket cost which amounted to $175 and I find it hard to believe they want to penalize me another $30 for cancelling the flight.
She took out her script and read me the part about there being a $30 fee charged for changes or cancellation. So now I can add $30 to the "live and learn" Jet Blue kitty. So much for them wanting to make me a happy camper. Maybe I'll start an auction for my $299 credit. Do I hear $5.00? |
they do have seats blocked for check in at the airports... everytime I had a last minute trip and there was no middle seat, I just show up at the airport and 100% of the time in that situation, I always ended up with a row all to myself.
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Originally Posted by inlinesk8ter
I just called to cancel the Jet Blue reservation for tomorrow. The agent tells me "there will be a $30 cancellation fee." I sigh heavily. She says "is that allright?" I explain to her that the reason I'm cancelling the flight in the first place was because I didn't find out until after I made the change how full the flight was and that only middle seats were available, that I had already paid a $30 change fee plus the difference in ticket cost which amounted to $175 and I find it hard to believe they want to penalize me another $30 for cancelling the flight.
She took out her script and read me the part about there being a $30 fee charged for changes or cancellation. So now I can add $30 to the "live and learn" Jet Blue kitty. So much for them wanting to make me a happy camper. Maybe I'll start an auction for my $299 credit. Do I hear $5.00? |
Originally Posted by derby44
Heck yes I'll start the bidding at $10--I just completed my first r/t today--PWM/TPA. Was not only impressed but am looking forward to being a regular after flying strictly Delta tha past eight years--sorry about your bad experince--mine was terrific.
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Originally Posted by prhs1989
That is good to hear. A little off topic, but how did the loads look on the PWM segments? I am not sure if anyone working for Jetblue could let us know if that flight is picking up for the upcoming summer.
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Originally Posted by derby44
Heck yes I'll start the bidding at $10--I just completed my first r/t today--PWM/TPA. Was not only impressed but am looking forward to being a regular after flying strictly Delta tha past eight years--sorry about your bad experince--mine was terrific.
Are the PWM flights operated on A320's? 4x daily? |
Originally Posted by jetBlueNYFL
I'm not "bashing" Delta ....
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Originally Posted by Traveller
Well that would be a first. I don't think I've read many posts from you that haven't "bashed" Delta. And I'm not trying to start an arguement, I'm just stating my opinion. :)
I'm NOT "bashing" Delta...I wish them and EVERY airline well. I am "stating my opinion" on Delta...and my opinion is I hate them because they hate me. They were never the innovators of the airline industry. |
customer satisfaction
Well, here's the response I got from Jet Blue:
Thank you for your email regarding your recent JetBlue flight #318 from Oakland to Washington Dulles, on May 20, 2006. We regret that you were disappointed with your JetBlue experience, and appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns and provide you with the following information. Please accept our sincere apology if you were disappointed with our aircraft. JetBlue chooses to fly the Airbus A320 because this state-of-art aircraft offers some of the most sophisticated safety and communications equipment currently available. JetBlue flies a fleet of the youngest and most comfortable aircraft in the aviation industry. With the widest fuselage of any single-aisle aircraft, the Airbus A320 offers customers wider seats and aisles, more overhead storage space and greater legroom than any other aircraft in its class. In the future you may state your stature as a special need and that you require aisle seating and we will accommodate you to the best of our ability. Our leather seats have more legroom and are wider than most coach seating and are comparable to other airlines business class. Our seat pitch (the space from the back of one seat to the back of the seat behind it) in the Airbus A320 is at least 34 inches, except for rows 2-10 where each seat pitch is at least 32 inches. Each seat reclines and is 18.5 inches wide compared to an average of 17.5 inches on other airlines. Rows 11 and 12 are emergency exit rows. Rows 10, 11 and 12 are over the wings and rows 2-26 contain moveable armrests. Seats 10A, 10F, 11A and 11F do not recline at any time. You can be assured that your in-flight experience was not typical of the excellent customer service we strive to provide our valued customers onboard JetBlue. We appreciate your feedback concerning the snacks served on your flight. We sincerely regret if the water was lukewarm, and the cashews were insufficient to meet your needs. All of our customers are welcome to as many snacks as they desire. They are also allowed (and encouraged on longer flights) to bring food onboard. If our Inflight Crewmembers were inattentive, we apologize. We genuinely regret that there was a scratch on your TV screen and that the control buttons seemed difficult to operate. We will immediately forward your comments to our In-Flight Leadership Team so that we can prevent this situation from happening again in the future. We make every attempt to deliver baggage to the carousel in a timely manner and regret that our time goals were not met for your flight. We apologize for the inconvenience. We will bring this to the immediate attention of the Director of Maintenance. We genuinely value your patronage and hope you will choose to fly JetBlue again. We look forward to having you onboard in the near future so we may have another opportunity to offer you the excellent JetBlue experience we strive to provide and to regain your confidence. Sincerely, Jenny Customer Commitment Crew JetBlue Airways Crewmember 52341 I appreciate your response, despite the obvious 'canned' language. I'm well aware of Jet Blue's seat pitch - I've certainly heard enough about it before and after my flight. But what