Blue's News - Nov 27

What's new with JetBlue

• Engadget has a great review on JetBlue's maiden voyage of its new Fly-Fi, the fastest internet service in the industry! A full breakdown of speeds and glitches experienced are detailed in the writeup - and the outlook is quite good for the new service!

• JetBlue's annual Swing for Good golf tournament brought in a whopping $500,000 for their partner charities, KaBOOM! and First Book who will be splitting the proceeds evenly. This kind of effort from a company is one of the reasons why I love JetBlue! If you participated you'll have qualified for the Bluemanity badge!

• Forbes decided that Jet Blue is the worst airline for holiday travel, by looking at percentage of late and delayed flights. Since JetBlue is based out of the Northeast, and the top airline is based out of...Hawaii, I think it is safe to say it depends more on where you're going than who you're flying in the winter! To each their own, I suppose.

Jet Blue Joins TSA Pre✓™

Faster Security for Select Customers

Jetblue now supports the TSA Pre✓™ program, where select fliers can go through a less strict, faster version of TSA screening in the airport. Benefits usually include shorter lines, not having to remove your jacket/shoes, and so on. Although this is a free service, you must be a part of a "trusted traveler" program or a member of the  U.S. Armed Forces . Simply input your ID from the eligible organization when booking your flight to have the status added.

Currently, the TSA Pre✓™ boarding pass is only available through JetBlue's mobile app and not available to those who print out boarding passes either at home or at the airport. Even if you are not registered as part of  TSA Pre✓™, if you use the mobile app and qualify as a low risk flier you may be awarded the status on your boarding pass. Since most people can't take advantage of being a member of the program, still being eligible and having it automatically added to your e-boarding pass is a really nice feature.

The ability to print TSA Pre✓™ boarding passes at home, kiosks, or service desks in an airport is slated for the first quarter of 2014. In the mean time, the mobile app offers validation that a flier can go through the more swift screening process. At this time, JetBlue offers the service in the following 22 airports:

Austin, Texas	Newark, N.J. (a)
Boston	Oakland, Calif.
Charlotte, N.C.	Orlando, Fla.
Ft Lauderdale, Fla. (a)	Pittsburgh
Hartford, Conn.	Salt Lake City
Houston (Hobby)	San Francisco (a)
Las Vegas	San Juan, Puerto Rico (a)
Long Beach, Calif.	Seattle
Los Angeles	Syracuse, N.Y.
New York (LaGuardia) (a)	Washington, D.C. (Dulles)
New York (JFK)	White Plains, N.Y.

* Airports with (a) do not have dedicated lines but may still offer an abbreviated screening.

Blue's News - Nov 20

What's new with JetBlue

• LifeHacker has a great post on surviving flying for the holidays. From the TSA to the arrival gate, they've got you covered and the comments add in some useful color as well.

• BlueTales offers a look behind the scenes at their Veterans Career Expo in Long Island. It's this Thursday, November 21st from 12-4PM. You can sign up for it at EventBrite for free.
• "Our 2nd annual Veterans' Career Expo is geared toward veterans and their spouses interested in getting a better idea of whatcareer opportunities are available at JetBlue. Representatives from several JetBlue departments (including Finance, Inflight, JetBlue University, Marketing, Operations and many more) will be available to answer questions about their team/function. You will also have the opportunity to speak with veterans who currently work for JetBlue.This session is not specific to any role in particular. For those interested specifically in pilot career information, please register only for the pilot session at: https://pilotvets.eventbrite.com"

• Another post from LifeHacker on bringing an emergency travel pack with you - for the times when life's discomforts start to make travel a horrible experience. Bringing an extra charger, empty water bottle, and magazines are just a few of the items on their list to keep you and those around you happy.

• Until 12/31/13, Jet Blue is offering up to 50% bonus points for all gifted or purchased denominations. The bonus levels are:


• Buy between 5,000 - 9,500 get 20% bonus points
• Buy between 10,000 - 19,500 to get 30% bonus points 
• Buy between 20,000 - 29,500 to get 40% bonus points
• Buy 30,000 to get 50% bonus points

JetBlue Mobile App

For Android and iOS, Jet Blue's Mobile Offerings

Like any hip company these days, JetBlue has a mobile app to pair with their offerings. Unlike many other airline apps *cough* like Delta, this app works well. JetBlue has taken advantage of great, simple design to make an interface that is uniquely its own and uniform across the iOS/Android platforms - something that many apps fail at.

The mobile app allows you to login using your True-blue account to access everything from your rewards information to the weather to the in flight menu. It includes the typical boarding pass and flight information, but also takes strides to include some fun extras and a few features that surprisingly don't exist on every airline's app. Some of the highlights include:

A home screen which shows your upcoming flight, a menu with quick access to flight statuses, settings, a JetBlue customer service line, bag checking, weather, and "fun stuff" including wallpapers and postcards.

Drilling down into the menu, the flight status option gives a clear detail of all key information points for your selected flight. You can opt to receive notifications from the app when there are updates, such as a delay.

The boarding pass is a great option to use if you forgot to print one out or simply prefer to not have to deal with it. I find taking a screenshot of this portion of the app works best when it comes to going through security, on the off chance my phone can't find a signal or decides to be very slow right as I come up to a ticket checker. Most major airports (and many non-major) support scanning phones now for boarding passes. It's one less thing to worry about when traveling and is also great for the environment. 

In the "fun stuff" category, along with wallpapers, comes the option to send a postcard from the app. Tell your friends and family about how great of a time you're having at your destination! This extra feature in the app shows once again how JetBlue 'gets it' when it comes to social media and sharing. Give people a way to express and share their thoughts and feelings and they will happily do so!

