As 2006 quickly comes to an end, let's all male predictions (or wishes) on what's in store for the upcoming new year. Try to keep the thoughts limited to jetBlue...however if it is about another airline that might impact jetBlue (positively oro negatively), then feel free to discuss it here too.

My wish/guess list for 2007:

1. Inflight magazine - especially now since the A320 will weigh ~900 pounds less, justifying the added weight of flying 150 mags per flight might make economic sense. It wouldn't have to be anything special. Especially since jetBlue has many leisure destinations, it can even be published quarterly instead of monthly. "Blue Skies" would be a cool name. Advertisers love these magazines due to the captive audience. Those who wish to receive a copy in the mail at home or work can subscribe for an annual rate AND maybe a special can be offered to AMEX card-holders and TrueBlue members (FREE for AMEX card-holders and 25% off rates for TrueBlue members).

2. TrueBlue Blueberry juice to be served on flights

3. Consistency in general...let's keep it up!

4. An awesome seventh anniversary celebration - I'm sure jetBlue has something creative planned!

5. New cities/routes:
a. SAT
b. SAV
c. SXM
d. MSP
e. BOS-SAN
f. MCO-SAN
g. FLL-SJU
h. BOS-MSY
i. IAD-MSY

6. jetBlue Fan Day - especially for us loyal FTer's...self-explanatory.

7. sell that great foamy soap found in the restrooms on jetBlue flights over the internet on ShopBlue

8. Extend the OLCI bonus (2 points) throughout 2007 for TrueBlue members

9. Seat map viewing before purchase

10. Install powerports for laptop use onboard...maybe something like every other row?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Total speculation, but things I could see down the road:

1. MSP, followed by intense speculation about a merger/alliance with SY.
2. E190 problems, particularly once cold weather begins to settle in on the East Coast, resulting in an allocation of E190s to new short-haul west coast routes.
3. B6 quietly lobbies in favor of the US/DL merger possibility, as it would ultimately benefit with higher fares out of JFK, PHX, SLC, and CLT, and the prospect of actually returning to ATL.
4. Bliss kits get removed as the new buy-on-board pillow/blanket products get rolled out.
5. WABC-7 will be added to the TV line-up.

On Jet Blue, the audience is not as captive due to the personal TVs.

However, the personal TVs could be used to make a weightless magazine, viewable on the personal TV. That would solve the problem of the paper magazines getting grungy after a few weeks (I doubt that paper magazines would last a quarter, since the magazines on other airlines are pretty ratty by the end of the month).

Some more flights connecting the dots

BOS-AUA (friday-sunday service)
BOS-HOU (heard IAH is horrendous to travel to from friends in Houston)
BOS-BDA (perfect for E190)
BOS-SLC (If the DL/US merger goes through)
BOS-PDX (beat USAirways to the punch)
HOU-LGB (if they can get another slot or two at Long Beach)
AUS-LGB
AUS-Caribbean Routes (seasonal/weekend, SJU/CUN make best choices)
AUS-Florida routes (especiall FLL/MCO)


New Destinations

Domestic

STL
MCI
MSP (get ready to fight NW)
One or Two Smaller Midwest Cities from JFK (Omaha, Wichita, Des Moines, Oklahoma City)

International (one or two of these)

SJD
STT
SXM
MEX
GCM (great idea for JFK since there is no nonstops right now plus scare Cayman Airways and their poor schedule out of BOS too)
PLS

I don't think there will be an in-flight magazine - it is just not needed.

My big prediction will be... a video safety demo. I believe they are one of the only airlines to still do a live demo even though we know they have TV screens. The recorded demo on the E190, I believe, is a step forward in revoking the manual nature of the demos.

I think having a video demo will save time as cabin crew will have more time to properly ready the aircraft for departure and not going through the motions of the demo. This is especially important as every A320 will now have one less FA.

The video safety demo and weightless magazine sounds very good. Here's my wishlist for 2007:

1. Routes to/from Toronto or anywhere in Canada, and Idaho.
2. Have wireless internet inflight.
3. Adding XM to all planes.
4. Seventh anniversary celebration - expecting something very innovative and fun!
5. Maybe another Easter egg surprise?
6. More partnerships with other companies that share the same culture/values.

I totally agree about the weightless magazine and automated safety demo being good ideas. I also like the idea of flying to Canada, but my vote would be for Ottawa! I want to go ice skating there in the winter.

My biggest hope for 2007 is service between JFK and SAT! Ever since the JetBlue started, they have been hinting they'd be servicing San Antonio.

And I really hope some cool/fun stuff happens for the 7th year anniversary, particularly giveaways and contests.

aznbrik, I think I remember hearing no interest in Canada for the time being. Many customers who fly from BUF actually live on the Canada side! Wireless internet inflight will be awesome and will definitely happen...I just don't know if 2007 is too soon or not. Partnerships I agree on too!

Any ideas as to which international/foreign/overseas airline(s) will code-share with jetBlue??? I think '07 will see at least one major announcement in this area.

lyrael, welcome to FT!

Love the ideas so far...hopefully David reads this forum!

I also think that MCO will be "officially" announced as a focus city/base.

What about connecting flight information display on a new channel!

I LOVE IT!!!!! I'm sure it's not too hard to accomplish, but there must be a way to feed constantly updated data to the PTV's on the aircraft. The only flights that would require this are those into JFK, BOS, IAD, LGB, OAK (maybe MCO, SLC) since those are the main focus cities/connecting airports.

like that?
http://www.aa.com/content/travelInfo...eConnect.jhtml

or you can swipe your credit card that you used to book the flight through the credit card reader and than an onboard computer figure out where you are going and than sniff for the connecting flight and than display it on the screen. Now that would one up AA's Gate Connect! Now if you didnt use a credit card to book (ie: using flight credits) than your pretty much SOL unless jetBlue decides to issue cheap trueBlue cards with a magnetic strip on the back.

Yup, just like that...pretty cool!

I may be wrong, but IIRC when booking a ticket a few months ago using credits (total ticket cost = $0), the reservation system still required me to enter a valid credit card. It might be a legal thing...so either way, it would work out good. Same goes for TrueBlue awards; a credit card is required to book.

I predict JetBlue will introduce some sort of Coach Choice program as NWA has. http://www.nwa.com/features/coachchoice/ This is a way to get additional revenue without raising base fares.

Also, I predict JetBlue will figure out a way to reward its most frequent fliers. Many industries (and certainly airlines fall within this camp) reward their top-tier customers differently from mid-tier and bottom-tier customers. JetBlue can attract more customers or get them to fly more frequently. Right now from a rewards perspective there isn't much incentive to fly more frequently.

My guess on the '07 routes are:
JFK- STL, MCI, MSP, SAT, and SXM
BOS- JAX, STL, HOU, and PDX
AUS- MCO, FLL, LGB, and SJU
MCO- AUS, PIT, and IAD

I don't expect all of these in one year, but I would watch for most of these. Also, the IF safety video in the next year or two is sensible idea to alevate some to-do's the FA have do. The addition of the connection and arrival info would be great.

Look for a possible second BOS-SJU flight as well. It may be run on the 190 as well. Nothing firm yet, but another interesting rumor coming out.