More Efficient or Bigger Hassle?

As most readers know I recently spent two weeks in New York and Boston. Trying to spend as little money as possible while planning this trip I decided to fly into JFK, take a train to Boston and then fly out of Logan back to O’Hare. Since I wanted to spend about a week in each place it worked out well for me.

My flight to JFK was great. I flew JetBlue for the first time. O’Hare only recently began offering flights through this airline so I was pretty excited because I’ve heard such great things about their prices and their customer service. I paid $59 for my one-way, non-stop ticket to New York. I was pretty satisfied. I was a bit worried the morning of my flight because it was bout 25 minutes until boarding time and the plane still wasn’t there. But sure enough it showed up just in time for us to board. The great thing was I didn’t have to wait for them to clean the plane and get it ready for the next group, thus delaying my flight. As I later learned, JetBlue cleans the plane while the flight is still going so they can be ready to leave the gate sooner. Smart.

Once on the plane the stewardesses were very polite and helpful. The seats were really comfortable and I had an obnoxious amount of leg room. Now I’m only 5′1″ so I typically don’t require much leg room at all. But it was nice to have the excess room. One thing that was new (for me at least) was that each seat, whether in coach or first class, had its own individual TV with around 30+ channels. And they weren’t crappy channels either! I had the Discovery Channel, FX, TLC, etc.

Once in motion we were provided with our choice of cookies, chips, pecans, peanuts, pretzels, and various juices and drinks…all free. I was so excited that I was able to eat cookies instead of peanuts.

Overall I was very happy with my experience with JetBlue. I’ve been recommending them a lot and definitely intend on using them again when the occasion presents itself.

Now my flight home was a different story. For whatever reason, it’s impossible to get a direct flight to O’Hare out of Boston on JetBlue. I would have a stop in NY and the ticket was $209…a bit more than I wanted to spend. But I didn’t hold it against JetBlue. I found a flight for about $149 on American Airlines, which was direct. I’ve never been to terminal B at Logan, but I didn’t like it from the get-go.

Once I arrived at the gate, mind you 10 minutes before take-off, I was “greeted” by an AA employee. She saw me speeding toward the gate and asked if I was Jennifer. I replied yes and in a somewhat snotty tone said they’ve been waiting for me. I walked down the tunnel to the plane and there was still a line of people waiting to be seated. Waiting for me my ass! They couldn’t have taken off if they wanted to…AND we ended up taking off a few minutes late anyway, not because of me.

The plane was ridiculously hot and the seats were very cramped. There was a baby crying behind me (which I know isn’t the fault of the plane but it just added to my discomfort). There were no TVs…not even a few that come down from the ceiling like on United flights. The absolute worst part was snack time. Normally airlines will offer you a complimentary drink and bag of peanuts or pretzels. Well, because of responses from AA customers, they thought it would be great to offer the same selection that JetBlue offers….only they charge $3 for the snacks.

They claim it’s a part of their new outlook on customer service. Um…personally I’d rather have that free bag of pretzels than pay $3 for some chips. I know this is such a tiny part of my flight, but I don’t feel ridiculous complaining about it at all. I already paid $150…I should get a free bag of peanuts! I don’t know why they think this is helping the customer at all.

If JetBlue can keep their prices low and still offer fun snacks for free, why can’t AA?

Overall I was not happy with AA and if I can avoid it, I do not plan on flying with them again.