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.

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.

Welcome Back

When did the national media carrier a story about our horrible flights? Surely you mean National Media of the United States!

Self service lines never move quickly because people usually don't know how to use the machine or are scared of it, like it is going to eat them or something.

Gotta love the E190

Was this the day JFK had zero visibility due to heavy heavy fog? Might be the reason for the delay

Gatta love the ole TV

We can't get up unless we are released by the flight deck crew. You never know when we could get a sudden release, oh wait it happened

Sudden releases happen often which is why we needed to be ready at the drop of a hat to get airborne, otherwise we could miss our slot and be delayed for another several hours

I hate New England winters and the rough weather that is associated with them, it been seated for the entire flight several times

Opps, ground controllers must have been under a lot of stress with all of the delays.

If it was an E190 it shouldn't have taken too long to deplane

Where else should they smoke besides designated smoking areas? Surely you don't want them to smoke inside!

There is your normal statements, i was wondering when they would pop up. First you say the company impressed you with the fact they pulled customers off the flight so they could put them on the direct flight so they wouldn't miss their connection, then you said the company wasn't accmodating to connecting customers. Which is it? We know how to treat our customers. We aren't an "infant" airline as you so quaintly put it. Since our inception we have had connecting customers, so to say we don't know what we are doing is factually wrong!

You sure have an odd way of showing how well we impresses you even though you don't want to blame us. Blame us for what? Severe fog in JFK? Ground Controller error? Accmodating customers in BOS? Flight crew smoking in designated areas? Us being an "infant airline"?

Thank you, jetBlueFA, for pointing out what I would have!

sulsk, welcome back to jetBlue (and to FT, hopefully this time you won't just rant about things that are not the fault of jetBlue.)

Please don't make it sound like you "gave jetBlue another chance." Just under a year ago, I recall you saying that jetBlue will NEVER see your face again. Rethinking your decision and wanting to give them one more chance is great...but it is different from what I believe really happened. I believe that you priced out the Delta Shuttle into LGA. And, since they do not offer affordable one-way flights (because you said you already booked your return...so I am guessing you booked two seperate one-ways, rather than a roundtrip) you saw jetBlue could save you a great deal of money. Money talks and at least that was most likely something that allowed jetBlue to serve you again.

Have a great winter break and I hope you have an enjoyable jetBlue experience in January.

I do not want to turn this into a tit-for-tat. But, there are a few things I must correct and clarify.

jetBlueNYFL: You are right. I picked JetBlue due to cost. I did do the Delta Shuttle for 135 o/w when coming back up to school after one fall weekend. The flight was fine. I didn't mind the lack of TV due to the fact I had reading to do. When coming home, I'd really rather not do the buses. First of all, it is a hassle to have to get from ChinaTown to Penn Station to take the LIRR. Trains are more expensive than B6. But, some of the other flights are the same price as B6. (Usually not the shuttle ones, but the JFK-BOS on DL or JFK-BOS and LGA-BOS on AA). I went back to B6 because, among other reasons, I'm friendly with my campus marketing rep and she got be back into the B6 spirit!

JetBlueFA: I appreciate your close reading of my saga. Yes, the Wall Street Journal quoted me about my flights, not the national media carrier.

You were wrong about the machines. After the BPs were obtained, the line to give our bags to the agent was very long. And, besides, if customers have problems with the machines, there should be at least one agent there to help. (There were none.) I checked-in from home, went to the on-line bag drop line and somebody else I knew went straight to the counter service line. He literally was served in half the amount of time that I was. But, as I said, a manager did come and started having agents from counter service take people from our line, which stretched way out of the designated queue.

The flight was actually an A320, not E190. The quick boarding was due to the very professional gate agents in BOS, which brings me to another point. The reason why I was contradictory in the way customers were accomodated has to do with the difference between the customer service crew in BOS and in JFK. In BOS, they were proactive, seeming to have a personal stake in running everything smoothly and seeing passengers content. That is why they had the foresight to pull off about 7 or 8 passengers supposed to connect in JFK to FLL to a FLL non-stop. While the FAs (who I can name, but will not) sat in the galley reading magazines and talking to each other, the gate agents in BOS went up and down the aisle answering questions and re-assuring passengers. They tried to obtain accurate information.

