njxbean

So i finally got a chance to check out Jet Blue, but had a very bad experience. First, my plane from JFK to MCO after boarding sat at the gate due to 2 separate mechanical issues for over 90 mins. They said we would receive a credit towards a future JetBlue flight because of that, which i thought was very fair.

On the return flight, the plane had a "bad smell". Because of this, they switched planes, but to get to the new plane, we needed to change terminals and clear security a 2nd time to get to the gate. I have never heard of having an entire flight have to clear security due to a gate change. It was insane and very unorganized! The only compensation we received was a free movie, which was surprising considering the compensation given on the earlier flight. So was this just my bad luck, or is this normal on Jet Blue? Thanks for letting me vent. :-)

nerd

It sounds like you attract bad luck and I look forward to hopefully never having to fly on the same plane as you.

But honestly, why move the pax instead of just swapping out the smelly plane at the same gate?

njxbean

Normally i have very good luck! :knockonwood:

and yes, im still baffled as to why they didnt just swap the plane. Strange.

djk7

It's cheaper to move the people than the plane.

arthur -- flyer wanna be

maybe... they thought making the passengers walk the extra distance will shave some weight from the flight?

JUST KIDDING....

kennedytower

I am going to guess that you had to clear security again in Orlando. I just had this happen over the weekend. Jet Blue uses two different terminals in Orlando. Because of the need to clear Customs and Immigrations for some flights, they have to arrive the international flights in a different terminal. You had to clear security again because of they way the Orlando Airport is designed and has nothing to do with Jet Blue. As an international arriving passenger into the US you must claim you baggage at your first port of entry…Orlando. Unfortunately the international baggage claim is airside – behind security - with the gates. A passenger could have items in checked luggage that are prohibited in carry on baggage. Once that passenger touches the checked luggage both the passenger and the bag needs to be re-screened before being allowed to commingle with other passenger who went through the check point. In the 80’s gates you can actually exit Customs right onto the train platform and board the train to the main terminal. You probably also noticed screens and those rope barriers all over the place with TSA agents pointing people out of the area. Had you switched terminals when there were no international arrivals then you would have been allowed to move from one side to another freely.

As with the questions about why they did not just move the new aircraft to where you were, I can’t speak for Orlando but at JFK during the busy periods airplanes are not allowed to be towed off of the apron onto the taxiway. You must taxi it. Perhaps Orlando is the same way and Jet Blue did not have mechanics available to taxi the planes.

Hope this kind of makes sense.

llachance

MCO to SJU - everyone on board ready to take off. Oops we have a mechanical issue everyone get off (mind you the jet had sat there all night). 2-3 hour delay they say. Mechanics come, easy fix, start to board...oops can't board yet because the mechanics haven't signed the paperwork and I (pilot) will not let you board the plane until I know it is safe...of course we can see the mechanics that had been working on the plane (saw them get on and off) down at McDonalds getting coffee Delay ended up being a little over two hours which meant instead of taking an AA RJ to my final destination I took a Cape Air Cessna 9 passenger plane (Virgin Gorda was the final destination). No compensation on anyone's part......not even a free movie. Fortunately there was a travel agent involved to change the second part of the trip because I didn't have computer access at the time.

dinosims

If the delay was solely due to a mechanical delay according to the B6 Bill of Rights, you're due a $50 voucher. It should automatically be sent to the email associated with the reservation within a couple days but if not, just send an email via the Speak Up link on the homepage and they should take car of it for you.

http://www.jetblue.com/about/ourcomp...ise/index.html

sbm12

Meh...

My flight (B6 619) is delayed just over an hour tonight out of JFK. The experience has been fine. They've made announcements and posted updated departure times on the boards. The bars still have booze and the pasta station in the food court produced a decent, albeit slightly bland, couple of entrees for our dinner. Had I known the delay would be this long I would've tried one of the real restaurants. That is the only real annoyance but I'm over it.

Happy jetting!

medic-again

Normally my flights on B6 are very nice so today was a surprise. The issue was more ground side as the flight was non-eventful which is what I like. I know this is not a horror story that will make even the top 1000, but since we're sharing bad B6 experiences I thought I'd add one.

On flt 177 today from JFK to PHX. For checkin, used the checkin kiosk in T5 while going from the airtran before the escalators down to bag drop. The kiosk asks me to confirm that I'm traveling with an infant which I had included in my original reservation and had confirmed with a phone CSR a few weeks before. Only one boarding pass prints and no mention of the infant on the boarding pass.

Okay, no problem, I'll check when I drop the bag and car seat at bag drop. Agent there says no need for a seperate boarding pass seurity and boarding are fine with the birth certificate only. Every other airline I've flown with my son has had a seperate pass for him, but I think T5 is owned by B6 so they must have some process and it's my first time with the infant on B6.