Finally, one of the other unique features of the app is a timetable. While it's not hard to find a timetable on any one of dozens of monitors at any given airport, standing in a crowd during high traffic hours can be a pain. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to simply pull the latest flight timetable up on my phone from where I'm sitting - and JetBlue has provided a way to do so.

There are plenty more great parts of the app (terminal maps, destination city guides, and more), but these are some of the best executed and novel features that truly add value to JetBlue's app when compared to its competitors. Above all, the app just plain works and at the end of the day when it comes to a boarding pass or checking a flight status, that is the most important part of an app like this. Kudos to you, JetBlue, for making an app that's easy to love!

Blue's News - Nov 13

What's new with JetBlue

• In line with the recent announcement of family points pooling, BlueTales posted some tips courtesy of the Huffington Post on how to ensure your family's flights are safe, fun, and well planned.

• Remember Blue's Bravest recent debut over the skylines of Manhattan? The plane is now in service for flights and the reception at the hangar after its maiden flight captures some of the magic from that first day:

• A wedding at T5? Sounds crazy, but it's true! The winners of JetBlue's "Something Blue" contest got married at T5 and then headed to Hawaii for their honeymoon courtesy of JetBlue and Hawaiian Airlines. Check out the romance below:

SoFly

SoFly: JetBlue's Social Media World

It's no surprise that JetBlue has a strong social media presence, part of its target demographic is younger customers. JetBlue has been able to muster a really great tie-in between the customer experience and the company culture through the SoFly program. SoFly acts as a place where JetBlue can share random information, from their service awards to their plane tail designs to interesting statistics. It's also made of customers' social media contributions from destinations, airports, and experiences. These come in the form of tips, Instragrams, and recommendations for food, amenities, and hotels. 

This presents an unprecedented opportunity for customers to truly interact and have an ongoing conversation with an airline. Choice submissions that use such hashtags as #sofly or #jetblue get placed on the SoFly page where they can be seen by everyone. It's a great opportunity to increase your social media account's traffic and just plain cool. It's dynamic, responsive, and customer driven. These are then available to share again on Facebook, re-tweet on Twitter, etc.

An example of an Instragram picture added to SoFly.

At its core, SoFly is an aggregation of all JetBlue social media onto the main website. It's not a revolutionary idea, but goes a long way to truly tie together the experience of planning, traveling, and booking budget flights with JetBlue. No other airline has deployed as sleek, functional, and enjoyable social media experience in this way. SoFly allows customers to be proud of JetBlue and for JetBlue to show off how great of a company they are as well. It'll be interesting to see how this evolves over time and if any other cheap airlines, let alone the big players, adopt a similar program in the future. This is a great first step in improving the chasm that has developed over the year between an airline and its customers having a natural and satisfying dialogue.

ShopTrue is Down!

An Upgrade to ShopTrue

I've been waiting for a few days now to write a post about ShopTrue, a great way to earn an extra badge and get extra True Blue miles just by using the shopping portal to purchase from online retailers like Macy's or Home Depot, but the site's been down. And not the good down - it wouldn't resolve and errored out for the past few days.

It seems like someone finally got on top of that mess, though, and the the ShopTrue URL now leads to this:

So if you've been wondering why the site is down, doesn't work, and is straight broken...this appears to be the reason! A new version of the site will debut sometime in the (hopefully) near future and I'll be posting an update with details when it does - as well as if the name TrueBlue Mall will stick.

Until then, sit tight and try to hold off on any purchases that could otherwise be used to earn points, which may be easier said than done. 

Free Drink for JetBlue Amex Cardholders!

Enjoy a Drink on JetBlue

While many airlines offer a percentage discount off in-flight purchases when using their branded credit card, JetBlue just made holiday travel a lot less hectic by giving away a free wine or beer for all passengers 21+ who can show their American Express JetBlue card on the flight. As usual, all other in flight purchases made with the card are also 50% off. 

Almost makes me wish I lived far enough from my family to fly for the holidays! Check out the post below:

Post by JetBlue Airways.

Blue's News - November 6

What's new with JetBlue

• A friendly reminder why JetBlue is so awesome - they're a low cost airline, but are the complete opposite of Spirit Air, who people love to hate.
  
  
• Yes, the FAA and JetBlue have allowed your iPod and MacBook on the plane for use during the whole flight - but that doesn't mean you can talk on the phone!
  
  
• An article that claims we're the ones ripping off the airline industry...can't say I agree, but an interesting perspective on our state of affairs using historical context.
  
  
• Terminal 5 at JFK now services two new locations through JetBlue: Trinidad and Tobago and Savannah/Hilton Head. Can you say awesome new vacation destinations?!

FAA Says Electronics Okay!

JetBlue Follows FAA Recommendations

It's been a long, long, long time coming: as of November 4th, the FAA has become more lax with their regulations on electronic devices during flights. That means no more furiously eeking out that last text as the stewardess looms down the aisle, no more unplugging your headphones just for takeoff, no more interrupted anything!

Although the FAA's allowance of device usage is great, it still falls into the hands of airlines to implement their own policy in regards to portable electronic usage. Luckily, JetBlue is awesome! Within just hours of the announcement they began letting passengers use their personal devices! In fact, Jet Blue became the first US airline to allow PED (personal electronic devices) during flight on a Buffalo flight that took off that same day.

This is a great example of why JetBlue is such a fantastic airline to fly, you get quality and genuine enthusiasm all for a seriously cheap ticket! What's not to love? 

For the nitty gritty details, the FAA has you covered with an article on their site.

Check out the video for the momentous occasion: