Traditionally when someone buys a new home, they lay out the brie and Chardonnay and invite people over so they can show off their new abode. The party is nice and hopefully nobody spills wine on the carpet or peeks in your medicine cabinet. And that’s about the end of the story. But what to do if you’ve just built a new 635,000-square-foot home to the tune of $800 million? Better buy more brie, because that’s got to be one hell of a party.
On Monday, September 22, JetBlue will be celebrating its new digs at JFK’s brand-spanking-new Terminal 5 (T5). This tri-level terminal has 26 gates across three concourses. And since it was designed with customer comfort and efficiency in mind, smack in the middle is a 55,000-square-foot central retail and concession marketplace. Sounds pretty posh, right? Well wait ‘til you hear about the housewarming celebration! JetBlue is so excited about its new domicile that it has invited a world-famous New York City dance troupe to perform the ribbon cutting, a famous pop singer to serenade guests, and T5 restaurant chefs to give cooking demonstrations. Guests can also get ready to discuss their favorite New York City factoids with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the best things about pink beaches with Premier of Bermuda Ewart Brown, and why in-flight movie selections keep travelers happy with JetBlue Airways CEO Dave Barger.
Surely JFK’s Terminal 5 sounds like an oasis to weary travelers and here at BookingBuddy HQ, we’re excited by the concept of “customer comfort and efficiency.” What do you think about this new mega-terminal? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Remember your mother used to follow up every “are we there yet?” moaned from the back of the station wagon with an enthusiastic “getting there is half the fun!”? Well, apparently your mom is now working for JetBlue. This week, the airline won the World Airline Entertainment Association’s award for best in-flight entertainment for the Americas. This prestigious award was voted on by real-life travelers just like you (or perhaps it was you, you on-line-survey-taking devil, you) and was celebrated with a “spectacular celebration choreographed and produced by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures as a salute to 40 years of in-flight entertainment.” Well then. I had no idea in-flight entertainment had been around that long.
This is not the first time JetBlue has been singled out for its commitment to making the journey half the fun. They’ve already been recognized for excellent customer service. We couldn’t be happier with their expanded movie selection. And in-flight Wi-Fi? We say Wi-finally! Yes JetBlue, keep it coming. Keep those skies friendly, fun, and fi-ed (okay that last one was a bit of a stretch). We’re keeping our eyes on you!
I was actually tempted to title this post “JetBlue Doesn’t Want to Hear It,” but that would have been unfair; they just want their actual human customer service reps to have to hear it as rarely as possible. They, as in the Greater They of JetBlue-dom are still listening, they’ll just be routing your calls to brand-new voice recognition software.
I heard that groan. And I know: Your average voice recognition seems to be about as reliable as … well, as your average flight departure time, come to think of it. The recorded voice comes on all nice and pleasant and asks you to speak your information to her (It's almost always a her). You do. She says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t get that. Please repeat your departure city.” “Akron,” you say. She says, “Do you mean Jakarta?” And it goes on like that until you finally wonder what made you think that picking up the phone would be easier than looking it up online in the first place.
JetBlue seems to think that this system will have 90 percent accuracy. Hey, super! But one of the biggest challenges with voice recognition software is both the variety across callers’ lexicons (e.g. yes, yep, yeah, uh-huh, you bet, sure thing, abso-freaking-lutely) and callers’ accents. One man’s “yes” is another man’s “yay-us” and yet another’s “yuss”. And that’s just within the native-born American accent spread. I’m reminded of a British former boss of mine who was trying to use the company’s dial-by-name system to call “Robert Whirrell” and ended up repeatedly screaming into the phone: “Ro-beh Wee-OOOO! RO-BEH WEE-OOO!”
If JetBlue’s new system really is as good as they say it is, though, this could be a big boon for the company and for callers. JetBlue gets to save money by keeping human-operated call centers small and routing most calls through the electronic system. And customers, on the other hand, get to voice and even yell frustrations about flights, fees, and general life ailments at a computer that sounds just like a person but won’t have to go home crying about how mean people can be. In some situations, including the emotionally charged travel realm, the most humane interactions might just be those that don’t involve humans at all.
