I came over from the fractional world, though I did have a bit more time than you have at the moment. You're gonna read a lot about JetBlue on here and at the moment it seems pretty bad. And, a lot of the gripes are very legitimate. Many of us, including myself, are trying to move on to another place.

JetBlue has long claimed to want to be a destination carrier, where pilots wish to spend their careers. Unfortunately, that has come to seem more like lip service than a genuine desire.

We unionized a bit over two years ago in an overwhelming vote. Since then it seems there has not been the pace of progress most of us had hoped for. Some of these hopes were genuine and some may have been overly optimistic. At this point we still severely lack our peers in most areas including pay, retirement, healthcare, and work rules, among other things.

In addition there is the issue of relative stagnation at the airline. Movement is slow. We only have two fleet types which means your relative seniority does not change quickly, though I have experienced rapid growth on the E190 in only three years it is artificial as the airplane and base are both fairly junior. Were I to move to the left seat I would expect a number of years on reserve. Junior line holder on the airbus is many years more than that away. And at that point I have reached the most senior aircraft meaning further movement up the list will be slow going. That means desirable schedules, weekends and holidays off, are a pipe dream for a number of years on the bus.

These are all things to think about. On the bright side, I personally like coming to work. We have good people working here, and for the most part the job is fun and relaxed. The equipment is good by comparison to what I came from, though some guys have had less pleasant experiences. At the moment it is true to say that there are a lot worse places to hang your hat than JetBlue. Sadly though, and I sincerely hope this changes, there are far better places that are currently hiring and will experience a massive volume of retirements during our career spans.