Jet Blue Debacle

This was the 5:30 wakup call to get from Albany out to JFK for my 1:10 flight on JetBlue, Thursday, Feb 14, 2007.

The car, from Enterprise, was a mild mannered 4 banger with stained carpets and a malfunctioning window washing system. I was like Jim Carey in "Dumb and Dumber" trying to see throught the windshield, pulling over every 20 miles on the Thruway at the rest stops. I took a gander at the Taconic before the booth operator convinced me to backtrack the 10 miles to the Thruway, what a great stroke of fortune. Can't believe what a great job they did getting the road in shape and rest stops every 25 miles or so. Those high taxes in New York are helping your tourists get around, thanks.

So I made it to Enterprise at about 11:30 am. They did a great job with service as usual but the car was weak. The only thing about enterprise is they try so hard to provide good service that it's overdone. Then at the end they ask the obligitory, "so did we provide excellent customer service?" Am I taking a survey? Are you going to give me a coupon? Are you going to get a raise? Ok, they're nice and friendly but real, non-robotic nice and friendly is somehow better.

Next stop, the train to the terminal and the terminal. No big deal everything looks great they have an nice bag drop area and place to get a bite. My salad, powerbar and drink work out to about $20 but the food and the selection are great. Ok, breeze through security then...


It turned into a debacle. The morning flight and the evening flight to Houston were cancelled. My flight, the 1:10 boarded at 5:00 pm est, took off at about 9:00 pm est and landed at 1:00 cst. How about that! I felt luck, there were people there from the day before. JetBlue was telling everyone that the next available flight was next Tuesday. The told people to call the 1-800 number but the 1800 number said that they were not accepting calls!

Again, I felt very fortunate to fly. Many people were waiting in the terminal for my seat. The woman I sat next to connected from Boston. She said it looked the the Superdome during Katrina. I thought, they didn't have sushi and brie available down there, not so bad.

I met many nice people on my stay at JFK. We were trying to think of what it would take to passify such a crowd. There was not information available and flight were randomly cancelled or you were strung out until 11:30 pm at night, the departure time moving from hour to hour, then unceremoniously cancelled.

More communication would be good. And how about going to Wallmart and pick up a truckload of pillows and blankets for everyone. Setup a buffett line and bring in a few big screen TVs. Have your executives camp out with the common folks. Talk about an opportunity.

Learn, don't blow it next time.