There's nothing like a fistful of dollars or a nice, fat stack of twenties to make you feel rich. Looking at your online bank statement or listening to an automated recording of your credit limit just doesn't have the raw visceral power of cold hard cash. Which is what makes two recent airline initiatives so intriguing. On the one hand, there's JetBlue, which has partnered with Western Union to allow passengers to use cash to pay for tickets. On the other hand, there's US Airways, which is eliminating onboard cash payments altogether. To understand this Tale of Two Airlines, we just have to follow the money.
With what has to be one of 2008's most old-school moves, JetBlue has set up its website so that after booking, customers can cruise over to their local Western Union office and slap down a pile of real paper money to pay. Sure, you might have booked online or by phone at 800-JETBLUE, and Western Union might have performed some high-tech wizardry to transfer your payment to the airline, but come on, you just paid for your ticket with money hidden in your sock drawer—how 1970s-cool is that? Customers have until midnight on the day after they book to pay up. Sounds a little Sopranos-esque, but I'm guessing the consequences of not paying are merely that you'll lose your seat, as opposed to your kneecaps.
At the same time JetBlue is letting folks pay for flights with spare change, US Airways is taking the opposite tack and equipping its flight attendants with handheld credit card readers. Starting in 2009, crew members will be able to use these gizmos to easily collect payments for the airline's new charges, such as those for soft drinks. According to Michelle Mohr, US Airways' Spokesperson, “It’s more convenient for our customers. We realize consumers these days aren’t going to have a pocket full of cash. We want to move to a cashless cabin.”
Actually, JetBlue is already using the credit card readers, as are American and Delta. US Airways is hardly breaking new ground here, but in these tough economic times, it probably helps airline bottom lines if people just have to fork over their credit cards rather than fishing for a few bucks in their pockets. After all, when you give someone your credit card, you always get it back, good as new. When you fork over your cash, it's gone for good.
I was once wandering the aisles of a local retailer when a kid about the size and speed of a wildebeest came barreling around a corner, wailing like a member of Van Halen, and nearly knocked me into a display of Hormel Chili. Following relatively close behind was his mother, who collared the kid and hissed through clenched teeth, “Ryan you are being very bad. If you don’t calm down and behave right now I’m taking you home.” Then, she grabbed one of those giant, frosted, wrapped-in-plastic-because-it-was-actually-baked-in-1992 sugar cookies from a display next to her and said, “Here: Eat this.”
There’s a basic chemical process that happens in the human body whereby, to break it down in non-technical terms, your internal organs absorb sugar and metabolize it directly into crazy. Little Ryan’s body was undoubtedly already undergoing this process and his Mommy was adding fuel to the fire, not understanding that “the hair of the dog” doesn’t apply to cookies. Indeed, this is what we call being “at odds with one’s goals.” You can’t soothe a hyper-hypo with sugar.
Neither can you soothe a riled-up customer base with sugar, as Southwest has tried to do. Now, JetBlue has announced that they’ll be adding a bevy of new beverages to their in-air aperitifs. Specifically, look for ROCKSTAR Energy Drinks, Stirrings Cocktail Mixers and glaceau vitamin water. For those of you who’re keeping track, that’s a “potent herbal blend”of fruit juice and cane sugar, and, um, “nutrients” at the same time you're being asked to "remain in your seats with your seat belts securely fastened” for the duration of this four-hour flight.
Plus, not only is this at odds with one of JetBlue’s goals, it’s also at odds with another: revenue generation. Sure, they’re charging $3 a drink for the high fructose, but they’re also now charging $7 for a blanket and a pillow. Clearly, at four bucks more, the pillow and blanket take the bottom-line cake in terms of profit, but if that cart starts coming down the aisle early in the flight and you’ve got people juicing up on, well, juice, I’d expect a dip in the pillow-blanket income column. And for those passengers unfortunate enough to procure a pillow and blanket but possess a seat next to an imbiber, well, I think that’s probably a mistake they aren’t likely to make again.
Now, I'm not saying JetBlue's onboard snacks are bad—in fact, I'm a big fan of those blue chips—but let's face it: Snacks are snacks, and one could hardly confuse the carrier's in-flight offerings with a four-star meal.
That won't be the case with JetBlue's new Terminal 5 at JFK. According to the New York Times, JetBlue is bringing in some serious cuisine, asking big-time New York City chefs (I've never heard of them, but here's a hint: Emeril isn't one) to create upscale menus for its customers. In fact, part of the rationale behind this decision (as opposed to more common grab-and-go airport dining) is that people are spending more time at the airport these days, due both to increased security and frequent delays.