In JFK, the caliber of the gate agents is very below the caliber of BOS agents. On other carriers, when a flight comes in eggergiously late (whether the fault of the carrier or not), a swarm of agents are there to assist passengers making connections. Connecting passengers received no such assistance. They were directed to the very long line at the customer service center.

I truly appreciate your explanation as to why we had to be seated and belted when we were released! I did not know that, which is why I love reading the boards and learning so much.

The bottom line is, of-course, the delays were not JetBlue's fault. But, how did JetBlue do in all of this? Pretty good. But, not excellent. During the whole ordeal, people were patient. Why? The TVs!! I'm so glad the crew had them on during the entire time we were seated. As a busy student, I never have time just to sit down and watch mindless programming, but I was able to for 4hours and it was spectecular.

Two factors cause me to not be very impressed with the overall experience: the in-flight crew did not have the B6 "magic." I understand if they were also tired and fustrated, but they should have been much more visible (during the times they were permitted to walk around, which were when we were sitting at the gate in BOS for over an hour, before you flame me for saying they couldn't move due to turbelance and being on an active taxi-way), making sure passengers were comfortable despite the delays.

I also noticed a very big lack of assitance for passengers with connections at JFK. Again, it seems agents in BOS had it together, but the JFK agents were not there, able and willing, to give support. I saw countless passengers get out of the gate, looking for help, and finding none. Not one of the few agents working the flight ready to depart on our plane to MCO stopped what they were doing to assist passengers from our flight.

Sulsk

First off, I am glad to see you back flying jetblue again. You did go off the deep end a little last year though. Well would you believe it I was also on flt 1011 from boston to JFK this past Friday night. Unlike yourself I had a little bit of a different view of events as they occurred on this particular flight. I was one off 2 jetblue pilots riding in the cockpit Jumpseats. The other pilot was a very senior line checkairman giving the flying Captain a routine line check. This particular flight was booked full with 156 pax plus 2 additional pilots on cockpit jumpseats. Boarding was uneventful and with the main cabin door secured the captain released the parking brake at exactly 15:44 local, 1 minute ahead of schedule. From this moment on things up front got very busy. This particular airplane had a deferred APU which is essentially used to provide air and electrics to the aircraft on the ground when the engines are off. Additionally, the APU is the primary source for starting the engines on the ground. Because this APU was broken, the crew had to use a standard alternate procedure to start the number 2 engine. This alternate procedure envolves a little more time to complete but all in all the crew did a good job and started the engine. With the #2 engine started the crew called for pushback and it was at this point that events started to go down hill. ATC informed the crew that JFK was on a groundstop because of volume and there would be no updates for 45 minutes. There was also a comair CRJ going to JFK caught up in the delay program. With this delay the Captain of the flight was somewhat backed into a corner. Normally, the crew would just push a wait for a release close to the runway. In this situation you would simply taxi out stop close to the runway and shut both engines down and wait. But remember the airplane had no APU to start the engines close to the runway so the Captain, rightfully so, did not want to taxi out and sit with the #2 engine burning unnecessary gas. The Captain decided to remain at the gate and shut down his running engine. The ground people reconnected the jetbridge and hooked up ground power and air to the aircraft. The main cabin door was also reopened so that a cabin temperature probe could be placed at the doorway. The crew did a good job of updating the pax. I believe that 5 misconnects did get of as we waited at the gate. I did find it surprising that we had one pax who was making an international connection at JFK who only allowed himself 90 minutes to connect to JFK get his bags and then hoof it over to terminal 4. Getting back to the flight. At approximatedly 16:40 we were told by ATC that both comair and ourselves were released to JFK. Now were had to go over the engine start procedure again. At a little after 17:00 we took off from runway 22R. The flight itself was relatively quick although we had to slow down a bit for the enroute turbulence. Intially on descent the crew were told to expect landing on runway 22L. As per company procedure the flying pilot, in this case the Captain, performed a full arrival brief. Just as the captain was finishing his brief the approach controller changed the landing runway to 22R. All this happened quickly at a point when we were about 25 miles from landing. Both pilots were busy but they did a great job. We landed uneventfully and as per JFK tower control made 2 right turns off the runway to hold short runway 31L. At the hold short point the taxi clearance was cross 31L KA transition to taxiway Bravo, contact ground 121.90 goodnight. The Captain did exactly what he was instructed to do. Coming round the corner on taxiway bravo we couldn't believe it when we found ourselves nose to nose with a delta connection regional jet and a Delta 767. We were boxed in with no way to turn. The Captain read the situation perfectfully and immediately called jetblue ops for a supertug to tow us to the gate. His quick thinking saved us all a lot of time. mistakes happen from time to time but you have to lay the blame for this taxi delay squarely on the shoulders off JFK ATC. In conclusion, I believe that the crew of flt 1011 did an outstanding job under some very trying and difficult operational circumstances. As pilots, we control the aircraft but when it comes to ATC restrictions and delay programs we can only push so many buttons. Anyway I hope Sulsk that this long winded story gives you more insight to the events that unfolded during your flight. Come back and see us again and don't be afraid to pop your head into the cockpit and say hi.

