Personal Travelling

For the love of God, YES, I still travel on JetBlue. I'm not turning down free tickets AND as Neeleman said in the investor relations call that I posted before, since most people won't be cashing in on their vouchers, they shouldn't have to worry about the bottom line (I'm heavily paraphrasing, listen to it if you want to hear exactly what he says.)

So in some ass backwards way, NOT using their vouchers would help them and hurt me, all for what? Principle? I'm not holier than thou and I'm cheap, which is why I started traveling them in the first place, so there's where I am with the whole not traveling JetBlue hypocrisy stance.

BUT, as I said once before, it's all about price shopping for me now....My monthly August trip is with Continental, which is the favorite of a reporter who interviewed me, who shall remain nameless for the sake of him remaining unbiased in his reporting.

I AM MORE THAN SUPER DUPER THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I AM FLYING ON VIRGIN AMERICA IN SEPTEMBER! I mentioned months ago that they were caught up the FAA Red tape and despite being ready for months, were still grounded for issues that have to do with nationality. Too much to go into here, but THEY ARE NOW AIRBORNE!

In October, I am back to flying on JetBlue because I am 8 measly points away from my True Blue Reward. BUT AFTER THE AWARD, NO MORE, unless they are remarkably cheaper than the rest. (I would like to say in JetBlue's defense, they have been very accommodating to my demands as of late. For that, thanks ya'll.)

I am very excited to tell you all about my Virgin America experience once I fly with them Thus far, I had a really wonderful phone experience with a Patrick in Burlingame. After being hung up on numerous time by the at-home moms in middle America who work for no benefits for JetBlue, I am happy just to have someone on the phone who sounds like they love where they work.

Rumor has it!!!

OK, so it's an old rumor. But I thought I'd post it. Sent via email:

...Lots going on behind the scenes here...and you KNOW that the Jet Blue board actually staged

a coup in May to oust Neeleman, who with whatever shortcomings he had was the heart and soul of the of the place....rumor has it he dumped all his stock and reinvested in WestJet, his last airline....

EX-JETBLUE EMPOLOYEES UNITE!!!

Sent to me by a group of ex-employees looking to unite. This is not my coalition but POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you the current or especially EX employee of a "colorful" local airline?? Do you think you may have been treated unfairly or maybe even have some legal issues? We are forming a multi-state support group to help each other and share information, there IS strength in numbers!!
Plz call 562-916-3953 or email colorjetcoalition@gmail.com. Be part of a real solution to preserve our legal and moral rights!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lessons From The Tarmac - Fast Company

I SERIOUSLY am having some war flashbacks. I'm glad to know that Neeleman's short temper and attitude weren't something personal against me, but rather a flaw in the man....or as Jenny Dervin (Corporate Communications) told me, a result of his ADD.

I am so glad he's gone. His public personality (YouTube Bill of Rights and his corporate blog) is so Jeckyll and Hyde from who is he when you meet with him one on one.

The funniest part of the whole story is how the very person he blamed when Charlie and I met with him (Dave Bager, formerly the COO of JetBlue, was in Florida on the date of the debacle) is his successor.

From Fast Company
Lessons From the Tarmac
Take it from David Neeleman and JetBlue: Recovering from a crisis is about the trust you build beforehand.

From: Issue 115 | May 2007 | Page 31 | By: Chuck Salter | Photographs By: Alyson Aliano

"Are we done with this interview? I don't want to talk to you anymore."

JetBlue CEO Neeleman. He just wants to run the company: "It's belts and suspenders," Neeleman says. "If your suspenders fall off, your belt keeps your pants up. You have to have contingency plans for everything. My job is to make sure no one ever forgets what happened."

David Neeleman, the founder and CEO of JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), glares at me from across the small round table in his office in Forest Hills, New York. It's 50 minutes into the conversation, and he's burdened, testy, exhausted. "Look, I haven't slept in three weeks," he says. "I'm tired of talking. Emotionally, I am done … I just want to go out and run the company."

I've come to pick Neeleman's brain on trust, crisis, and redemption. In its notorious Valentine's Day debacle, his airline suffered a startling breakdown due to 2 inches of ice at New York's JFK Airport. More than 1,000 cancellations. Massive delays. Passengers stuck on planes for up to nine hours. And it all played out, unfortuitously, in the media capital of the world. It took nearly a week for JetBlue to return operations to normal.