So what's on offer? How about rustic Italian comfort food, sushi, tapas, steaks, and fare from a French pastry shop and café? Most of the seating will be casual, so travelers who prefer to fly in comfy clothes (yours truly) as opposed to formal wear shouldn't feel underdressed. No word yet on what kind of prices these restaurants will charge, but JetBlue is also planning a more conventional food hall with hamburgers, pizza, and other quick bites.
Will gourmet be a hit with the low-cost crowd? We'll see. It's asking a lot for air travelers to plunk down big bucks for a meal at the airport, especially when there's cheap pizza (or those blue chips) to be had. But as most passengers expect nothing but frustration these days, a plate of good food, no matter the cost, may be worth it to soothe the road-weary traveler's soul.
As formerly free amenities such as, oh, onboard snacks vanish from the air travel landscape, the term "customer service" takes on a whole new meaning. Sure, there's still plenty of customer services to be found, but these nice little touches (if you can call checking bags a "nice little touch") are now the target of industry nickel-and-diming—a revenue source instead of a standard perk for passengers.
So into that fiery pit of cynicism, I toss the recent J.D. Power and Associates Airline Satisfaction Study, the annual report on customer satisfaction for the airline industry. JetBlue is number one again this year, giving it four consecutive years at the top of the heap, and it also took the low-cost carrier crown, for the third straight year. Alaska and Continental tied for the highest score among traditional network airlines. I won't get into the gory details of some of the lower-ranked airlines, but suffice it to say you won't find many surprises."
So here we go: Time to rant about endless fees and high fares dragging down the airlines' performance, right? Not so fast. According to the study, "Deteriorating levels of customer service provided by airline staff—rather than prices and additional charges for amenities—have led to a significant decline in customer satisfaction." Yep, high fares aren't leading to lower customer satisfaction; it's face-to-face interactions with airline staff that are causing problems.
Now, before we start yelling about rude flight attendants and unhelpful gate agents, the study does make it clear that the airlines' corporate management is still mostly to blame. According to Sam Thanawalla, director of the global hospitality and travel practice at J.D. Power, "Passengers are being affected by the ramifications of carriers making staff cutbacks and have expressed that performance and attitudes of airline staff are suffering."
See, the thing is that widespread staffing eliminations, poor economic conditions, and a generally uncertain future for the industry don't exactly add up to high employee morale. If 20 percent of your company was laid off and the six o'clock news was constantly prognosticating on the subject of your company's demise, you probably wouldn't come into work whistling show tunes, would you?
Late last week, JetBlue announced a new deal with six big-time Hollywood studios. Judging from JetBlue's press release, the move should have elicited banshee screams of delight and countless red carpets unfurling across our proud nation. More choices! First-run movies! Horton Hears a Who!
Except the movies still cost $5 a pop.
Now, don't get me wrong, better films equals a better entertainment experience. Imagine flying from New York to L.A. with nothing but Paris Hilton movies playing on your seat-back screen. Yeah, it's terrifying.
So JetBlue's new movie package is definitely a welcome addition. Too bad about the cost, but it brings up an interesting point: Is it really fair to expect airlines to offer amenities such as first-run films for free? With oil prices at unfathomably high levels, carriers today are quite literally in a life-or-death battle with seemingly unstoppable economic forces. Can we seriously ask these airlines, engaged in fisticuffs with an unrelenting foe, to put on a first-run movie? For free?
It's an interesting question, and one that could quite convincingly be argued in either direction. On the one hand, you have the "tough luck" crowd, which justifiably blames poor business management and exorbitant executive salaries for the industry's financial woes. "$5 for a movie?" they might say. "Give me a break!"
On the other hand is a more sympathetic crowd, one that points to a wild economy as the root cause of the industry's sorry state while acknowledging that, sure, most airlines kinda sorta didn't make things any easier on themselves. "$5 for a movie?" they might say. "Maybe I'll just read a magazine."
In my opinion, this is something JetBlue has to do. It's providing a premium service (first-run films), so it has every right to make a few bucks off people that use it. Yes, onboard movies were free in the old days, but this isn't the old days anymore. For whatever reason, airlines today have to scrap for every dollar, and passengers will probably save themselves a lot of grief if they simply accept this paradigm shift: The old days are gone, my friends. Time to face the future.
