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:

Blue's News - Oct 30

What's new with JetBlue

• This is the last week to enter the J. Crew Factory and JetBlue's promotion is still going on through October! Enter up to once per day to win any JetBlue Getaway destination including:
• Roundtrip airfare on a JetBlue getaway
• Hotel Accommodations
• and a $2,5000 J.Crew Factory shopping spree
  
  
• Are you ready for Hallo-win?  Share a picture on JetBlue's Facebook page by November 2nd and get the most 'likes' to win 100,000 True Blue points! That's the equivalent of 20 domestic flights all for posting a picture on social media - the odds are better for this than most other costumes if you've put some creativity into your costume this year. Happy Halloween!
  
  





• A great sale is going on through 10/30 (today!) for Getaways booked until 12/18/13. All members on the trip can get 30% off the base airfare for a getaway. Usually this kind of discount is only available at the mall! If you have some winter travel coming up, these cheap seats are a great offer to take advantage of.
  
  

Guide to Badges Part III

TrueBlue Badges Part III

In the introduction to badges, I detailed how to sign up and start getting some of your first badges and over 1,000 TrueBlue points in just a few minutes. Then there was the Jet Blue badges guide part II to net you 2,000 points in total. This next installment will cover earning your next few badges....

The Next Four Badges

At this point most of the low hanging fruit has been picked in the badge program. It's been relatively easy to score those 2,000 points without having to make a single purchase or even flight a single mile. Now, though, the level portion of badges begins to come into play as some badges won't be unlocked until you achieve the proper level so progress will be a bit slower and will take more creativity to keep earning for free.

The social media badges are an easy grab as always and Opinionator will require about 10-15 minutes in total to signup and get through a survey or two that you qualify for. I actually stuck with E-Rewards for a while and earned $25 worth of credit on their site, which translates to 500 more True Bleu miles. It took a bit longer than I expected, about 1-2 weeks by doing one survey per day (many I didn't qualify for) and I wouldn't say it's the most effective method for earning free points. It is a direct and reliable source, though, if you're only a few hundred points behind on a reward flight but don't want to spend any cash to buy miles. 

Another unique badge is ShopTrue. While this does require a purchase, which I try t stay away from for the sake of these guides, Shop True has a great selection of stores (Macy's, Home Depot, etc.) so it shouldn't be too hard to find an occasion to purchase through the portal. No points to be earned here with the badge, but your qualifying purchase will earn you at least 1pt/dollar if not more - so the earning potential here is up to you. This will also help moving up towards the next level, where more social media badges lie waiting.

That's 450+ points for these badges (and 950+ if you commit to doing E-Rewards) to round out at almost 3,000 points without flying a single mile! That's 3/5 of the way towards a domestic one way flight via reward points and we've still got plenty more free miles to earn so be sure to check out part IV coming soon.

 - John

JetBlue: Cheap, Satisfying Flights

An Airline's Survey is Telling

After my most recent flight with JetBlue, I received an email a few days later asking if I wanted to take a customer satisfaction survey. These days, surveys of this sort aren't uncommon: almost any interaction with a customer service rep will lead in an optional survey, viewing many companies' websites will prompt a random poll on feedback, and many businesses will call you to check up after a new purchase (like with my latest web domain purchase). 

Despite the popularity and pervasiveness of this, it seems as though airlines have always been willing to sit back and take feedback from those who speak the loudest - the ones who go out of their way to compliment service or deride delays angrily over social media or through customer service hotlines.

JetBlue's inclusion of a customer happiness survey illustrates that despite their cheap and affordable prices, they still highly value feedback and aim to improve their standards as an airline. In itself, this is not a huge step up, but rather shows attention to detail on JetBlue's part. Much like with their TrueBlue program, in flight amenities, and fair pricing, a little bit can go a long way when the time is taken to treat the customer well and keep our best interest in mind. 

While I secretly hoped to be rewarded with a badge or extra points at the end of the survey, I didn't mind as it was a well developed questionnaire with brief length, easy controls, and the data it asked for seemed relevant without being too detailed or laborious to recall.