No surprise that Neeleman wants to put what he calls "the event" behind him. "For the 15th time, we've learned from this," he says. "That's why it's never going to happen again."

He knows, of course, that it's not as easy as that. Eventually, even good companies screw up. They lose track of Social Security numbers, release buggy software, manufacture faulty cars. And customers are watching, trying to decide whether or not to forgive. In this precarious and very public moment, companies and leaders reveal what they're made of.

I already have some sense of what Neeleman is made of. I first wrote about JetBlue in 2004 and have followed the company since. "You built this airline," I say. "What's it like to--"

"Of course, I'm disappointed," Neeleman jumps in. "Bitterly disappointed. I built a great business, and I have great people working for me… . You're overdoing it. Delta (OTC:DALRQ) screwed people for two days, and we did it for three and a half, okay? So go ask Delta what they did about it. Why don't you grill them?"

Because Delta is not JetBlue. Neither is American (NYSE:AMR). The fact that those airlines stranded customers during the storm isn't surprising. They simply met the public's low expectations. JetBlue is an airline that aspires to be better than the majors--humane and, well, fun. It has low fares yet still offers amenities such as leather seats and TVs in the seat backs. The service is more personable, the employees' enthusiasm palpable.

So February's fiasco presents JetBlue with a unique problem--and an opportunity. The problem is removing doubts. Can it handle unpredictable and severe weather? Is the low-cost operation too lean to accommodate the fast growth that has made JetBlue the eighth-largest airline in just seven years? If the solution is beefing up personnel and systems, how does JetBlue keep fares low? How does it set itself apart?

The opportunity, though, is for Neeleman to handle the crisis in a manner that confirms or enhances the brand. He has certainly tried. In the week following the ice-out, he appeared everywhere--The New York Times (NYSE:NYT), Today, NPR, Letterman, even YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOG). He accepted responsibility for bad decisions and overwhelmed departments. He said he'd fix the problems and promised refunds and credits for the aggrieved passengers. He apologized repeatedly. All of that helped confirm, at least to some, that JetBlue is in fact something special in the airline industry. "The single most important thing a company needs to show in a crisis is that it cares," says Bruce Blythe, CEO of Crisis Management International. "That's not a feeling. It's a behavior."

But JetBlue also has this going for it: seven years of goodwill. Its customers largely accept that it cares, because it has demonstrated that it does, flight after flight. Compete Inc., a consumer-intelligence firm, conducted a poll in late February of 428 people who had visited JetBlue's Web site the month before. Despite the colossal Valentine's Day meltdown, 43% preferred JetBlue, the most for any airline.

That's no accident: Brands that are trustworthy before a crisis have an easier time recovering, says Don Peppers, a marketer with Peppers & Rogers Group, who has written about customer trust. In JetBlue's case, he says, "you have customers coming to the airline's defense on blogs." As Neeleman puts it, "If you run a crap company to begin with, you have no money in the emotional bank."

Will customers forgive JetBlue? That depends in part on how it weathers future storms, literal and otherwise. (Snowstorms in February and March passed smoothly.) One thing's for sure: If Delta or American introduced a customer bill of rights, as JetBlue has done, it wouldn't have nearly the same impact. Customers give JetBlue another chance because it has consistently done right by them before.

No, Neeleman doesn't kick me out of his office. He talks for another 15 minutes about how he's fixing systems, training personnel, hiring a veteran COO, using the incident to make JetBlue a better airline. When the interview ends, Neeleman does something that surprises me, although it shouldn't. He says he's sorry for snapping.

Apology accepted.

THANK YOU GOD!

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/10/news/companies/jetblue_ceo.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

JetBlue CEO pushed out

Founder David Neeleman will be replaced by President Dave Barger. The shift comes after an embarrassing service meltdown this winter.

May 10 2007: 9:38 AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. Thursday pushed out founder David Neeleman as chief executive three months after a service meltdown.

JetBlue said he would carry on as non-executive chairman playing a more strategic role.
The budget carrier replaced Neeleman, 47, with president Dave Barger, 49, effective immediately.

The sudden change in leadership comes after JetBlue suffered an embarrassing service disruption on Feb. 14 that exposed weaknesses in the seven-year-old airline's operations.
A Valentine's Day ice storm stranded passengers on planes for hours, led to nearly 1,200 flight cancellations over several days, and cost the company more than $30 million.

"The board suggested to David that he could best serve the company in a more strategic role. David agreed," JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said. "The conversation was initiated by the board."

