Well, here is my experience on B6 on June 30 and July 4 JFK-BUF

June 30, arrive T6 in plenty of time. No security lines. Didn't have to remove my shoes to go through security. The flight left about 10 minutes late but since they mark it as 1 hour 20 minutes on the schedule I wasn't worried. Seats were fine. I didn't end up watching any of the TV but I did like the flight tracking. Quick drink and snack service, thought it was a curtailed service due to the shortness of the flight. Overall was a pleasant experience. I had an exit row seat and the extra legroom was nice.

July 4. Let me preface this with the fact that I was VERY ill with a major case of strep throat but HAD to fly home, so I was not in a good mood to begin with. I arrived at the airport at 4 PM for the 5 PM flight. At 4.30 an annoucement was made that the flight would be about an hour late because JFK was shut down due to weather (severe thunderstorms I believe) so our plane had not yet left JFK. The 2.50 flight to JFK was still at our gate waiting to leave. I understand that JetBlue had zero control over this and am not upset by the delay as it's beyond their control. At 5 PM, another announcement was made that the flight would still be an hour late and that our plane had still not left JFK. I knew there was no way we would leave BUF at 6 PM. This was what did start to bother me. It's about an hour flight, passengers have to deplane, then clean and load us onto the plane. That is going to take more than an hour. Up until about 5.15 they were still announcing an hour delay. Finally, at about 5.20 we are told that our flight has left JFK and is on the way. Smattering of applause through the gate area. The plane arrives, passengers deplane, they clean and we board. The flight the JFK was also uneventful in itself.

Overall, my experience with JetBlue was okay. I would fly them again. My only issue was with the actual timing of the delay. Again, I absolutely understand that JetBlue had no control over the delay, and it's not the delay itself that had me upset (upset being really too strong of a word even, more of an annoyance at the weather.) It was at 5.15 them saying the flight would only be an hour delayed, when the flight had not yet left JFK.

A couple of observations about your trip:

1. You seemed happy with the space & comfort afforded you on jetBlue. That's really the number-one benefit of flying B6 and this degree of comfort is in very short supply in the coach cabins of the traditional airlines.

2. Regarding your weather delay you are right that this kind of delay is completely out of the control of B6, or any airline, for that matter.

First and foremost it's a safety issue and as irritating as it may be to be 2 hours late, it's certainly better to be two hours late and alive.

Regarding the info the jetBlue people provided you in Buffalo. There is no way for me to know precisely what they knew and how much they have been holding back, but there is an excellent chance that, given the nature of weather delays, nobody knew.

It's a little like predicting the weather itself, it's a calculated guess at best. When the weather doesn't react as you have predicted then you have to revise your estimate as to when the aircraft will leave JFK.

I find that most airlines don't do an especially good job of providing info in these cases.

In my experience B6 deals with these situations quite well although there have been times when I would have liked more info from B6.

Reading NOTaFF's post, I interpreted it differently. Basically for a 1 hour flight from JFK, if it hasn't left yet, it will be at least 1.5 hours before it leaves BUF accounting for flight time and load/unload time. So 1.5 hours would be a more realistic departure time to announce. That said, it might confuse people as to when to be back in the boarding area (e.g. at 1.25 hours, not 1.5 hours in my example). So perhaps best bet would be to announce we expect to be boarding in 1.25 hours with as quick a departure as possible thereafter. This problem isn't unique to JetBlue. Rather all airlines seem to handle their late arrival announcements this way. Bottom line, people would be happier with an announcement of a realistic new boarding time that can actually be met. My two cents...

--Jon

When it comes to weather related delays, JetBlue has much to improve upon.


I've been working for the transportation industry for many years and I've noticed that even before I started flying JetBlue and dispite the fact that I absolutely love the airline for everything else they do, I hate the way they treat customers when it comes to delays caused by weather.


First thing I noticed, when it comes to weather delays JetBlue cannot predict reasonable delay times like other airlines do, so once your flight is delayed you're at the mercy of a last minute announcement even if it means waiting for hours to hear it. Thats wrong.


So far I have missed a few flights because of delays, the first was because they were displaying delays on their web site and via the phone but were able to substitute a plane and the flight took off on time using a different plane even though the web site still showed a delayed time. I overslept a flight once because the 9pm flight was delayed until after 1am in the morning, I was expecting them to cancel it. I showed up for a delayed flight once because they didn't let me switch for another flight the next morning after a delay, only to hear at the airport that they were now doing just that for people that waited for hours at the airport.


I am not criticising JetBlue because I love the airline, but I definitely think they should improve in this area.

--Russ

Reminds me of an experience I had back in March flying from BTV to JFK.

I follow the B6 flights in and out of BTV very closely, and am a semi-frequent passenger on them, so I've developed a general understanding of what to expect.

Before I even arrived at the airport, I knew the flight would be delayed, as it was snowing at JFK. However, to my suprise, when I arrived at the airport, the flight monitor indicated the flight was on time. I knew that the E190 that I would be flying out on was due in at 6:20, with my departure being scheduled for 6:50.

I was a little suspicious, so at 6:00 I called down to my family in CT, where I was headed for the weekend. My father checked Jetblue.com per my instructions, and sure enough, the E190 had not even left the ground at JFK! Yet the monitors in the airport still showed the flight as on time.

There were a number of passengers sitting around, and a vast majority of them were on their cell phones saying things like, "Yes, the flight is on time." Little did they know...

Finally, a girl who was sitting behind me said to her mother, "Yes, the flight is on time. I'd start driving to JFK now."

I approached her. "Excuse me, I hate to interupt, but the flight won't be on time."

"What? How do you know that?"

I explained that I had just had someone check on the status of the plane we were supposed to be boarding and it hadn't left the ground at JFK yet. Other passengers overheard this and news started spreading very quickly.

About 20 minutes later, right as the E190 was scheduled to land in BTV, the monitor changed to "DELAYED." Some employees later emerged to let everyone know that the flight took off around 6:30, and I was very impressed by the rapid turnaround that occured once it did finally land in BTV.

But I, using jetBlue's site, knew the flight was going to be delayed long before they posted anything.

That being said, I love jetBlue for everything else they provide, and they easily top the list of my favorite airlines. Their equipment, polices and customer service are unparalled.