I was attempting to explain to you was that my seat DID NOT recline, so it really wouldn't have mattered if the seat pitch was 50" -- if the seat won't recline, I'm forced to sit in an upright position and because of my height, that caused my knees to be above the base of my spine which resulted in a 4.5 flight with an aching back. Regarding the unlimited snacks, may I make a suggestion? How about placing a sign on the snack tray that reads "ALL YOU CAN EAT, VISIT THE GALLEY OR RING THE BUZZER". My flight attendant made only one pass with the snack tray and rattled off what he had so fast, the only word I could understand was "cashews". With a sign, I would be able to read what I could not hear. If ice is indeed available, perhaps a sign saying so might be helpful too. Better yet, provide this information in the seat pocket since you don't have a magazine. Your response failed to address my comments regarding my learning that only middle seats were available on the return flight I changed to AFTER I had made the change online and paid the $25 change fee along with the price difference amounting to $175.00. Well, it seems that my disappointment with Jet Blue didn't end here. The thought of spending 4.5 hours in the middle seat on the way back to Oakland was more than I was willing to go through, so I booked a return flight first class on United at a premium price, because I felt I deserved it after going through what I did on the Jet Blue flight here. I called Jet Blue earlier today to cancel my DC to Oakland reservation. The agent told me "there will be a $30 cancellation fee." I sighed heavily. She asked "are you ok with that?" I explained to her that I found it unbelievable that I had to endure yet another "penalty" since the only reason I was cancell ing the flight to begin with was because YOUR ONLINE SYSTEM didn't let me know only middle seats were available on the flight I was changing to, instead, when I pressed the "seat selection" button, I only received a pop up message to the effect of "this flight is filling up fast, the system will assign you your seat." It was only after I made the change, paid the $175, and then noticed that I didn't have a seat assigned that I called Jet Blue to learn only middle seats were available. As I stated previously, had I known this at the time, I would have just kept my original departure date. Now, in addition to the $175 fee I paid to change the flight to learn it had no desirable seating for me, I'm now charged $30 to cancel it. And before you insert the canned script about my always being welcome to call the friendly reservations agent to find out what seating is available on a flight, take some responsibility for being unclear about just exactly what can and cannot be learned when making a change online yourself. You encourage people to make changes online and provide a discount in order for them to do it this way ($25 instead of a $30 change fee), so how about adding some language to your web site along the line of "if you want to know what seating is like on the flight you are wanting to change to, we recommend you call reservations first, prior to making the change." Finally, I can feel fairly certain in saying I won't be flying Jet Blue again, so if you want to just pocket the $299 credit balance I have with you now, be my guest. Jet Blue obviously needs the money more than I do. Your response to me is a clear indication that Jet Blue does not "walk the talk" when it comes to customer satisfaction. You can be sure my Jet Blue experience will be shared any time someone asks me how my trip back home to visit my mom went. It's one thing to say you want to have satisfied customers, and it's another thing to act like you do. Considering the lousy trip out I had and then charging me $175 to change the return flight I'm now not even taking, at the very least, I would have thought they would have felt they raped me enough and let the $30 cancellation fee slide. And if they really do hold the exit row seats open until shortly before the plane takes off, considering the reason I canceled the changed return flight is because I learned I would be squeezed into a middle seat after they took my $$$ to make the change, I don't think it would have killed them to assign me to an exit row seat then and there which would have resolved the issue to my satisfaction. I guess they feel there are enough Jet Blue disciples going ga ga over their tv screens to worry about one unhappy camper, and they are probably right. For now anyway, until the novelty wears off, and it surely will. |
Here's my question...if you didn't see a seat map, why didn't you call and find out why, if the seat was important to you?
JetBlue doesn't promise that you a window, middle, or aisle seat - only an assigned seat, and their website doesn't promise that you can choose your seat before making a purchase, or change. For whatever reason, the feature isn't available on their site, but you assumed it would be, based on your experience with other airlines. As to why you saw the message about seats unavailable - all seats available for the public to book were probably reserved already. A set number of seats are require for airport use to accomodate families, special needs customers, and of course for customers with no seat assignments. Like another poster said, the sleeping seatmate is a situation on any flight. Nonetheless, the flight attendant call button is there for your use on any airline, though the reaction you get will vary from airline to airline. Would you have waited and wrote a letter if you needed medical attention? Or wait for a JetBlue instruction sheet that told you that a medical kit was on board and that the lavatories were in the rear? Evidently, the crew kept passes through the cabin - this is probably typical on most redeye flights for customers to get some sleep, but a water pass or two wouldn't have been too hard. Your concern about the TV is understandable, since the service is advertised as part of the "JetBlue experience" that you would expect. Seems like your JetBlue experience wasn't up to your standards - but the reality is, most airlines competing at the same level would probably not have met your standards on this trip. |
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