JetBlue is on the way to ripping you off..Remember free headphones and No fee`s for seats?..Also,if you noticed while jetblue did remove a row of seats and Also ejected a Flight Attendant to save money..so really your not getting the same attention to customer service as you did before and now your paying more for your tickets..With jetblue your paying more and getting less..

For starters, most people have headphones anyways since a majority of people have either a portable music player of some sort. The headphones are free on the flight but not as comfortable as the ones they are selling.

But I'll do a comparison between the last two airlines i flew (Jetblue and Northwest). I guess i would rather be nickle and dimed by B6 any day of the week.

Snacks

B6= free and unlimited plus a decent variety
NW= 2 to 5 dollars for some snack packs

Drinks

non alcoholic drinks are free on both airlines

Entertainment
B6- direct tv, xm radio, movies (free on my JFK-CUN flight)
NW - not much but there is a magazine to read on regular domestic flights

Seat Pitch

B6- 34" and higher now with fees for the extended leg room
NW- 31" and 10 dollar fee for exit row seats which are equal to a regular seat on B6

You seem very misinformed on the situation to be posting such an inflamatory accusation. You only got one item half-correct.

1- Headsets are still free. All you have to do is ask for one on board the aircraft.
2- I have never witnessed "no fee for seats"(except maybe when I claim award points).
3- Yes, Jetblue removed a row of seats and a FA position was removed, but I haven't noticed any degradation of service(except sometimes waiting a few minutes more for a drink during cabin service) and actually prefer the trade-off for the extra legroom. Anyone else?
4- I don't understand what the basis for this post really is. We are paying more, but getting less? We are paying no more than we had before and getting exactly what we had been guaranteed before. 34" pitch, comfy seat, great entertainment, free snacks, service that matters.

Interesting that a person who can't claim trueblue as one of his many FF programs can be so .

Ok, we aren't resorting to nickle and dime tactics. There are many factors that are going in to the decisions that are coming out of FSC. We recieve numorous emails asking when we where going to offer some sort of roomier cabin, whether it be a business class or charging for it. Today's oil prices and falling economy have forced us to come up with ways to increase revenue. 80% of our revenue traffic is mom and dad taking the kids to disney. We can't rely on that because when the economy drops they aren't going on vacation. We need business travelers who are going to travel and travel often. Business travelers want roomier seats and more perks. Our "expanded" legroom is still extremely cheaper than a first or business class ticket on any major carrier. Everybody is going to react differently to this. We still offer the most legroom of any coach product and still offer our award winning service.

I agree with everything I quoted above. The problem is that the biz pax aren't just looking for legroom. They also want seat width. The LOL seats are fine, and the EML seats have more legroom, but there is still only 17.8" of seat width, and that can be tight. Plus that's the best one can hope for on a B6 flight, while other carriers may still have another level above it (ie E-, E+ and F). The reason that your EML seats will have to remain cheaper than F/J on any other carrier is that you just aren't competing with them.

• No free drinks
• No free food (any different than Y)
• No pre-boarding
• No elite access through security
• No increased luggage allowance (and this is a big one as more carriers start charging for the second bag; Delta has announced that they will be as well.)

As you can see, you aren't really competing except in a single dimmension - pitch. And you're charging a reasonable premium for that extra space, but it is truly a discretionary spend, as 34" pitch is just fine for most people.

Good points Sbm12..I guess I just felt like this was the one airline that was going to be something special,and it turned out not to be (for me )..They arent going to get business flyers loyal to another FF program and no lounges..thats part of the perks business flyers are looking for..and your right..jetblue does nothing to address seat width..they may want to consider that..@:-)

All great and accurate points (except I doubt 80% of your traffic is really families heading for MCO or LAX). But I question how much B6 is really able or even willing to respond to what business travelers really want.

As one of the above I would rank my top ten needs from JetBlue in this order:

1. Reliable operations. Obviously the outfit touched bottom last year and is getting better, both with crisis ops and E190 dispatch reliability. But I still have the impression the system is running flat-out all the time and any disruption is trouble.I believe B6 is trying but booking B6 still calls for a leap of faith.

2. Frequencies per station. One daily flight to a lot of west coast cities doesn't cut it. When the only way to get back east on B6 is to miss a night's sleep, you lose me. You should have more presence in fewer cities. I don't believe B6 is being smart here.

3. Interlining agreements. When you cancel that once-daily flight, I can't wait 24 hours for the next one. B6 could do this but doesn't.

4. Competitive fares. They yo-yo dramatically. Like Southwest you've acquired an LCC rep but are often more expensive more than the old network carriers. Biz flyers are fare-sensitive to some degree. I won't pay significantly more to fly B6 given all these issues / concerns / risks, even if it is the best Y product in the US. B6 should be charging all it can, but in a fare shootout it's too pricey, too often.

5. Meaningful frequent-flyer program with broader / global redemption opportunities. TrueBlue doesn't do a thing for me. B6 could fix this, but doesn't.

6. Priority boarding / bin space access. No-status flyers on UA risk gate-checking everything because they're last to board, even if they paid $1,000 for their ticket. Higher-revenue business travelers should have first crack at the bins. B6 could do this but doesn't.

6. Wider seat. The real issue for me in coach isn't more legroom, but shoulder and hip room. I don't know how B6 fixes this without investing in some other seatset type. I don't think B6 can do anything about this.

7. More legroom. 34" is already much more than I get in the back of the bus on NW or UA. The new initiative is fine, but it doesn't address a problem I had with B6. B6 has addressed this.

8. Food. Frequently I step on a westbound plane at dinnertime not having eaten all day because I was working. I value F upgrades on other carriers for the (admittedly dismal) meal as much as anything. I don't think B6 can do much about this given onboard facilities.

9. Drink. Sure, if I pay $499 for a transcon ticket and the guy next to me paid $149, you could buy me two beers representing a cost basis to you of less than $2. B6 could do this, but doesn't.

NB my priorities as a leisure / vacation flyer are much different, and B6 works far better, but as you say that's part of the B6 strategy problem right now.

So the way I see it, "Even More Legroom" fixes a problem B6 didn't really even have, and if the company thinks it's a business-flyer magnet in and of itself it is way off base.

Nail. Head.

It is a pretty good airline for NYC-based biz folks who do a lot of work on the east coast because they can get you to those destinations pretty reliably. I think that the slot control at JFK will help, and the E180s are about E188s now, well on their way to being E190s. Once you get to the stations that are once daily and there's not an alternative when things go badly, I can't afford to fly JetBlue, even if it is less expensive and more comfortable. When I have to be somewhere the next day it is very hard to call a client and blame the airline. That shouldn't be the client's problem, and I cannot maintain my profesisonal reputation as a no-show. So I cannot afford to book JetBlue in many cases. And since their loyalty program isn't all that valuable to me either, I find myself booking them almost exclusively based on price for leisure trips. And since they often aren't the least expensive, they often don't get my business.

It is no longer possible to get a seat with more than 34" pitch without paying extra. While 34" pitch is still rather generous and more than enough for me to be comfortable on most flights, it used to be possible to get more for free and it no longer is. A small reduction certainly, but still something that has gone missing.

JetBlue has done a very good job of not changing too much at any one time, but they have changed a number of things since they introduced the product, some good and some bad, and there's nothing wrong with pointing out the up and down of each change.

Due to complications with the topic on hand, the thread needs to be closed.