I’ve flown on Jet Blue a countless amount of times back when I used to travel a lot more for work. Mainly because they conveniently flew out of Long Beach Aiport, which was down the street from my house so I didn’t have to haul myself all the way up to LAX to either fight traffic to barely make my flight or to miss traffic and get to my flight three hours early. Aside from the convenience-factor, Jet Blue was always one of those airlines that strived to be cooler than the rest by using funny ads. They are still one of the few airlines that don’t charge for checking in baggage or in-flight snacks. Oh, they also have personal monitors with DirecTV playing at each seat. Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever having a bad experience on Jet Blue…until now.
Over Easter weekend, we flew out to Las Vegas to attend a wedding at Loews in Henderson, Nevada. As much as I don’t like Vegas, the wedding was exceptional. That was on Saturday evening, though and we wanted to come back on Sunday but there were zero flights available. I supposed I could understand that considering it was Easter Sunday and all. So we booked ther earliest flight on Monday as possible - Flight 279 leaving at 7:50am and landing in Long Beach at 8:57am. It was ungodly windy in Vegas so I checked the flight status before we left the hotel and it said “on-time” and they wouldn’t lie. Head out, fill up and return the rental, and check in at 6:30. The lady at the counter told us that the flight was delayed four hours now. Four hours from the flight time mind you, not from the moment that she told us so we were looking at flying at noon and landing at 1pm. That’s bad, but not horrible. I just wish we knew ahead of time since waking up at 5am is never fun. We just needed to find something to do at the airport to kill about 6 hours. The lady told us the plane had mechanical problems, but assured us that they were currently working on it so it could be fixed before the estimated time of 12pm. OK there was hope. It’s amazing how much time you can waste at the aiport by simply watching people walk without looking where they’re going or selfish idiots taking up three seats with their bags or putting their feet up.
At 10:00am, they made an announcement that the mechanic had just flown in from Oakland and was waiting for the part so he could fix the plane. Just got there? How was he “currently working on the plane so it could be fixed” if he wasn’t even there and didn’t have the part? Lies! If they told us that there was no mechanic or parts to begin with at 6:30am, we would have just rented a car to drive back right away.
They then offered a transfer to Southwest, but weren’t sure if anyone would get on the flight since Southwest always overbooks. Also, it would be to a different airport so if your car was in Long Beach, you’d still have to take a cab or shuttle there. A few people took that option, thankfully the loud yappy ones. We figured it was only two more hours and they still said the plane could be fixed sooner. At 11:30am, they announced that the flight was now delayed until 4pm, but they could put people on a 3pm flight. Are you kidding me? You didn’t realize it was the same fucking plane when you told everyone about it? How stupid are you?
Not much better, but 1 hour was better than nothing I guess. While everyone waited 45 minutes in line to try to get on the 3pm flight, they said that the 3pm flight was the same plane so it wouldn’t leave until after 5pm now but we could still get on it if we wanted to. Now why in the hell would anyone want to do that? I guess if they really liked McCarran Airport or something. I mean, they do have a Baja Fresh and Jody Maroni’s. Finally, I asked one guy who actually made it to the front of the line what they told him our options were: 1. wait until 4pm (which was still just an estimation) 2. take the 3pm flight (which was now after 4pm), 3. transfer to Southwest to fly at 1:55pm (lands after 3pm, then get your bag and take a shuttle to Long Beach by 4:30pm or so) 4. wait until the same flight the next morning at 7:50am. Hmm. We’ll take option 5 that wasn’t offered. Rent a car and drive it back. That meant leaving my checked-in bag on the plane because I was still in back of the line and would have to wait 45 minutes. Why did I stupidly check my tiny Clippers duffel bag? Because my hair gel bottle was too big to pass through security and so was the bottle of rubbing alcohol that I bring everywhere. LOL. Sad. By now, my phone was about to die because I was using it all morning to avoid dying from boredom. My charger was in my checked-in bag because, well, I didn’t plan on being at the airport all day when I handed it over to the first lying ticket agent.
Having to rent a one-way rental car is kind of a pain. They charge double and most places don’t even offer that option. National does, but their employees are teetering on about 15 years past retirement age. So here we are, heading out of the rental car lot just like we did two days ago, only this time we were heading home and not to the Mandalay Bay. Pathetic. It’s amazing how many bumps you feel on the 15 freeway when your ribs are bruised/broken. Especially on some horribly uncomfortable seats. After the very long drive back to Lakewood (I drive the speed limit) we still touched down at home and unloaded what we had before flight #279 was even halfway to Long Beach Airport. Reminds me of the car versus plane competitions where they see which would be faster to get to Las Vegas. Looks like car would have won in a blowout victory this time around, even a crappy domestic rental car with all of its menu function set in Spanish. However, I still had to fill up this POS then drop it off at the National rental in Long Beach, find my checked-in bag, and pick up my Benz from the lot.
To sum this all up, Boo on you, Jet Blue! I don’t care if you’re a proud sponsor of the Los Angeles Clippers because their season has been over since Christmas.
Typed on my iPhone. Please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors.
Ricky “RikDaddy” Chu
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Hahahaha dude airlines are always so much fun to deal with…
How did you bruise/break your ribs?
Dude, your hair isn’t that long? Don’t pack 2 months worth of hair gel next time.
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