First Time Flyer Review
 

I am and have been Executive Platinum at American Airlines for the past three years as I travel for work from DFW to pretty much everywhere, especially the east coast. Last week my wife and I took a cruise out of NYC to Canada but first had to stop off in South Carolina to drop off our daughter our parent's house. We flew AA from DFW-GSP.

To get up to the NYC area, we decided to take JetBlue as they had a nice early morning flight out of Charlotte, a 90 minute drive from the Greenville, SC area. We checked in at the JetBlue counter in Charlotte and then headed through security to our gate. JetBlue only has one gate at CLT so it was a piece of cake compared to those poor folks flying US Airways. Checkin was very simple and I like the kiosk as much or even better than American's. I didn't see an option to standby for another flight so I'm not sure if this feature is available at this time or not. It didn't make a difference on the outbound side of the trip anyway.

We boarded a few minutes early. The process was very smooth onto the E190. To cut to the chase, from a fellow super long time AA flyer, here are my observations:

PROS vs. AA:

• New aircraft
• Very friendly flight attendants who really look like they love their jobs, similar to Southwest.
• Free snack
• The DirecTV and XM are simply wonderful. Enough said. Just fantastic!!!!
• More leg room. Brings back memories of AA MRTC.
• Free headsets
• Hot tub in bathroom

Where AA is better (especially for business travelers):

• First class seat upgrades
• DC Powerports
• Priority boarding for elites
• First class line to check bags

I'll tell you what, for leisure travel and for carryon only business travel under two hours each way, I am very impressed with JetBlue. They have an outstanding product in my opinion.

By the way, am I crazy to be disappointed once we landed as the live TV was fantastic?

GREAT JOB JETBLUE!!!!!

Mike

@:-)

That echos the way I felt after my first flight. I don't use the lavs so I missed the hot tub. I'll take your word for it though. ;)
If jet blue interlined i'd fly them more often. Since i need to get to my destination, the other stuff doesn't matter.

Plus i believe their direct TV does not have ABC. can't watch Grey's Anatmy without ABC.

jetBlue is so awesome. It would be great if jetBlue went to a few more regional destinations. Savannah, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Kansas City, there are some missing dots for sure. In markets jetBlue serves they do an exceptional job.

One key difference between jetBlue and the legacy carriers in regional markets during irregular operations is that the jetBlue E190 may have a three hour delay but the Eagle / Express CRJ/ERJ with one cancellation after the next is that jetBlue is actually more reliable. Forget the great entertainment and wonderful in-flight crew, you stand the best chance of getting back to New York from Raleigh-Durham or Richmond on jetBlue than any other airline on the RJ's.

jetBlue offers a great product and I believe that if jetBlue could figure out a way to award miles similar to Alaska's program where you can fly Alaska and earn miles with virtually any airline (except Star Alliance) many of the top tier flyers would abandon their Super 80's and MD 88's (first class or not). Frequent travelers are driven by rewards and incentives, its the one area jetBlue could stand to be more competitive, jetBlue offers an otherwise great product that blows others out of the water.

This weekend was my first time using JetBlue. Since my outbound was IAD-LGB on a Friday afternoon I anticipated some sort of delay but the departure went smoothly and the seat (7D both ways) was great. I'm a bit confused as to why the seating chart the day before showed virtually all of the front rows completely full but at departure almost all of the middle seats in that section were empty (including my row, happily). The XM radio was terrific - I so much enjoyed the old radio drama channel that I never wound up watching my DVD player on that leg.

Monday morning's LGB-IAD flight went equally smooth. No XM radio on that flight, though, so I did use my DVD player, and I have to agree that powerports would have been a nice addition. Still, the flight went by quickly and we landed a bit early. Service was very pleasant and attentive on both flights, reminiscent of how service USED to be on the legacy carriers.

Overall, I was very impressed with JetBlue's performance and comfort. It was well worth the inconvenience of having to use Dulles, and Long Beach Airport was a delightful, no hassle change from the chaos of LAX.