After waiting 15 minutes in a security line, am told I need to go back to see a B6 agent to get a boarding pass for my son. They won't let him through without a seperate infant pass. Agrivated I go back and the agent questions the need for this but prints a new boarding pass for me with an infant notation.

On airside, check the monitors and the flight is ontime. With the lines this morning and the security issue, no time to grab food want since boarding is supposed to start and want to get the little buy settled. Get to gate and notice no plane. Why do the boards show the flight is ontime when at boarding time they still haven't taxied a plane over to the open gate? No way this bird will fly on time.

Turns out the plane is coming from maintinence and arrives a few minutes after boarding time is supposed to start. Crew jumps on and does their inspections and such.

Meanwhile everyone in the gate is sitting around wondering what's going on as no announcement has been made and the boards still show on time. Of course, the electronic display at gate 5 where the flight is boarding from isn't working so people are standing around wondering is that's their plane, why it isn't boarding, or since now the time of departure has come and gone if they've missed their flight.

As I mentioned, there is no working sign and the ramp agent isn't around. I assume she musht be helping the crew get the flight ready as she comes and goes from the jetway laughing with someone on the walkie talkie. However, when someone does stop her to ask if the plane is for 177 to Phx, she gives a rude - "Yes, 177 to Phx...177 to PHX, yes, yes, yes". Given there had been no announcements, the boards still showed on time, and the gate display was non functional I'd think she'd have had more patience.

Once on board, we're told we'll be sitting for a while longer as one of the tires is worn and needs to be replaced. I like safety over time, but given that the plane had been sitting in maintinence overnight, why wasn't this taken care of then?

The flight pulled from the gate about 40 minutes late and arrived about 20 minutes late to Phx. The odd item was that when my friend came to pick me up, he'd already been waiting 40 minutes becasue the online system had showed the flight had left ontime and was actually supposed to arrive early.

I'll still fly B6 again (I have a $100 credit with them) and their flight service is above par, but their ground operations just don't seem to offer the same quality as the rest of their product.

nerd

Maybe the flight status screens at T5 are just hard-coded to the schedule database?

My last flight showed an on-time departure up until 10 minutes past departure time, at which point the aircraft still hadn't arrived at the gate. And it wasn't a late arrival aircraft, but an empty one being towed in.

No announcement from the gate agent either. No gate agents showed up until around 5 minutes before scheduled departure.

JAX2BOS

Please, please, please send a speakup... JFK is supposed to be our flagship base and I as an inflight crewmember see this happen all too often. Our customers want to be informed. It makes a huge difference and eliminates confusion. Additionally, it's the crewmember's job as a gate agent to keep customers informed. If incidences likes these are not documented by customers JFK leadership cannot be held accountable (unacceptable) and the service will continue.

Thanks so much.

sbm12

I actually received an email link to a survey after my flight on Friday night. I was not shy about letting them know that I didn't mind the delay as things happen, but the fact that there was NO agent at our gate for at least half of the hour between the scheduled departure and the actual departure was completely unacceptable. So was the brush off I got from the agent at the next gate, though he had an almost acceptable excuse.

caphis

Nope; the FIDS screens at the gate are directly linked to real-time information. Delays attributed to late aircraft arrival are typically the most accurate, as those are generally calculated from the expected arrival of the inbound aircraft. ATC delays are probably next most reliable, since there are new initiatives now to post delays ASAP after an air traffic delay is received. Delays attributed to maintenance are generally as accurate as can be anticipated -- if it takes X amount of time to fix Y problem, those are entered as 'best guesses' with frequent updates.

The posted delays most commonly seen as 'incorrect' are the ones generally required to be entered manually -- for example, a late taxi from another gate, crew rest issues, etc. While I know that operations does their best to make these updates, these are quite susceptible to human error, unfortunately.

As to the gate agent at JFK, I would most definitely recommend that you "Speak Up" on the website about this issue. None of the reasons why this flight was delayed preclude a customer service agent from being at the gate area during scheduled boarding to answer questions. Customer service is a huge priority for JetBlue, and it sounds like there was a breakdown here. Speak Up comments are taken seriously, and are forwarded directly to the supervisors responsible for follow up.

Now, having generalized up to this point, with regard to flight 177 specifically, yesterday's flight did incur a 33 minute delay -- attributed to, as you were correctly told, late reposition of the aircraft and the tire change. The "late reposition" aspect, without knowing the details of this particular flight, probably stems from the inbound aircraft arriving into Terminal 4 from Santiago, DR late (at 6:44 vs. 5:16 scheduled). This delay not being anticipated was probably a combination of wishful thinking and human error. With respect to the tire change, it's likely that it was noticed by the Captain of flight 177 during the pre-flight walkaround, and thus had no opportunity to be serviced beforehand. I hope that helps.

Globehopper

I need to start applying for these, as B6 never sends them out automatically to me.

Why can't we just phonte these in?