Back in the day, our work and home lives were clearly delineated, unless we lived on a farm. Or ran a funeral business. Or worked as a fortune teller. But you get the point! Anyway, as I was saying, back in the day, in a simpler era, you could board an airplane safe in the assumption that your place of business would soon be 30,000 feet below you. You'd be free to watch a bad movie, eat low-quality food, and attempt to sleep on a wallet-sized pillow. Those days are getting even hazier now, thanks to JetBlue.
Yep, JetBlue, which has won the hearts of travelers throughout this great land with DirecTV, XM Satellite Radio, and leather seats, has amped up its Wi-Fi services on specially outfitted A320 aircraft known as BetaBlue planes. Now, passengers will be able to use Microsoft Exchange email (you know, the work one), as well as Gmail, AOL Mail, Hotmail, and Windows Live Mail. This is all well and good for business travelers, but on my vacation? Maybe some biz travelers will be tempted to just have their meetings by plane and let someone else lease their office space.
I guess it should come as some relief that Yahoo! instant messenger and Amazon.com have signed up to be a part of JetBlue's new offerings. At least I'll be able to trade emoticons with fellow passengers without being required to actually make eye contact. And if I'm in a shopping mood, I can skip the SkyMall catalog's Mahogany Charging Station and Litter Robot to drool over the latest items on my Amazon wishlist. OK, technically this isn't recreation because I use these tools at work, but I'm not supposed to (Don't tell my boss).
So are you psyched for this new era of in-flight Wi-Fi, or would you prefer to leave the office in the office? Please comment below.
In this era of $130-per-barrel oil and rising awareness of global warming, you wonder why all airlines aren't trying to fly on french-fry grease. Well, JetBlue may never top off its tanks at your local diner, but the environmental initiatives it announced yesterday as a part of its Jetting To Green campaign do have the potential to be transformative.
For starters, JetBlue is teaming up with a few industry heavy hitters (Airbus, Honeywell Aerospace, and International Aero Engines) to try to develop what's known in eco-circles as a "sustainable second-generation biofuel" that can be used in commercial aircraft. This seems like a wise move, since the first generation of biofuels derived from corn seems to be responsible for driving up the cost of food, and not just the Corn Flakes in your cereal bowl, but the chicken (from birds fed with corn) McNuggets you snarfed down last night. (Don't try to deny it—I saw you at the drive-through!)
Oh, and this new eco-friendly trend gets even better, especially if you like prizes. And Priuses. And prizes that are Priuses, or is that Priuses that are prizes? Anyyyyyyyway, as I was saying, just enter the Jetting To Green Sweepstakes for a chance to win a Toyota Prius hybrid car or an Energy Star Sharp Aquos LCD TV with Blue-ray Disc player.
Last but certainly not least, JetBlue has partnered with Carbonfund.org, which allows customers to offset the carbon dioxide emissions they've generated by flying. The five bucks you pay per round-trip flight to offset your emissions goes to a bunch of cool eco-projects like developing wind farms in Texas, capturing methane gas from New York State landfills, and reforestation in Louisiana. All great projects, particularly the methane-capture one—you ever smell a landfill?
So what do you think, is JetBlue now the greenest airline? And are you more likely to fly a green airline than a dirty brown one, or is it all just about ticket price?
Some days, this job seems too easy. When I saw the following headline from the AP this morning, a blog entry pretty much wrote itself:
"Man sues JetBlue for making him sit on toilet"
Oh, how the sarcasm did gallop freely through my mind, a veritable parade of cheap jokes and witty one-liners ("JetBlue debuts 'Golden Throne' seating class;" "Man gets best (and worst) seat on JetBlue;" etc.). I figured this would be the easiest entry yet. And then I read the story, and things got a little wacky.
The man in question, Gokhan Mutlu, of Manhattan, alleges JetBlue forced him to sit in the lavatory after his seat was given to a flight attendant. Apparently a flight attendant complained that the jump seat was uncomfortable, and the pilot gave the flight attendant Mutlu's seat instead. Mutlu was then assigned to the bathroom, where he sat for roughly three hours (cue the Gilligan's Island theme song in my head…).