I am a former AA Executive Platinum and CO Gold elite. I fly jetBlue as exclusively as possible, whether for short flights or transcon, and about 90% of the time on business.

Actually, I find that jetBlue is a much better airline for a business traveler on a budget than any of the legacies. Why?

First, because an affordable ticket can be purchased at the last minute, unlike most legacies, which will charge you an arm and a leg, an arm and a leg that will most likely land you in a middle seat of a much less comfortable economy section.

Also, when you buy one of these last-minute, more expensive tickets on jetBlue, you will be guaranteed an aisle or window seat in the 36" seat pitch section of the plane.

I save my small business lots of money and I always get a comfortable seat.

That's a lot better to me than spending two or three times as much money and having only a small chance at an upgrade on a carrier like CO.

I flew Jetblue for the first time a few weeks ago LGB-JFK roundtrip and really liked it. As a frequent AA flier I'm used to no food in coach, limited legroom, little to no entertainment, and crabby flight attendants. I found none of that on Jetblue. The live TV was great and flying out of Long Beach was a breeze.

I'll still fly AA the most as I like the elite perks particulary for irreg opps and international travel, but I'll definitely be flying Jetblue again in the future.

Hey, don't forget GSP!! We're growing (as a metro area) like gangbusters. The housing market here HASN'T slumped, and companies are expanding or moving here all the time. I'm sure all our newly-arrived residents have family all over the place they need to go visit, aside from all the business travel surely generated by the new facilities/headquarters here.

I flew JB (B6) for the first time last week - only PIT/JFK/PIT - but for very short flights, all I can say is WOW!!! I had such a great time with the XM & TV! Outbound, I had an empty seat next to me, so I had XM Radio on one system, and the other on TV and I was watching TV (GSN) while listening to the radio - and switching back and forth!! I had such a good time, I just didn't want to get off the plane - REALLY! I was the last one off the plane! I was writing down names and artists of songs I enjoyed on XM so I can get them - and I have XM at home! The new E190 was GREAT! The FA's were absolutely SUPER!! VERY accomodating, especially for such a short flight.
I'd like to say that I'll use JB often, and I'm sure that I will whenever I can, but they just don't fly to many places I go! Also, I have absolutely NO problem taking connecting flights, but with service from PIT only to JFK and BOS non-stop, many to most good locations require you to back-track in order to get there. In another thread someone asked why people here in PIT keep using US instead of JB - - one reason suggested is because PIT people are so invested in the US DM program but I think that many people do not want to fly from PIT to California via JFK!
Anyway - GREAT JOB, JB, I look forward to another great flight experience soon - maybe as soon as October!

PS My favorite "CUTE" thing - also something I've never seen, or perhaps just never noticed before, was the small signs in the lavs that say something like: Do not flush while seated on toilet!! WHAT a hoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't think management browses these forums? FlyMeHomeAA's Review was just sent out to the rest of the company in a company email! ^

Does this mean they are considering the Hot Tub in the bathrooms :D.

Speaking of which, if anyone in route planning is reading this, how bout a SLC-JFK flight thats NOT A REDEYE? I know you offer Shut-eye service and all but how can anyone sleep on your planes with all the good entertainment options (XM and DirecTV) :D

That is awesome!!!!!

I've flown 15 segments on B6 since 2002, and have a few more coming up. Only thing I prefer about UA is channel 9. If B6 put ATC onto the audio system, I'd lose any incentive to fly UA, and possibly even VX.

Just read that "Daily News" communication to us and it brings you right to the thread...

Well, in that case...if any other jetBlue crewmembers are reading this now, please join FT (it's free!) and share the greatness of this forum with your friends across the industry. We would all love for you to join in the discussions. To the FA's, I'm the one who wears the blue jetBlue baseball cap, usually on the JFK-FLL-JFK runs!