reservelyfe

JetBlue is the way it supposed to be. When you go to Bob's Diner and get the steak and eggs, the employees aren't don't think, "Gosh, this isn't even close to Ruths' Chris. What are they thinking?" It's accepted that Bob's steak is what it is. JetBlue is designed to work well when things are going well. When they don't, the airline struggles and does its best at damage control, but doesn't have the resources to be a Delta. The operating philosophy of JB is to do its best at a certain level of cost. I don't understand why the pilots are constantly surprised and upset by this. When you show up to JFK and have to wait for a gate, it isn't incompetence. It's just the way it is.

(Yes, on a micro level, individual contributors are less competent. JB can't afford the same caliber of employee, which goes back to the big picture of cost.)

SoarHigh757

The problem is we have gotten worse. According to data from the bureau of transportation statistics, the average on time performance for 2012-2016 was 77.6%. The average 2017-2021 (excluding 2020 which is not comparable at any airline for obvious reasons) was 74.4%.

In the same time periods, Spirit went from 73.8% on time to 81% on time. I’m not saying the two airlines operations are comparable due to the well-discussed cities JetBlue serves, but it does show Spirit’s goals of improving on time performance is working. And if you want to compare to Delta in our focus cities, it’s not good.

So, the question is so what? I spend a lot of time reading investor reports as well as comments about the airline on news articles across a variety of publications. With our NEA agreement and our northeast shuttle flights, JetBlue’s management has stated it wants to attract significantly more business travelers as well as connect leisure travelers to/from our partner American. It’s hard to do either if you have such constant and frequent delays. A theme I see among comments and travel blogs usually goes like this - I used to fly JetBlue a lot, but now, if I have to be somewhere for work or a special event like a wedding, I book a more reliable carrier I know will get me there. If we want to be people’s carrier of choice, that involves instilling confidence that the schedule will operate. Getting worst airline in America headlines does not aid in that endeavor.

nuball5

Well said. This place makes money despite themselves (at least before Covid)…..constant Irop for the past two decades. Moving forward they’ll carry more customers with all this NEA stuff than they ever have. As long as their isn’t mass hysteria over some new variant or $200/barrel/WWIII which will cause growth and hiring to slow down everywhere and is a possibility.

Bluedriver

What you are saying is just not true. Simpletons think oh, bigger company, they can afford more expensive individual cost units. But profitability and margin are really much more important to consider than size. A larger company has proportionally more individual units (employees to compensate). So consider a company that is twice the size, has roughly twice the number of employees, and has an average margin of 5%. Now consider a company half the size, half the employees, and a margin of 10%. Which company can afford to pay individual units more?

When it comes to spreading costs over a larger company, like advertising or IT investments, you have a point to discuss. But not in terms of units/employees that are proportional in quantity to it's corporate size.

JB has the resources to run a more reliable operation. In fact they are telling Wall Street they will be margin leaders in the near future. And... As Delta has clearly shown, when you invest in a more reliable network/operation, high value revenue/customers are your prize. If you build it, they will come... And it's no coincidence that Delta has high financial performance that follows very capable management of the airline.

SaintNick

just wrong… sorry (I know you work for delta but they are becoming just a national
airline also)

SoarHigh757

LOL I work for JetBlue. What’s “just wrong”? The fact that we are statistically performing poorer than we were before? Also what’s “just a national airline” mean?

SaintNick

Sorry I meant the other guy. Clicked the wrong thing. Yes you are right just not for the reasons the delta guy gave

Brickward

Are JFK-LHR and JFK-LGW only flown out of the JFK base, or do trips out of the other bases ever include that route?

PotatoChip

Only JFK.
There is a separate domicile within the domicile, comprised of pilots who bid for those routes who are qualified for it.

todd1200

But there’s a philosophical operational decision that every business has to make. How much excess capacity do you carry? I don’t mean load factor, I mean all the nuts and bolts that make everything tick. How many extra tow bars, power units, etc. do you have at each station? How much downtime do you schedule for your aircraft? Some airlines opt to carry excess operational capacity and eat the associated costs in order to ensure a higher service level. Some airlines would rather save the money and carry less excess and accept a lower service level, or lower performance metrics, etc. The correct answer could be debated, and the return on investing in operational efficiency is pretty clear, but at the end of the day, I don’t think the meltdowns are a surprise to anyone in the upper echelons. I think there was a conscious decision made long ago to accept thinner operational margins in return for the associated cost savings.