Gee, an airline that almost doesn't suck
Written: Mar 03 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: OK Prices, OK Seats, TV to watch, honest business practices.
Cons: Narrow seats, not as big a bargin as advertised.
The Bottom Line: Pretty good airline. Better than most. Much better than some.
|
|
|
| fritz_t_coyote's Full Review: JetBlue Airways |
It was winter break again, and time to take the kids to Florida to be spoiled by their grandparents. As always the logistics of this trip are tricky. In this case, however, mom had recommended JetBlue, and one of her neighbors had raved about the 99$ to NYC fare. I figured that a non-stop flight, with that direct-tv thing would make for an easier trip. So I wandered into the Jetblue website.
Website fun
Ok, they have a website, and it was relatively easy to navigate and order tickets. It was even usable with a non-IE browser. My only quibble with their web presence is that they don’t support the Galileo Viewtrip system (https://www.viewtrip.com/en-US/ViewTrip.asp) (along with any other travel agent tools) so it was annoying to have to manually copy my trip info into calendar.
I am sure somebody, somewhere manages to get that 99$ ticket
Prices were competitive… but not the great bargains I had expected. Probably someone with the flexibility (spelled r-e-t-i-r-e-d) to travel at odd times could nail that advertised low price, (and note the fine print says ONE WAY), but not someone who needed to travel during a major school vacation week.
Competitive prices? Competitive With What?
I was going from JFK to RSW (that’s ‘Fort Meyers International’ in airport code. The codes are handy things to know… but more about that later). Not many airlines offer a nonstop between NYC and RSW, so the prices are higher than NYC to Tampa or Miami.
It would actually be less expensive to fly to Tampa or Miami and rent a car to drive to Fort Meyers. And with other airlines it would make sense, as I could get a non-stop and avoid layovers, changing planes, and getting hosed when a delay causes me to miss a connection. But on this trip, time was a key factor, so I bit the bullet and paid about 400/seat for the round trip (with the taxes, etc.).
Not a bad way to travel
After checking our bags at curbside (a little secret… for about a 1$/bag tip you avoid that dreadful long line inside), we entered the usual airport hassles (maybe traveling under the name ‘coyote’ makes the TSA folks nervous?).
Jet Blue has a nice terminal at JFK (with free wireless internet, but no place to sit as some other flights had been delayed). It was nice to see the plane sitting ready for us.
A Sensible Boarding Call
Nice surprise number 2: They called the boarding for the back of the plane first…and worked toward the front. It made the boarding process faster, as people having the usual problems stowing their carrion bags (hey--- why do they allow people to bring in ‘carry on’ bags that they cannot Carry? It is annoying waiting for some twit with no upper body strength to slowly lever their roll-around-steamer-trunk into the overhead bin. It is even more annoying when said twit bounces the bag off my head while trying to shove it into the bin.) were not blocking as many people.
TV Land
It was wonderful watching Direct TV while flying. My sons found the History Channel, I found SpongeBob SquarePants, and we were entertained. It is really clever to dispense the TV opiate to the crowds, very relaxing.
The seat was comfortable (third pleasant surprise: the back half of the plane has slightly more legroom, and you can ask for that when you book your seats! Hooray!), my only complain was the Recline button was digging into my thigh. And the Idiot behind me who kept gabbing on her cell after pushback, until the flight attendant explained it to her 3 times, in slow, simple, polite terms.
The cabin crew was great, pleasant and professional and reasonably accommodating.
The flight crew suffered from a too-chatty captain, but it beats being underinformed.
The snack service was edible, the drinks were ok. The coffee was tepid and bland. I’ve had worse.
Overall, nice. Friendly, comfortable.
Baggage
The bags got there (during check-in I always double-check the luggage tags affixed by the airlines. I once stopped an airline check-in clerk from sending my bags to ORD when I was heading to ORH. Verify the airport code and the flight number. It can save a ton of hassles at the other end. Also, it is good luck to tip the skycap.)
(This is not the forum for my Rant on how overloaded RSW airport is. Southwest FL is outgrowing its transport infrastructure… I75 is a parking lot, the airport is handling more traffic than it was designed for, and every day more people head down there for their place in the sun….)
Bottom Line:
An OK airline. Not as good as Midwest Express, but much better than Delta, Conti, etc. And Much better than Useless Air.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
fritz_t_coyote
|
|
Member: Fritz Coyote
Location: New York, NY, USA
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Computer tech. Gearhead. SF 'fan'.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.