Further complicating this story is that Mutlu was traveling on a "buddy pass," a standby voucher JetBlue employees can give to their friends. So technically, Mutlu was not a paying customer, which I suppose could, in some twisted way, invalidate his claim to a seat.
In this era of rampant and frivolous lawsuits, it's difficult to separate fact from fiction, so I don't want to come down too hard on either side of the story. That said, if an airline ever evicts you from your seat, you could do worse than the restroom as a fall-back option. Sure it's small, unsafe (no seat belts!), and—well, let's just say it's a bathroom.
JetBlue is now being branded, at least by Runner's World Chief Running Officer Bart Yasso (I know, his name sounds like a spammer's pseudonym, but he's real), as "the airline for runners." Why? JetBlue has the most legroom in coach (runner no like cattle-car crunch), as well as unlimited snacks and water. The site has interactive running maps on one side and a JetBlue booking tool on the other. I'm guessing this is a bigger deal to runners than to JetBlue, but I'm sure the airline is happy to take athletes on its flights, as long as they are well-showered prior to boarding.
But this new niche branding, which caters to the relatively small number of Americans who are truly fit, misses a golden opportunity to target the "silent majority": couch potatoes. Yes, the average U.S. passenger's derriere ain't squeezing into the average airplane seat, even on JetBlue. We don't need an airline for bony little runners in diminutive shorts who can slip easily into economy seats—we need one for us chubsters who require double-wide parking spots for our full figures.
What I'm proposing isn't a few tweaks to make domestic air travel more comfortable for regular folks—I want an Extreme Makeover: Airline Edition. Your next flight might be on a 737, but it'd be a lot more hospitable than what we're used to. There'd be the welcome mat outside and the slipper-bearing pooch wagging his tail when you stepped onboard, obviously. The main cabin wouldn't be divided into seating classes, but would just be one long living room, complete with comfy sofas and La-Z-Boy recliners.
And forget about JetBlue's water and protein bars, the real American's airline would feature bottomless fountain sodas and all all-you-can-eat buffets. We'd fill up on Fanta Grape and buffalo wings before sacking out in front of the plasma TV.
The only problem is deciding who gets to hold the remote.
Now I’m not calling them fat, but JetBlue’s A320 planes, with all of their snazzy features (DirecTV, XM Satellite Radio, lots of tasty treats), were starting to pack on the weight. Enter a new-look cabin and the aircraft will soon be 1,050 pounds lighter. And no, JetBlue didn't call this guy for help:
No gym, no pills, just a few design tweaks, and voila!
Not only will all 88 A320s in JetBlue’s fleet be trimmed down, but with new all-leather Recaro seating, “sculptured sidewall paneling, 10 percent more overhead bin space, and LED cabin lighting,” these jets will be showing off their new spring fashions, too. And just as the person who weighs less needs fewer calories to get through the day, JetBlue’s new “post-diet” aircraft will require less fuel to fly.
Maybe the airline needs a new tagline. How about, “JetBlue: Leaner and Greener”?
Passengers, already plugged into their own headphones, miss
announcement.
JetBlue,
realizing this is 2008 and pretty much everyone in the U.S.owns a pair of headphones, has
decided to end its practice of handing out free headphones to passengers. JetBlue’s headphones, which the airline
admits left something to be desired (namely sound quality, which was far
inferior to any set of headphones a self-respecting electronics store would
sell), will not be missed by those who enjoy music or intelligible television
dialogue.
In an era of nickel-and-diming, this is one cutback that
shouldn’t be met with public outcry. The
headphones were so bad that JetBlue wouldn’t even take them back after the
flight! You were supposed to bring them
home with you, where they would sit, unused, on a shelf or drawer until you
finally threw them out. If anything,
JetBlue should be commended for focusing its attention on added-value items
that actually add value to the flight experience (decent snacks, good
television), and shedding the dead weight (those god-awful headphones).
Traditionally when someone buys a new home, they lay out the brie and Chardonnay and invite people over so they can show off their new abode. The party is nice and hopefully nobody spills wine on the carpet or peeks in your medicine cabinet. And that’s about the end of the story. But what to do if you’ve just built a new 635,000-square-foot home to the tune of $800 million? Better buy more brie, because that’s got to be one hell of a party. 
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