Recently I decided to head up to Rochester, N.Y., for a quick getaway on jetBlue to visit a friend and get some fresh air. It was supposed to be a fast jaunt up to Rochester on a 9:27pm flight from good old JFK, returning on Sunday on the 7:00pm flight. Easy enough or so it seemed. I've been flying jetBlue for years, mostly taking the JFK to Rochester route. I can't remember the last time a flight flying this route took off at its correct time either coming or going. Unfortunately this last adventure may be my final for awhile on jetBlue. I've always been a huge fan of the airline as I thought they were different. They're less expensive and they provide a relatively pleasant flying experience with their TVs situated at each seat, free soda and snack, etc. However all this matters very little to me. And here's why: I arrive at JFK about an hour before I'm scheduled to board. I did not print out my confirmation so I was unable to use the kiosk (my fault). This results in my having to wait on line which I do every time anyway. I prefer to get my boarding pass from a human being. I'm old fashioned that way. Well, this line was LONG. As in there were approximately 100 people in front of me. No big deal, I tell myself, the line goes pretty quickly. But then I realize that there's just two counters open for business. I look up at the departure board and notice that my flight is still marked "on time." Well, that's good news at least. I wind up being on line for about 50 minutes and then I'm about six or seven people away from being taken care of and finally another jetBlue employee is opening up. Yay! But wait, she's taking forever to get herself set up. I wasn't doing much of anything since I was just standin there waiting so I time her--it's about 10 minutes before she helps someone. She clearly wasn't interested in doing much work because she kept looking at the line with such disdain. Wouldn't you know that the first guy she helps she actually chatting with for 15 minutes. If I had wound up at her counter, I would have made a note of her nametag for a nice letter to the company. I swear that I think they were making a date. I'm fuming at this point, it's getting later and oh, it's my turn. Of course I'm done within two minutes as the jetBlue employee admonishes me for "cutting it close." "You'd better go straight to your gate if you want to make the flight," he tells me. I head to security right away but along the way I notice the dreaded "delayed" next to my flight. Uh oh. Now I'm stressed out. The jetBlue guy has me all in a tizzy because I'm going to be late to get on my delayed flight? I'm confused. Naturally, the line for security was pretty long too. Finally I'm almost up to the TSA agent who'll check out my dreadful license photo which I'm always apologizing for (I haven't gotten a new photo in years as I'll do anything not to have to visit the Department of Motor Vehicles). He waves to the guy in front of me to "wait a moment," and then proceeds to take care of five apparently "more important" people coming through on the right side. Realizing I'm pretty much nobody, I calmly wait for Mr. TSA to finish up and get back to us little people. Then after he is done with the "important" travelers, his phone goes off. Like a robot, he slowly takes out his phone, talks for a moment and hangs up. Still in no apparent hurry, he finally comes back to us and we get through. I want to kill myself already and the night has yet to begin. After getting through security, I notice that there's another flight at our gate and people begin asking about the flight to Rochester that is supposed to be boarding at this very moment. JetBlue's crack gatekeepers don't know anything, or they know what's going on and won't tell the passengers. Fortunately I had my laptop with me and I found out that the flight was delayed until 10:10pm. It was eventually updated on the departures/arrivals board but after I found out myself on the computer. The rest of the story is more of the same. We wound up leaving JFK at approximately 11:45pm. JetBlue never gave any kind of an update nor would they volunteer why we left so late. I heard someone say that it was because our flight crew was stuck on a late-arriving plane coming up from Florida. I got into Rochester around 1:20am. I'd like to say that this was the only part of my roundtrip jetBlue experience that sucked but it wasn't. My flight back to New York was cancelled because of "weather." I got an email on my phone from jetBlue at 5pm for a 7:00pm flight. I took a look at the local news and according to the reports, there were no delays at Greater Rochester International Airport. I love jetBlue's email about the cancellation: "Due to Weather, your flight #33 on July 20, 2008 for travel from Rochester, NY (ROC) has been cancelled. We apologize for the disruption in your travel plans." Really? Yes, you've disrupted my travel plans, you imbeciles. I scrambled to get another flight as I had to work in the morning, winding up on a US Airways flight for $100 more. I realize that flying really is horrendous and a crapshoot these days and probably this is not a horrible story compared to many others. But I am tremendously disappointed that a once excellent airline has become just another company that sucks. I suppiose once again this makes the point of "you get what you pay for." Next time I'll look into Delta and US Airways for flights to Rochester. The irony of it all is when I finally arrive home I find an email from jetBlue inviting me to join their "JetViews" panel, where one can give his or her opinion and fill out surveys so that they can improve their service. Probably not the best timing for them to send that notice to me but I joined. I guess the rest of jetBlue's energy and resources went into the creation of their website touting their new, and in my opinion, untrue advertising slogan. "Happy Jetting" indeed.