Shares of JetBlue (Charts) edged lower late Wednesday on Nasdaq.
JetBlue posts loss after service foul-up
JetBlue fliers stranded on plane
Onboard the wild ride of Doug Parker

JetBlue....You can always count on them

JetBlue, known for going the extra mile for customers, decided to take thier history of sharing our personal information with the government and turn it up a notch!

JetBlue employees arrested for credit card fraud
Wed May 2, 2007 9:48AM EDT

By Edith Honan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four JetBlue employees and a New York City corrections officer were arrested on Tuesday on charges of splurging with credit cards forgotten by passengers rushing to catch their flights, prosecutors said.

The arrests come as the low-cost airline struggles to rebuild customer confidence after a February storm triggered the cancellation of some 1,200 JetBlue flights and left passengers stranded or fuming on grounded planes for hours.

A probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau found that the five, who included three customer service agents and a flight attendant, went on shopping sprees using credit and debit cards that belonged to JetBlue customers.

The cards, one of which the employees gave to the corrections officer, were used to make purchases at liquor stores, restaurants and shops, including Bloomingdale's and Victoria's Secret.
JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the company is cooperating fully with the investigation and that the four employees have been suspended.

Investigators were tipped off to the scheme on June 7, 2006, after a law student who was flying from New York to Boston forgot his credit card at the JetBlue terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport. The card was later used to rack up charges of more than $500.

"Airports can often be stressful places," Morgenthau said. "These defendants took advantage of that stress when customers, focused on their travel plans, inadvertently left their credit cards with JetBlue employees, ironically working as 'customer service' agents. Instead of providing assistance, these agents ripped off passengers."

Your route V. Reality

Sorry guys, my bad, i should have made this clear earlier. I did not WRITE this post. This was sent into me by a reader as was the art one and part two from "The Crew of JetBlue Hostage." I am know nothing about aeronautics but I leave both sides of the argument up on here and the comments.

Airbus A-320 Range Directly From Jet Blue Airways Site (2700nm...it says "miles", but in aviation that is not a unit of measurement because of the curvature of the earth):
http://www.jetblue.com/about/whyyoulllike/about_whyairbusstats.html

Jet Blue route map:
http://www.jetblue.com/wherewefly/

Great Circle Mapper (keep in mind these don't factor in taxi fuel, atc delay, weather rerouting's, most efficient TOC---top of climb...and a bunch of other variables)

http://gc.kls2.com/

JFK-OAK = 2576
JFK-SFO = 2586
BOS-SFO = 2704 (A clear demonstration of being "over" the 2700 threshold)
BOS-OAK = 2693 (7 miles below the 2700 threshold)--this isn't a car, fuel is precision and fuel is the 2nd most costly economic staple of flying an airplane)

Why Why Why JetBlueHostage?

When I set out to do this blog, it was in an effort to give people a community to voice their dismay with the Golden Child of Airlines, JetBlue. I had been wrong, many people had been wronged and there was inequity in our compensation compounded by the fact that it was insufficient and didn't cover reimbursements for things like Taxi Cabs or Hotels.

Weeks went by and as I tried to move past it and Jetblue tried to forget about me, or more importantly prayed that YOU would forget about me, it turns out that JetBlue continued to make the same mistakes or would over compensate for their mistakes by pre-emptively canceling flights at any sign of bad weather. I joked with friends that Jet Blue had pre-emptively cancelled all flights from now til June. Emails continued to come in from disgruntled customers.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the blogosphere. Employees. factory workers and aviation "experts" started writing in to me and I was exposed to another part of JetBlue, something a lot more unsettling than an unfriendly and unhelpful gate agent. Questionable business practices were called into question like Routes and Fuel Capacity, cutting corners in factories in South America that build the JetBlue planes and extending Crew Time to dangerous limits.

I decided that instead of aligning myself with a federally regulated Bill Of Rights or a Class Action Lawsuit, that I would work towards finding out the truth of JetBlue operations.

With the help of people who know the inner workings of JetBlue and Aviation, I'll use this blog to put these findings up, good or bad.

We will still be your community to voice your concerns, so keep those emails coming.

And I enjoy the HATE MAIL-Someone once told me, you're not truly successful until you start getting hatemail.
Thanks to you my mom is proud of me!

Enjoy part I and II below on the truth of the A320. Shortly, we'll tell you all about Crew time and Neeleman's crusade to extend the number of hours a pilot is able to fly despite the direct relation of aviation accidents to pilot exhaustion.

