Tag Archives: Jet Blue

Jet Blue

Got Jet Blues?

Got Jet Blues? According to all those Jet Blue junkies, Jet Blue is heading down the corporate greed path. They’ve taken their biggest single value proposition,” more legroom,” and shrunk it – and all because they want to make more money. Shame on them! Imagine an airline looking for ways to make more money, surely not! Oh hang on, most airlines make no money at all and usually the way to try to break even or make a little bit is to scrimp on practically everything. So what is Jet Blue doing that is so horrid to the Jet Blue faithful? It’s charging for luggage and it’s shrinking its seat pitch from 34.7 inches to 33.1 inches. In other words, it’s decided to take the money that’s currently being left on the table.

I know that Southwest let’s your luggage travel free, but JetBlue offers Direct TV and free Wifi! Plus Jet Blue offers Mint, a premium service for not much more money, that connects the East and West Coasts. Look at this way, I doubt they’re headed the way of Ryan Air, where you practically have to pay to go to the toilet.

So Jet Blue’s introducing new slimline seats that are two inches thinner. All of this means that the magic tube we sit in will give them an increased dollar yield, make it a little less comfortable, but still, and this is the sad news folks, they lead the way in seat pitch. By redesigning their seats and adding a few more, they still are not cramming and jamming the folks in. Most legacy carriers offer 31 inches on long-haul…yikes!

This is a great common sense move for Jet Blue; we want them to be a viable airline and make money. And they still lead the way in the two things that are important to most travelers – legroom and a smile. Below is what you can expect on the misery space level on the worst offenders for seat pitch in the business.

Virgin 32.6
American 31.8
United 31.8
US airways 31.8
Delta 31.3
Sprint 28.3
So if you want to save money, Sprint is the game – but you may have to buy some new knees at the end of the flight! And is that Virgin I see?