JetBlue Airways - Pros and Cons
Jet Blue has devoted passengers. Does the airline deserve them?
Famous for its low fares and friendly staff, Jet Blue is enjoying a great rep among air travelers. There is plenty of good in the Jet Blue Corp., but some bad as well.
I'm a pretty big fan of Jet Blue Airways. Sure, my kid got shockingly spoiled by her one-time-only deluxe treatment in the business section of American Airlines (embarrassing!), but the TV monitors in back of each Jet Blue passenger seat make up for the loss of amenities, and the cheap tickets really help save a family's travel budget. Because our frequent flyer miles can't be used during black-out days of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holiday travel times, Jet Blue is our favorite low fare airline alternative for peak travel periods.
Three new great things about Jet Blue:
- Jet Blue Airways has announced that the corporation is adding Chocobilly's Chocolate Chunk cookies to its snack offerings, completing a trans-fat free trifecta of All Nuts cashews, Terra Blues potato chips, and now these yummy cookies. It goes without saying that the healthiest choice is for flyers to bring their own nutritious meals onboard, but I still find Jet Blue's commitment to trans-fat free snacks commendable. Oh, and the inflight coffee is Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which is actually very good.
- For red-eye flights, bleary travelers can get some relief with Jet Blue's offering Bliss Spa products. Jet Blue's Bliss Shut Eye Kit includes ear plugs, an eyeshade, body butter and lip balm. Also part of Jet Blue's Shut-Eye service on red eye flights, is passenger access to a pantry stocked with snacks and hot towels. It's all complimentary, of course; If Jet Blue keeps this up, the airline may have to rethink its "less amenities" philosophy.
- Ever since the TSA restricted liquids in carry-on bags, airlines in general have seen an increase in lost stowed luggage (this is because more passengers are forced to pack stowed luggage now, instead of making everything fit into carry-ons). However, the Department of Transportation notes that, of the 15 busiest airlines, Jet Blue ranks number one - that's right, number one! - in terms of not losing their passengers' baggage. The DOT reports that JetBlue Airways lost or mishandled 4.1 of every 1,000 stowed luggage. The industry average is double that, at 8.3 lost bags per 1,000, and the worst record goes to Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which clocks in at a gigantic 24.1 pieces of luggage waylaid by the baggage handlers. That's about six times more lost luggage than Jet Blue's.
That said, lately Jet Blue has done a couple of seriously uncool things:
- Along with Northwest and American Airlines, JetBlue Airways handed passenger lists over to the TSA a while back, which rightfully infuriated privacy advocates. I understand that there's a heightened awareness and fear of terrorists on airplanes, but those passenger records are useless for pinpointing terrorist activity, and further, it's illegal. The 1974 Privacy Act is a law protecting us from having our personal data collected like this; just because the government may elect to break the law, doesn't mean that Jet Blue had to do so as well.
- Second, it was recently disclosed that JetBlue Airways wanted to prove that pilots could work longer than the legal 8 hour shifts - so to "prove" it, Jet Blue actually had their pilots work 10 or 11 hours straight, with passengers onboard, hence unknowingly part of this experiment. Seriously! Since pilot fatigue increases the chance of potentially disastrous pilot error, using passengers as human subjects in this experiment is truly a horrible, unethical idea.
Now, Jet Blue, listen up: We air travel folk like you, and we want to keep liking you. But you can't have it both ways. You can't give our personal data to the government to supposedly improve airline safety, and then have us fly with overworked, tired pilots, too. Actually, you can't do either. Thanks for the low fares, trans-fat free snacks and Bliss Spa packs, Jet Blue. Keep putting your customers first, and we'll keep coming back.
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