One more thing - I had purchased a copy of Airliner World the day before I left. I couldn't believe that the centerfold of the magazine had a picture of N508JB (the first flight I took - sorry, forgot the registrations below) and, in the article on JFK, there was a picture of the front end of N528JB (the return flight). ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ross" <damiross2@attbi.com> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 18:35 Subject: [AIRLINE] Trip Report OAK/LGB Got my first flights on JetBlue over the Thanksgiving weekend. 28 Nov OAK-LGB Flight 243 A320-232 The web page for JetBlue said recommended check in of 90 minutes. However, I think this is only for people checking in luggage (I only had a carry-on) for there was no one at the check-in counter at the gate until about 40 minutes before the flight. Service onboard was below that of Southwest. No sodas served on this flight (it left at 0850) so I got some water. The flight attendant handed me the bottle and was going on to the next row when I asked for a cup of ice. She looked at me like I was asking for a meal! No peanuts - would have preferred these over the New York Style Bagel Chip Mix, Blue Chips, and Biscotti. They served the drinks first then came by with the snack. Would have made more sense to serve both at the same time. (Two flight attendants served two sections of the aircraft - one carrying the juices/water/coffee and the other carrying the ice on the first trip through then one came through with the snacks). 29 Nov LGB-OAK Flight 252 A320-232 Arrived at the airport 1.5 hours early. Was able to print my own boarding pass in the terminal without having to wait in line. This was a good thing because either the airport or JetBlue requires a boarding pass before going into the gate area. (I saw a sign about boarding pass required at the entrance to the JetBlue gate area; didn't see one at the other airlines) Scheduled departure was 1750. Flight left at 19:50 due to an evacuation of the airport. The airport was evacuated for just over 2 hours, not 90 minutes like the airport personnel told the media. A person's laptop tested (falsely) for a bomb. The owner didn't pick it up after going through security so the terminal was evacuated. It took the bomb squad over an hour to get to the airport. Unlike the people who got compensated for a mechanical delay back east, there was no offer of compensation for people on this flight, although when the plane was nearly empty at OAK, the flight attendant mad an announcement about "those people who were talked to will get a credit if they call into reservations with their flight conformation number." Don't know if this was refering to credit for their frequent flyer program or for cash. Overall impressions First, it was great to have American citizens who spoke English at the security checkpoints. They were also polite and helpful. They reminded people to empty their pockets of all metal, including coins, etc. They were all alert and had a smile on their face. Having flown on Southwest many times, it's only natural that I compare my airline flights with them. I believe Southwest has the best service of any airline I've flown on. With Southwest being a 10 (top service), JetBlue falls in at about 7.5 to 8. One thing about JetBlue is that they accept e-mail comments and complaints from their web page. On Saturday, I e-mailed them with my observations (those mentioned above and a couple of others), then left the house. I was really pleasantly surprised to find a full answer waiting for me 2 hours later (not just an acknowledgement of my e-mail but a full answer!) - and this was on the Saturday of a 4 day weekend! I wrote back saying thank you for the rapid response. This is something that I wish Southwest did. I will be flying to LGB on Christmas Day, again on JetBlue. Will be interesting to see how the service is then. LGB: Long Beach OAK: Oakland David Ross http://home.attbi.com/~damiross/