Post by: Paddy on June 16, 2008, 08:45:42 PM
It would be a lot more to the point if they'd offer AC plugs at everyone's seats...or just stop nickel and diming us for everything.
We generally avoid United like the plague - it's been one terrible experience after another.
Post by: sandbox on June 17, 2008, 04:05:58 AM
They have DirecTV and XM radio built-in with free wireless onboard.
http://www.jetblue.com/about/whyyoulllike/about_why10.html
check out the icons on the bottom.
The service has been good, the planes are clean and new, the terminal locations are modern and up to date.
from a quick glance you no longer live in their flight path, but if your in Bean-Town again going to a southern or western destination they are certainly someone to consider. http://www.jetblue.com/wherewejet/
The downside.....they don't have an airline lounge.
Jane uses Airtran frequently http://www.airtran.com/route-map/city_information.aspx which only has xm radio so far.
Post by: Gregg on June 17, 2008, 07:05:42 AM
I guess there won't be any seats for "lower class" people with the recent fare increases.
Oh, wait, that's called "coach". Nothing like naming something negative with a neutral term...
Post by: Paddy on June 17, 2008, 08:20:06 AM
The other problem with JetBlue is that they don't book 11 months in advance, and when you're taking a vacation to a rather expensive destination at a set time during a highly traveled time period, you cannot play around with the possibility of not being able to secure flights several months down the road! Driving to Eleuthera (for instance) is not an option.
My husband's business trips tend to be to either Boston; Greensboro, SC or the west coast. In all of those instances, adding at least 4 hours driving time to Buffalo (got to allow for delays at the border and traffic tie-ups on the QEW, parking and shuttle bus - the drive itself is nominally just over 2 hours from our house to the Buffalo airport) just isn't worth it.
I WISH JetBlue would start flying out of Toronto, but alas, that doesn't seem to be in the cards. We do have WestJet, who sometimes have great deals and seem to be fairly similar to JetBlue in philosophy.
Airlines in general aren't the paragons of service they used to be - despite the odd frill. Air Canada pulled a real United move on us on Sunday - Richard was supposed to fly to Boston yesterday morning. He went to print his boarding pass, only to discover that they'd cancelled his flight and re-booked him on a flight in the afternoon - all without telling him! There were two other morning flights, both still taking bookings at a substantially higher fare level - did they rebook him on one of those? Hah! Why would they do something like try to get their passenger to his destination at a somewhat similar time? Heck no - make him miss his meetings AND make sure that all one gets is a busy signal for HOURS on end when trying to phone to rectify this ridiculous situation. He gave up and took the afternoon flight. Unfortunately he hadn't checked "notify me of changes to flights" because the last time he did that on an American flight to Europe with several legs, it was delayed 5 hours and various things happened all along the way and the automated system phoned HERE every single time - waking me up several times during the night (not a particularly pleasant experience when a loved one is flying - you tend to jump to the worst conclusion first). We never dreamed that they would therefore neglect to inform him that his flight was cancelled though!
Post by: sandbox on June 17, 2008, 04:10:08 PM
QUOTE(Paddy @ Jun 17 2008, 08:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Unfortunately he hadn't checked "notify me of changes to flights" because the last time he did that on an American flight to Europe with several legs, it was delayed 5 hours and various things happened all along the way and the automated system phoned HERE every single time - waking me up several times during the night (not a particularly pleasant experience when a loved one is flying - you tend to jump to the worst conclusion first). We never dreamed that they would therefore neglect to inform him that his flight was cancelled though!
Hey paddy don't check the little box....been there done that!!
But on the other hand there have been times......well....it's a roll of the dice.
Post by: Paddy on June 17, 2008, 04:54:11 PM
Post by: Gregg on June 17, 2008, 07:42:28 PM
Post by: Paddy on June 17, 2008, 09:22:24 PM
Post by: Xairbusdriver on June 18, 2008, 04:29:00 PM
QUOTE
It would be a lot more to the point if they'd offer AC plugs at everyone's seats...or just stop nickel and diming us for everything.
Much as I dislike all commercial passenger airlines, I'm afraid we'll have to let the current situation play itself out. It's not that simple to run an AC line to all seats, it would require miles of extra wiring. All of which would also require validation and safety checking by the FAA. We don't need any more 'electric chairs!' Aircraft electrical voltages are much higher than what you get even in Europe, and it's pretty much all three-phase.Most American airlines are between a 'rock and a hard place.' They know that can't cover the increasing costs of fuel (now the largest percentage of operating expenses - overtaking payroll) by increasing prices because that will reduce the loads. But the negative impacts of their cuts in flights and the extra charges for almost anything that used to be free is also reducing their loads faster than they can cut them! Most other non-US airlines have very little as far as in-country flights, the highest percentage of their flights are international. Those flights are not being 'attacked' by low-cost airlines like Jet Blue, Southwest, AirTran, etc. (yet). And they are usually much more expensive tickets which people expect, anyway. They can fly larger, more fuel efficient aircraft that are unsuitable for short trips. And many countries also subsidize them in one form or another despite of some laws against that.
I'll guarantee you could get an extremely high paying job if you can devise a plan that will allow any US airline to make money in the current economy.
And I'm not interested in discussing any opinions about how we got where we now are. 
But airline travel has been going 'downhill' for many. many years. Most of my weekend trips ending on Friday PM, away from Memphis had me scheduled to fly back commercial the next morning. An overnight stay in yet another hotel was bad enough. But having to sit in a too closely spaced seat was even worse. I always tried to get an exit row seat so I could have some leg room. Of course, those are extra cost seats now! What I would do 99% of the time would be to stay with the aircraft and return to Memphis the same night. Arriving between Midnight and 2AM was much less disruptive and hassle-free than going to the hotel as scheduled.
Monday trips usually started with a early commercial flight out of Memphis, although I would at least be rested up for those. Only seniority allowed me to avoid many of those "dead-head" trips for a while. Then the company bought a computer program that 'tweaked' things so that almost all trips became worse!
Believe me, I'll do almost anything to avoid flying now!
And I suspect more and more people will be doing the same thing. I think "video conferencing" is a great place to invest! 
Post by: sandbox on June 18, 2008, 08:33:53 PM
QUOTE(Paddy @ Jun 17 2008, 09:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Air Canada just announced that they would be cutting 2000 jobs in the next few months, as well as eliminating some direct flights (Toronto to Rome, Vancouver to Osaka). I don't know if the announcement explains the somewhat snippy attitude from the person I talked to at AC today or whether that's her usual demeanor!
when just about everyone feels the pain and the King conquers the EPA the oil companies will take control again, like they did in 1972 and the push for alternative energy will be underfunded.
A dear friend of 25 years is a roughneck, he's been drilling and capping sweet crude for 15 years. In all this time most of the capped oil or natural gas fields on land or off shore have not been pumped. They are putting shale oil from the Williston Basin into production but that cost $50 per barrel to produce. So the shortage is fabricate and production manipulated. The issue is not about a shortage it's a power play on unions and controlling flow and price point. Iraq is pretty much off-line and Iran is under sanctions, a coop' was "supposedly" mismanaged in Venezuela and Mexico is under funded. The big dollars are going where we want them to go, the North Sea, Canada and our allies. In the mean time we are taking oil off the market to put into our SOR.
Just tighten your belt and hold your breath, if your lungs are in good shape you should float until the storm passes.