JetBlue Adding Real-Time Google Maps In-Flight

by Justin Glow on

Low-cost American airline JetBlue announced yesterday they have struck a deal with search giant Google to provide the familiar Google Maps software on the seat-back screens to map the flight’s route in real-time. Family and friends will also be able to pull up JetBlue.com and track any flight via the same Google Maps interface.

In celebration of the deal, JetBlue is running a contest called “JetBlue Point of View.” All you have to do to enter is take a picture from the window of any JetBlue flight between June 4th and September 3rd and email it to jetbluecommunity@gmail.com. Winners will be selected based on “aesthetic presentation, creativity, design, and audience appeal” on September 10th, and the top ten photos selected will earn their taker two free round-trip tickets to and from anywhere JetBlue flies.

Google Maps Skyview anyone?

Airline Seats: Feel Cramped? That’s Normal.

by Jamie Rhein on

Once, when my husband and I were flying (before kids), I had a window seat and he had the middle. The man next to him in the aisle seat was as broad shouldered as my husband is. My husband wondered sweetly if I would mind switching with him. “Yes, yes I would,” I said. There was no way I wanted to be sandwiched in by shoulders. With the window curving out slightly, I had some room for one of my elbows.

According to the latest travel complaints, a small seat is becoming the number one cause for people’s unhappiness while they wing from one place to another.

Here’s what comfortable seats would look like:

  • A seat wide enough so you aren’t rubbing shoulders with the person next to you. 19-20 inches is adequate.
  • Lap-level workspace
  • A seat pitch that’s 35 to 36 inches. (The pitch is what gives you leg room and is determined by the front-to-back placement of seats.)

The reality:

  • Most airline seats are 17 to 18 inches.
  • Most seat pitch is 31 inches.

If you want wide seats, try Midwest Airlines.
The seat best pitch is on JetBlue airplanes.

For more details about where to find seat comfort, check Ed Perkin’s article, “Finding the Least Worst Coach Seats” at Tribune Media Services. Along with mentioning particular airlines, he tells which models are the most and least roomy. Also, at Skytrax you can view regions of the world, the airlines that fly to them and check out the pitches of the airplanes.

JetBlue Employees Arrested for Fraud Scheme

by Dave Luna on

Customer service representatives are supposed to give you service with a smile. Unfortunately, for a number of JetBlue fliers, that corporate grin had a little bit of deception behind it.

A Manhattan District Attorney discovered that four JetBlue representatives and a New York City corrections officer were involved in a credit card scheme that defrauded JetBlue customers. The criminal group stole credit and debit cards accidentally left at a JFK Airport JetBlue customer service desk by hurried passengers. The party used these accounts to purchase liquor, gifts, and lingerie. You know, I always suspected that airlines were ripping me off, but I just thought it was related to ticket prices.

Authorities arrested the five perpetrators, and JetBlue suspended the employees. I guess the moral of the story is “Don’t push the agents at the customer service desk.”

I’d like to note — for those playing at home — that JetBlue had nothing whatsoever to do with the credit card fraud. The company is too busy delaying flights for them to focus on such petty disturbances. Again, that’s just another joke.

The Airlines Hate Us

by Jonathon Morgan on

Airlines are treating their passengers worse than ever, with customer service blunders on the rise for the third year in a row. According to the annual Airline Quality Rating, last year saw more people bumped, more bags lost, and more flights delayed than in 2005.

Worst of all, it looks like things will continue to go downhill. An industry spokesman told the Associated Press that because the number of flights is exceeding the capacity of air traffic controllers, “We’re going to see more delays and those delays translate to cancellations, mishandled bags and unhappy passengers.”

United — who’s stranding of passengers for hours on runways wasn’t included because it was weather-related — tied for the most-complained-about airline with US Airawys, while Southwest registered the fewest complaints.

I’m at the point where I almost expect some kind of delay when I’m at the airport. But what about you, is the change noticeable? Any flight-delay horror stories you’d like to share?

JetBlue CEO Apologizes on YouTube

by Jonathon Morgan on

After last week’s incredible delays and the resultant uproar, JetBlue’s CEO has posted this video YouTube as an apology. In it, he promises to institue significant changes to the carrier’s service, and offers the following discounts to delayed passengers, retroactive to February 15th:

• All non-airport crew members of JetBlue will be badged and ready to go if needed to be called upon
• Increasing number phone lines open for changing reservations
• Tripling the size of the group that schedules pilots and stewardesses
• Delays 1-2 hours: $25 off a future flight
• Delays 2-4 hours: $50 off a future flight
• Delays 6+ hours: Free round-trip ticket

Would you fly on JetBlue? Were you caught in the delays last week? Does this video change your opinion of the airline?

[via Boing Boing]