stinky123

SkaterJasp, there's a difference between being delayed and getting somewhere at all. I've had some relatively annoying delays on Continental but only in a major blizzard have I experienced a flight cancellation. On Friday, when JetBlue cancelled its SJC flights, yes, there was a computer glitch, but there was no blizzard. How did pax eventually get to JFK? A day later, if there happened to have been room? My point is that only people who can really afford not to be there can take the risk to fly B6.

craz

theres a big difference between being delayed and cancelled. FWIW, many Carriers that Friday had to cancel their flights from/to the East Coast, therefore I guess you aresaying that if anyone had a tkt on a flight on ANY Carrier that day they shouldn't risk it happening again and thusly Never fly with that Carrioer again, it wasnt Only B6

TWA Fan 1

Of course, But I wouldn't read too much into the effect of tight turnarounds on on-time performance.

AA has a simliar on-time performance to B6 at JFK, and US has a lower performance for its flights at PHL.

magiciansampras

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Something needs to explain the delays, TWA. The fact is that B6 is 2nd worst in on-time performance. If we agree that all hubs suck, that leaves either turnaround times or bad operational management as the culprit.

Either way, the larger point is this: blaming B6's on-time woes on weather and ATC alone does *not* tell the whole story - I think you would agree, yes?

magiciansampras

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BTW, TWA, do u have the stats on AA out of JFK! I'd be interested in seeing them.

TWA Fan 1

A couple of issues:

1. B6 has the highest percentage of its flights in and out of JFK, its only true hub. AA & DL may have similar on-time performance at JFK, but have other hubs where there is less congestion, so their system-wide on-time figures are better.

2. On the other hand: On-Time performance is only measured based on departure or arrival 15 minutes after the scheduled time. This means AA might have a flight that arrives about 20 minutes late 70% of the time and it therefore would register as being on time only 30% of the time, while a B6 flight might arrive 90 minutes late 40% of the time and it would register as on time 60% of the time...

craz

for the Op and ALL those who love to bash B6 read this post below, and you will see B6 is NOT alone;
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=703648

dietcoke

Flying down the east coast yesterday afternoon and heard 1 AA and 1 CO diverting from their holding patterns to alternate airports because of fuel. Between dodging thunderstorms I also heard an AW declare min fuel but then we got a frequency change and I had to go, but I suspect that this guy diverted also. In my professional opinion I would say that 99% of todays delays or a combination of ATC flow control and weather. MS, operationally I have seen many positive improvements at JFK but people still fail to realise that the Northeast is by far and away the busiest most congested airspace in the world. Its a shame that we aren't able to take people on the flightdeck jumpseat because its only then that they would get a better understanding of the challenges we deal with everyday.

magiciansampras

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I don't doubt anything you say, diet. But if what you say is true, then on-time performance for B6 is a lost cause since it is out of their hands, right?

magiciansampras

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Sorry for the duplicates - the wap site is acting up.

I'm in ORD (arrived early ).

JetBlueFA

You just wanted to get your point across! I don't think it is solely our problem. I personally think it's a combination of factors. Like Diet said, the northeast is a massive clusterf*ck and nobody knows what is going on. When the weather is great and there are no delays we operated at nearly a 90% ontime factor. When the weather goes south I think that is is a combination of our operations in JFK, tight schedule and tight turn arounds, over crowding of JFK and the airspace.

dietcoke

Honestly, to a certain extent it is a lost cause, but its largely a lost cause for any carrier operating in the Northeast. I can't understand why I now expect to hold for at least a couple of turns each and every time I fly into JFK no matter how good the weather is. I personally have excepted this, as its a much better alternate than crushed metal and lost lives. Again my perspective is a little different as I'm on the clock. I hate to say it, but we're in for a long hot summer.

nsx

I hope that JetBlue takes this point very seriously. Yesterday my mother booked DL rather than B6 for this very reason. DL was $5 cheaper, but B6 is more than $5 better and she knows it. It was just that she had to catch an international flight from JFK and she wanted to minimize the risk of missing that flight.

My mother knows next to nothing about air travel, yet she knew of JetBlue's reputation for delays. My mother did ask me, and I had to say that her decision was correct in this case. There must be thousands of people out there making similar decisions based on the same perceptions. Business travelers are especially sensitive to probability of serious delay or cancellation.

It will take years to reverse these perceptions even if on-time performance improves. Unless JetBlue does some serious de-hubbing of its operations, these perceptions will be accurate, because actual performance will remain at the bottom of the barrel.

It's very difficult for a smaller airline to provide decent service during irregular operations. Southwest's fungus-like growth strategy (expand slowly, building mass at each airport before moving further, concentrating on short-haul flights) is perhaps the only way to accomplish this.

VIB

The point I was trying to make in my other posts, perhaps too obtusely, is that flight schedules are pretty meaningless anyway. Since airplanes actually have the ability to fly faster today than they did in 1958, that fact that the scheduled flying time is greater today than it was back then means that the schedule has been padded. If the flights are always late, just tack some more time onto the schedule. Suddenly, presto! the flights will arrive on time!

SkaterJasp

I don't know how the customers got to JFK, they could of took a flight out of OAK, SFO, another SJC flight. They may of flew down to LGB and continue onto JFK. There are other ways to get from the bay area to JFK. jetBlue is creative in solving problem and don't focus on one airport. I've seen people miss their JFK to SMF connection and got put on the JFK to OAK flight and continue onto SMF in a shuttle bus of some sort. Anways, I still don't see how this problem is only at jetBlue. Some time its better to just cancle a flight if you have no idea when its going to depart and rebook them on a different flight, its alot better than just sitting around in the terminal for who knows how long. At least there was a reason, I've been on other airlines where my flight got cancled simply because the crew exceeded their hours or their not able to service the aircraft or the flight will arrive at the airport past curfew, or some other non weather related excuses. Basically I have expereince more flight delay on other airlines than on jetBlue, infact, I have yet to have one of my flight with jetBlue cancled.