We'll also talk soon about JetBlue's newest plane the EMB190.

Love,
Gen

JET BLUE AIRWAYS- “Unsafe at Any Altitude or Attitude” Part II

Continuation of Part I.

Please examine the Jet Blue Airways web site, and uncover the stated “range capabilities” for a Jet Blue Airbus A320. Next, examine the “route map” of Jet Blue Airways, and pay keen attention towards the transcontinental flight offerings. Next select any online “search engine” and inquire about the actual aerial mileage between two cities such as New York JFK to Oakland California. Next, refer to the FAA FAR/AIM Guidelines for 2007---all airlines are either Part 121 or Part 135 carriers and must operate within the confines of these rules---and locate the absolute minimum allowable “fuel remaining on board” requirements. If you were to take all these actions, you would realize that Jet Blue operates perilously close to the operational minimums on some routings, and on other routings---you will quickly note that the actual aerial mileage EXCEEDS the range capabilities of the Jet Blue Aircraft flying these routes. Thus, even though Jet Blue Airways sells you a NONSTOP ticket from New York to Oakland, the Jet Blue Airways Aircraft YOU board actually files a flight plan from New York to an intermediary airport that the aircraft can operationally reach. Once above that intermediary airport, the Jet Blue Airways Flight Crew and Dispatcher must make rapid computations to determine whether enough fuel is onboard to reach the advertised/intended NONSTOP destination. If not, you just found yourself on a NONSTOP “slight” from New York to Denver or Salt Lack City opposed to Oakland. No this IS NOT “normal operating procedure”; competing airlines possess aircraft with far greater range then Jet Blue Airways, and Jet Blue Airways selected the Airbus offering (the A320---which is an entirely safe aircraft, offering exceptional performance attributes…just not great range) over competing aircraft on the sole basis of cost…not suitability to the route system Jet Blue Airways intended to service. Several “safety whys” are embedded in the aforementioned instance…on a service level, why doesn't the Jet Blue Airways passenger “Bill of Rights” offer any “relief” to passengers afflicted by the malice of scheduling NONSTOP flights on routings that can't be consistently achieved due to a lack of aircraft range ? Because this is an open and credible forum, please note that on a routing such as Oakland to New York, the range issue is not particularly relevant given the advantages of a West-East “tailwind”---yet those advantages obviously are not to be found when on the New York to Oakland segment the West-East “tailwind” is actually a “headwind”.

The purpose of this first article is to engage visitors, and apprise them of how unsafe Jet Blue Airways actually are. The second article will touch upon the machinations of Jet Blue Airways as they pertain to dictates upon Flight Crews….

Okay….so what in the world does the concept of –“Manifest Destiny”---have to do with safety and Jet Blue Airways? Remember the Pilgrims and your imaginary remote control? Very simply, if you were to hit “Fast Forward”---within 10 years, 50 years, 100 years---a noticeable pattern would begin to reveal itself, and you could basically hit “Pause” and realize the proverbial “rest of the story” … Starting in what is now Massachusetts, you would witness the growth of a “Nation”. First to the North and South, and next towards the West. The “growth” would remain within certain “confines”---it could not penetrate too far south because of the Spaniards, it couldn’t progress too far north because of numerous European interests, and it would finally stop its westward migration at the barrier of the Pacific Ocean…eventually it would consume some peripheral territories (Alaska & Hawaii). Hence, everything has a natural and somewhat obvious progression…even the “weather”, society has learned what conditions---rapidly dropping atmospheric pressure, etc need to be in place for a Tornado to formulate. Mix some flour, eggs, sugar, etc…and if your intent is to bake a cupcake, in a few hours the “manifest destiny” of your ingredients will be achieved. Jet Blue Airways is the reciprocal of the sugary “manifest destiny” of your ingredients. Jet Blue has grown more rapidly then any other airline in the history of Aviation in the United States…unfortunately the ramifications of such rapid growth can be viewed in the ashes of “manifest destiny” scores of post-deregulation airlines. Jet Blue Airways has filled a flight plan that is on a collision course with “manifest destiny”…for the benefit of your personal safety, and that of your loved one’s…every time you book a flight upon Jet Blue Airways; it is very possible that your actual destination won't be Houston, Seattle, or Long Beach…but “manifest destiny”, and unfortunately for you---if it is---Jet Blue Airways has just ended your very existence. Thank you.

