I'm really not a "plant" but I've flown 2 round trips during the past 6 weeks on a newer airline Jet Blue. I found the fares fantastic (I only paid $19. each way from Long Beach to Oakland round tripand again Long Beach to Las Vegas round trip). The employees and efficiency were very impressive. Leather seats and individual TV screens, on time departures etc. I was flying on business and as my wife says "Mikey doesn't like anything!"I was very impressed! American Airlines was always my favorite airline but now I'm having second thoughts. It was much better to me than Southwest as I got a confirmed seat! Check their fares and see for yourselves.

Well so much for the idea that you can't have both assigned seats and low prices as the SWA boosters like to claim. SWA needs to take a lesson and start assigning seats and cleaning their planes!

I too have flown Jet Blue and likewise VERY impressed. The plane was immaculate and the attendants couldn't have been friendlier. I'm rooting for this "new guy" on the block to make it big! I'm waiting for them to expand to more cities so I can make them my first choice. Go Angels!

YEA! I too booked the $19 each way from Long Beach to Vegas next month. Glad to hear a good report...I'd never heard of them before a month ago. I got rejected on priceline.com for more $ and found them for lots less. I sure Wish them well!

funny, just got done watching a piece on 60 mins II on Jet Blue. The CEO flies at least once a week on the planes, greets passengers, passes out snacks, unloads baggage once in a while he claims,,he started Morris air and made a fortune selling that to southwest,,,worked for them till they fired him. Decided to start another. All new planes..

Love JetBlue. My kids even request it every time we fly. Too bad they don't fly all the routes, but the way they are running their business, maybe they will be soon.

After watching 60 mins. last night,I wish they had service to Boston. I loved it when the pilots cleaned the cabin.

Saw the same 60 minutes piece. As a New Yorker, I'm rooting for Jet Blue. However, while in college, I worked at People Express back in the mid 1980's. I remember the glowing story that 20/20 did on the airline. Three years later it was on the verge of bankruptcy before being purchased by Continental.

Profit margins are so thin in the industry it'll be interesting to see how the guy who built it keeps the momentum up 2 or 3 years down the road. I hope they succeed where every other start-up has failed.

I watched that piece on 60 minutes too. I was planning on booking my MKE-NYC trip on Midwest Express. I may try Jet Blue if they fly out of Milwaukee. I think I will check it out. Besides, Midwest Express just announced a ton of lay-offs. So sad.

I saw the 60 min piece too, and I really want to see jetBlue expand too. They're running between Syracuse NY & JFK, which has really hurt Amtrak - which I also like.

As far as comparing them with Southwest, I think that one still consistantly sees lower overall fares on SW. Another consideration, mentionned on 60min was that the sparkling new jets won't always be new, and maintenance costs will increase heavily. If jetBlue hasn't "saved for a rainy day", then they too will perish. I sure hope not - they are an airline I'm looking forward to flying on.

The October issue of Conde Nast Traveler has the results of its 2002 poll of business travelers. It gives the top 10 or top 5 airlines by domestic and international categories, with subcategories.

The top three for "Domestic, business class" are 1. Midwest Express, 2. Continental, and 3. American Airlines.

The top three for "Domestic, coach class" are 1. JetBlue, 2. Horizon, and 3. Southwest.

The top three for "Domestic, value for coach" are 1. JetBlue, 2. Midwest Express, and 3. Southwest.

JetBlue does look appealing to me, but I won't fly out of JFK. Getting to that airport, and the airport itself, is just such a huge hassle with traffic, and the subway takes forever. Send me from Newark with the speedy airtrain anyday!

I too was impressed with JetBlue but found the seats surprisingly narrow (and I am not overweight!),,,I think due to the hand set controls for the video monitors (the hand set widens the arm rests, restricting the already narrow seat width). I would certainly ride with JetBlue again despite this minor inconvenience but if fares are comparable I tend to prefer the extra legroom on American Airlines.

I couldn't agree more with the praises previously posted here. I'm surprised at the comment about the seat size, since I feel the seats are a bit wider than American, and definitely more comfortable [thick padded leather]. The mini tvs for each passenger make the trip 'fly', and the employees are almost all amazingly friendly. I've flown with them countless times since they first started up just about two years ago. They even sent us our own plane! We have it on top of our tv! I am looking forward to their increasing destinations. We are flying with them to Puerto Rico next month.

Wish they flew out of my hometown.

Did Midwest Express REALLY announce a ton of layoffs? I can find no such news on either the Midwest Express site (http://www.midwestexpress.com) or the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://www.jsonline.com/)

Airlines like JetBlue (which I have flown and loved) have one big problem with expanding. Right now, they are running on very profitable routes, because there is a lot of traffic. They make their money on volume, because they can fill their planes and their costs are fairly low.

There are not too many routes, even in the US, where there is the amount of traffic that can keep filling planes all the time. They do very well because they have a lot of transcontinental and NYC-Florida flights. I wonder how much longer they can keep adding flights to existing routes and keep filling their planes. Or, how many more "high profit" new routes (i.e LGB-BOS) they can add before they start seeing their average loads drop.

Additionally, maintenance costs on their planes are going to begin to rise (major manitenance checks are coming due).

I wish them the best, but don't forget that just because you "saw it on 60 Minutes", does not guarantee them any sorts of immunity. Remember, there was a time when companies like Enron, WorldCom, etc. were the media darlings.

Yes, sadly they did announce the lay-offs. It was on the fox6 news out of Milw. this am. Maybe Fox6milwaukee.com would have the info.??

I LOVE Jetblue, and I'm thrilled to read all this praise for them. they asked on the website where we would most like them added. I for one am thrilled with Oakland and would love CA Orange, and Chicago or Indianapolis for a center hub. What do you think, where do you most want them added in there great growth?

I'd love to see them in NC, perhaps Charlotte, since we have a lot of friends, former NYers, retired there! I'd also vote for Alaska and Hawaii! Maybe now that they're on the west coast, this is do-able.