I really appreciate your first-hand account. It seems as though the customers were not fully informed. I didn't mention the deferred APU because customers, like myself, were never told of it! I assume in order to protect the airline from having to compensate due to the delay, they neglected to add in the mechanical factor. Admittedly, I'm not sure how much time we would have saved if the engines were able to be turned-on the normal way. If not for the mechanical issue, as you said, we would have been close to the runway waiting for release, rather than being at the gate. I don't know if that would have saved any time.

In terms of the second situation, I'm glad the pilot called "company" as he put it to expedite the situation. How much longer would it have taken otherwise? What would have been procedure if a tug didn't come? How common are nose-to-nose situations? Honestly, was it a potentially dangerous situation? How often does they occur?

Thanks DietCoke for the inside scoop. I sure know how to pick "typical" JetBlue flights, don't I?

Sulsk, While I no longer view JetBlue as the "Happy Go Lucky" carrier as I did in the past, I do remember your skewed views on your small handful of flights last year. As much as you would like to think you are the most important passenger in the world, the fact is, you are just a NUMBER to them. You don't fly enough for the airline to truly care, you just rant enough for them to care not to have you on board.

Face it, you are not an elite on any carrier, and they really don't have much of a reason to give you the "Personal Attention" you may seem you deserve so much. So, for that, I recommend this to you. That way, you can get all the service and attention that you may need.

Sulsk

I really don't know if you're are trying to spin the situation or the events surrounding flight 1011 so please let me clarify. The delay of flt 1011 from BOS to JFK was simply ATC driven. The Traffic Management Unit is in total control off all air traffic and if they decide to meter traffic then as a pilot you are along for the ride. Please understand that if ATC says jump we say how high. The deferred APU on this particular aircraft absolutely doesn't constitute a mechanical delay. If an part 121 airliner is not 100% mechanically sound for flight it simply doesn't go. An APU on an aircraft like the airbus is not a required item, but it sure is nice to have one. The Captain did give updates as he got them from ATC. He did not mention the deferred APU because 99% of the folks in the back would have absolutely no idea what an APU is or what it does. As for our nose to nose incident at JFK. This was simply a miscommunication between the JFK tower controller and the ground controller. Controllers are human too, and they make mistakes. At absolutely no time were you ever in danger, we were simply boxed in and there was insufficient taxiway for us to do safe 180 turn. The Captain did expedite the situation by having the foresight to call for a supertug. Once again the crew did an outstanding job given the difficult circumstances.

I'm not trying to spin anything. Just wanted futher clarification. Thanks for that. I see that not having the APU isn't a mechinical issue.

I was only asking for more details because I'm very interested in flight and wish to know more. I'm just curious, if the captain didn't call a supertug, how would we have gotten out of the nose to nose? I'm also glad to hear we weren't in danger. I'm so lucky that I get the inside scoop. ^

Sulsk

Had the captain not been on the ball we would still be on the taxiway in JFK!!!

Yay JetBlue! I just received an e-mail saying EVERYONE on the flight received a $25 voucher as a gesture of good will and apology. I didn't ask for or expect anything. Way to go JetBlue! Now, I think I can call myself a true TrueBluer.

Well, I am glad to hear that jetBlue has a new valued customer. Please keep these types of good will in mind next time you go and book a ticket or encounter a small problem on jetBlue. Welcome to the TrueBlue club!

May the gods have mercy on Jetblue

Still nothing on Fox News or CNN..there have been no reports YET of hell freezing over. Stay tuned.