The Crew of JetBlueHostage.com

JET BLUE AIRWAYS- “Unsafe at Any Altitude or Attitude” Part II

Continuation of Part I.

Please examine the Jet Blue Airways web site, and uncover the stated “range capabilities” for a Jet Blue Airbus A320. Next, examine the “route map” of Jet Blue Airways, and pay keen attention towards the transcontinental flight offerings. Next select any online “search engine” and inquire about the actual aerial mileage between two cities such as New York JFK to Oakland California. Next, refer to the FAA FAR/AIM Guidelines for 2007---all airlines are either Part 121 or Part 135 carriers and must operate within the confines of these rules---and locate the absolute minimum allowable “fuel remaining on board” requirements. If you were to take all these actions, you would realize that Jet Blue operates perilously close to the operational minimums on some routings, and on other routings---you will quickly note that the actual aerial mileage EXCEEDS the range capabilities of the Jet Blue Aircraft flying these routes. Thus, even though Jet Blue Airways sells you a NONSTOP ticket from New York to Oakland, the Jet Blue Airways Aircraft YOU board actually files a flight plan from New York to an intermediary airport that the aircraft can operationally reach. Once above that intermediary airport, the Jet Blue Airways Flight Crew and Dispatcher must make rapid computations to determine whether enough fuel is onboard to reach the advertised/intended NONSTOP destination. If not, you just found yourself on a NONSTOP “slight” from New York to Denver or Salt Lack City opposed to Oakland. No this IS NOT “normal operating procedure”; competing airlines possess aircraft with far greater range then Jet Blue Airways, and Jet Blue Airways selected the Airbus offering (the A320---which is an entirely safe aircraft, offering exceptional performance attributes…just not great range) over competing aircraft on the sole basis of cost…not suitability to the route system Jet Blue Airways intended to service. Several “safety whys” are embedded in the aforementioned instance…on a service level, why doesn't the Jet Blue Airways passenger “Bill of Rights” offer any “relief” to passengers afflicted by the malice of scheduling NONSTOP flights on routings that can't be consistently achieved due to a lack of aircraft range ? Because this is an open and credible forum, please note that on a routing such as Oakland to New York, the range issue is not particularly relevant given the advantages of a West-East “tailwind”---yet those advantages obviously are not to be found when on the New York to Oakland segment the West-East “tailwind” is actually a “headwind”.

The purpose of this first article is to engage visitors, and apprise them of how unsafe Jet Blue Airways actually are. The second article will touch upon the machinations of Jet Blue Airways as they pertain to dictates upon Flight Crews….

Okay….so what in the world does the concept of –“Manifest Destiny”---have to do with safety and Jet Blue Airways? Remember the Pilgrims and your imaginary remote control? Very simply, if you were to hit “Fast Forward”---within 10 years, 50 years, 100 years---a noticeable pattern would begin to reveal itself, and you could basically hit “Pause” and realize the proverbial “rest of the story” … Starting in what is now Massachusetts, you would witness the growth of a “Nation”. First to the North and South, and next towards the West. The “growth” would remain within certain “confines”---it could not penetrate too far south because of the Spaniards, it couldn’t progress too far north because of numerous European interests, and it would finally stop its westward migration at the barrier of the Pacific Ocean…eventually it would consume some peripheral territories (Alaska & Hawaii). Hence, everything has a natural and somewhat obvious progression…even the “weather”, society has learned what conditions---rapidly dropping atmospheric pressure, etc need to be in place for a Tornado to formulate. Mix some flour, eggs, sugar, etc…and if your intent is to bake a cupcake, in a few hours the “manifest destiny” of your ingredients will be achieved. Jet Blue Airways is the reciprocal of the sugary “manifest destiny” of your ingredients. Jet Blue has grown more rapidly then any other airline in the history of Aviation in the United States…unfortunately the ramifications of such rapid growth can be viewed in the ashes of “manifest destiny” scores of post-deregulation airlines. Jet Blue Airways has filled a flight plan that is on a collision course with “manifest destiny”…for the benefit of your personal safety, and that of your loved one’s…every time you book a flight upon Jet Blue Airways; it is very possible that your actual destination won't be Houston, Seattle, or Long Beach…but “manifest destiny”, and unfortunately for you---if it is---Jet Blue Airways has just ended your very existence. Thank you.

The Crew of JetBlueHostage.com