JetBlueFA

Our normal offering in the snack basket will remain free of charge

tickets please

I've heard that at one airport (perhaps TPA?) JetBlue boards/de-boards their planes through the rear door as well as the front door. Why does this practice exist, and do they plan on expanding it to other airports? I feel like this could be an excellent selling point for JetBlue.

sbm12

There are a few airports where this happens. I'm pretty sure they were offering it at FLL last week and I have boarded at LGB and BUR up the back. It is faster for loading/unloading planes where it is available.

The DL Shuttle used to do the same for arrivals at LGA. It was great because you walked along the ground and then right out to baggage claim and the cab line; no need to go back up into the terminal. A great reason to sit in the back of the plane.

bmg42000

They do it at PBI also . They are set up to do it at JFK but currently the Port Authority prohibits them from doing it .

JetBlueFA

If you are flying the 190, 11A/B are horrible seats. They do not recline because of the exit row. However if you are on the 320 and paid for the EML (Row 10 and 11 are the exit rows on the 320) you will be very comfortable. Some don't like the exit row window because it tends to get a little colder and the arm rest is attached to the door. However if the seat map shows 2x2 seating available on the flight change your seats. You won't be comfortable since you can't recline and your space will shrink if row 10 reclines. Here is a shameless plug for a good website for any airline if you want to know where to sit. Head to www.seatguru.com as they have all sorts of information about every airline and which seats are good and which you will want to avoid.

Your own headsets will work great and we invite you to bring and use them! The jack is a universal jack and when I commute home on us I usually pull out my Bose headsets and zone out for the flight.

JetBlueFA

It all depends on the airport and if they allow us to do it. Most of the Florida cities see rear deplaning via airstairs and across the tarmac. Long Beach is the only city in Cali that sees it on a regular basis as well. NYC and BOS won't allow us to rear deplane for safety and security reasons. BOS mainly because the gates aren't set up to allow for customer entry into the terminal from the ramp.

I like deplaning from both ends but I have mixed feeling about boarding. Every time we do it several customers don't listen to the announcements and end up boarding from the rear when they are seated in row 5 or vice versa. Most of the time it works very well.

troligt

Hello,

First time poster, long time reader.

My girlfriend and I are Swedish citizen (European Union) and will be flying JetBlue from Aruba to JFK, arriving at terminal 5 (as I understand it) at 6.45 PM on a Wednesday. We then have a connecting international flight to Reykjavik, Iceland by Iceland Air at 8.30 PM from terminal 7.

My questions are, can we check our bags in Aruba all the way to Europe, or will we need to pick them up at JFK?

Will we, as non-US citizen benefit any from the pre-clearance deal made with Aruba in terms of "buying us more time" to make the connecting flight to Europe?

In short, is the 1h 45min sufficient time to connect from JetBlue inbound from Aruba into T5 and going outbound with Iceland Air to Reykjavik, Iceland from T7?

Any help, especially in clarifying this pre-clearance deal and how it would, if any, affect us, is greatly appreciated.

We'd rather make the connection obviously, but if the risk is great that we will not, we'd prefer to book an extra nights hotel close to JFK.

Thank you in advance!

Regards,

Daniel

bmg42000

Welcome to Flyertalk .
Since your plane comes lands at terminal 5 you will have already cleared customs so that is one thing you will can avoid.
You will need to get your luggage (if checked that can take 20 minutes ) or then the air train to terminal 7 (5 minutes or so ) . What is the minimum check in time required for Iceland air . If it is 90 minutes you will not make it . If it is 45 minutes (or you don't have checked luggage ) then you have a shot. Good luck.

troligt

Hello and thank you for the reply!

I've checked all I can and the only information I can gleam is
"Airport information;
Terminal 7, Handling agent: British Airways, Check-in: 2 hrs prior dep.".

To close check-in 120 min before departure? Sounds odd. Either way, it sounds as if it would be tight. I wish there was a way to not have to pick up the checked in luggage and re-check it, ie. to check it in all the way to Europe whilst in Aruba.

// Daniel

bmg42000

If they require a 2 hour check in then you will not be able to make the flight. You should call up Icelandair to confirm when time you need to be checked in by . If you do the online check in it may be quicker.

sbm12

The 2 hours is when they open, not when they close. I believe they close 60 minutes out. That's still going to be VERY tight even having pre-cleared in AUA.

IADOrange

Did you stop boarding out of the rear in BUR?

JetBlueFA

You are correct, we still deplane from the rear stairs in BUR. I think we've stopped in LGB because of the construction on the ramp. I was in LGB all last month and never used the back door.

bucky13

So on my red-eye flight this past weekend from LAS to JFK a lady behind me asked if she could move to an empty row so she could spread out and have more room. The 2 exit rows on both sides of the plane weren't taken by anyone. The attendant said they can't allow anyone to sit in these rows as they are designated for "extra leg room" customers. Now if a plane has empty rows while in the air...can you move around and take advantage of this? They did say that if anyone wanted to purchase these seats they could for an additional 40-60 bucks extra.

What's your take on this?

djs

I'm not affiliated with JetBlue, but my personal take is that if they started giving away the seats to anyone onboard who wanted them, why would anyone buy in advance? Also, if I had bought them in advance and then the airline said "hey, we have these awesome EML seats up front that only a few idiots bought, so any of you folks who were smart enough not to pay for them can now have them for free" I'd be pretty annoyed. Now of course they wouldn't quite say it that way, but that's the way I'd hear the announcement.