Originally Posted by sulsk (Post 6857375)

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.

Well, in order to get home for Winter Break, I decided to give JetBlue another chance. I booked flt. 1011. I arrived at the gate at 7:10 - 2 hours and 10 minutes after we were supposed to. Take-off, at 5:04, was much later than our 3:45 scheduled departure. But, the delays were not JetBlue's fault. Therefore, I actually have already booked my return to school in January with the airline! What follows is an honest recap of what happened on flt. 1011. Some things JetBlue did very well and some... not so much. I shall not pass judgement; I shall give the facts.

Take the train to NYC. Faster than BOS-JFK, no matter the airline.

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.

Boarding: Boarding went very smoothly. We were all on the plane in a timely manner.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by sulsk (Post 6880670)

thanks, JAX. I think the situation with the BOS-JFK routes is very interesting. These are two busy airports that are relatively close together. Obviously, even though it's not JetBlue's fault, passengers may avoid the afternoon/evening runs due to continual ATC issues. It's further complicated by the fact that many people on these routes are making connections. I wonder if maybe JetBlue has a serious commitment to the BOS-NYC run that they should shift it them to LGA, which is much less likely to have ATC problems (as demonstrated by the remarkable on-time performance of the shuttles into LGA.) How many passengers who take the JFK run are connecting? It's kind of counterintuitive that the shortest flight is the most problem laden. Thanks for your hard-work and professionalism. To tell you the truth, JFK ops need to learn from you guys.