I’m back in New York City after my mileage run for the JetBlue Points Match promotion. There’s certainly plenty to like about JetBlue but there are areas where the carrier shows its discount side making the differences between it and Spirit less noticeable.
The Terminal
Let’s start off with the good. My flight from JFK to ORD was at 6:30AM and left on time. JetBlue operates out of Terminal 5 which was very congested. The Uber driver was stuck waiting for quite some time because of the traffic. Unlike my interminable TSA Precheck experience with AA on the way to Vegas only two weeks back, the security line moved very quickly the morning of my departure. One problem with JetBlue having its own terminal is the absence of a lounge to kill the time. I spent my time yelling at Citi regarding the elimination of the free golf perk.
The Flight to Chicago
As a JetBlue virgin, I was not familiar with their service. When I boarded the plane, I was surprised at the obscene amount of leg room. I was also thankful for the DirectTV programming which is more mainstream than the options provided by Southwest. DirectTV has all the major news outlets and multiple ESPN channels. Southwest only has FoxNews, NBC Sports, and Fox Sports 1.
The Cancelled Flight
Now for the bad. I was enjoying a sunny day in Chicago when I received an alert from the JetBlue app that my flight had been cancelled and that they were looking to rebook me on another flight. It’s like when an Uber cancels and the app scrambles to find you another driver. Only in this case, I actually needed to know when I would be flying home. As I had written, I was rebooked for a flight leaving a day after my original departure. I was not pleased. Customer service didn’t care and offered no compensation.
The Flight to New York
Instead of leaving at 6:30AM to JFK, I had to leave at 8:30PM. I was also assigned a seat in the second to last row of a plane with considerably less legroom. My happy feelings towards JetBlue had dissipated. Luckily, I had access to DirectTV which allowed me to watch the DNC. Of course, in the middle of Bills’s speech, the flight attendants announced they had to reset the TVs.
Overall
With this points match and my new Barclays card, I will have plenty of chances to fly Jetblue. They go to many interesting islands from New York so there are plenty of opportunities to see which JetBlue is the real JetBlue, the one I took to ORD or the latter.
Watch the DNC. Why?
intellectual curiosity
I’d pay extra if they cut off the DNC from the TV.
lollll that wasn’t an endorsement either way
Soooo, you’re a travel blogger – in the frequent flyer niche, no less – yet you don’t have TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry?
Oh I assumed that I put in TSA precheck in the post. Fixed it.
During the Vegas trip, it was one of those precheck experiences where the line for normal security moves faster than the precheck, where you still have to take out your laptop but can keep your shoes on.
And you’ve revealed you are not a daily TPOL reader as you would know my great experiences with Global Entry: http://thepointsoflife.boardingarea.com/traveling-while-arab-pack-your-sense-of-humor/
Doing the same thing and reading your post. We can totally relate. My first leg was 30 mins late. I’m on the return leg now after they delayed it 40 mins. Short flight from LGB-OAK. Still sucks that they have so many delays today.
Tomorrow Delta JFK-SFO-SLC-BTM…look up that last code ha! Leave 930AM arrive 1130PM…in coach
There’s an Airspace Lounge in T5 at JFK. It’s a small space, but you get a $10 food credit if you access with your AMEX Platinum card. Better than nothing.
Tried to do my B6 mileage run today to get the 75K. Easy up and back from NYC to BOS. Return flight was cancelled after I arrived and got rebooked on one 3 and half hours later. That one was also cancelled and rebooked for next day. I finally bailed and just did Amtrak to get home tonight.
Question is whether I will get the 75K since I’ve technically only done a one way. This sh!t is never easy.
Wow that’s awful. Hopefully you get the credit since customer service is a nightmare. What happens when we get the miles and we can’t go anywhere because of the same headache?
There’s a lounge in the terminal, there’s also a rooftop lounge accessible to most pax. You probably left during the morning departures so I feel most terminals would be busy.
Also, all the seats on the a320 have at least 34 inches of legroom unless you upgrade to even more space. I hardly think the standard 34 is anything to complain about considering spirit has much less space and no recline. How much more room do you need?
I was working a few days ago and NYC did have allot of weather. Allot of flights were canceled and even diversions were made for longer flights. Idk if an airline can give you compensation because of weather, usually they put you on their next flight, sadly there wasn’t more options beyond their two a day,
The direct tv is an old system and they usually do a reset when a dozen or so tvs are broken. There’s free wifi on most planes now so you could have used that, it’s also complimentary.
Got it. Thanks