jetBlue Mint... Ice Cream? Nice!!

Derg said:
That's cool, but that's not how people purchase tickets.

Some of the "old tired brand" airlines which have made multiple billion dollar profits tried the hip product (Song!) and, at the end of the day, people want inexpensive, friendly, reliable transportation and anything else is icing on the cake.
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I disagree again. The marketplace has had capacity stripped to such an extent that demand exceeds supply. Everybody's running 80+% load factors. Further, a substantial portion of those multi billion dollar profits come directly from the a la carte business models - and specifically bag fees.

If price were the only factor everyone would shop at Walmart or Dollar General. There is a segment of the population that shops there and they are wildly successful because of it. But even on this site there is a big contingent that says "I'm willing to spend more to shop at a company more closely aligned with my world view." For some that's Neiman Marcus or Whole Foods. For others who are cost conscious but still want a better experience it's Target and Publix.

Those are the JetBlue customers. You wouldn't catch them dead on Sprit or SW. If they're on DAL or AA they're complaining about it on Twitter 12 hours later. They want a hip, trendy "brand" that makes them feel good about spending their money.

Patton Oswalt did a whole routine about why people like JetBlue. I'm not makin this stuff up. ;-)
 
Derg said:
I know.

The press release is about as exciting of saying, "Fly Transcon, ONNA JET!"
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reminds me of the current SW ad blitz....smile, We've got our passport! We are going international! Never mind 1) you can't smile In passport pics 2) your airline AirTran has already been going there 3) everyone else is already doing it and has for nearly a century............
JetBlue did a better job of putting the right number of seats in their mint product I feel. Aa has way to few seats on the 321 for it to work. Provide a lie flat product, yes, but make sure there is enough coach to pay the bills if no one is splurging for the first class.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I see it as an extension of their brand and one more reason why they are not an eligible merger partner for anyone.
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Oh, come on, REALLY??????? It is really easy to change a brand (look at Frontier as well as AirTran) and reconfigure airplanes.

JetBlue is ripe for a merger OR an attempted purchase by a foreign owner (which is going to be tried again and JetBlue is a great candidate to try that).
 
There's a lot of managerial turnover at JBLU for a number of reasons (from a number of sources).

They're ripe for anything.
 
My concern is that a foreign airline uses JetBlue to 'test' the foreign ownership laws here (again) in the United States.
 
Seggy said:
Oh, come on, REALLY??????? It is really easy to change a brand (look at Frontier as well as AirTran) and reconfigure airplanes.
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It may be easy to reconfigure airplanes, but it's not so easy to keep the customers. SWA has lost a whole lot of our loyal customers who have gone running back to Delta. They were accustomed to a certain kind of product, and then it was replaced with something that they didn't much care for. When Delta is offering the same fare (or less), they don't hesitate to leave.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
It may be easy to reconfigure airplanes, but it's not so easy to keep the customers. SWA has lost a whole lot of our loyal customers who have gone running back to Delta. They were accustomed to a certain kind of product, and then it was replaced with something that they didn't much care for. When Delta is offering the same fare (or less), they don't hesitate to leave.
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This.

And the JFK-West Coast and JFK-Florida/Islands market is already pretty saturated with premium seats and "yuppie" pleasing gimmicks.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
It may be easy to reconfigure airplanes, but it's not so easy to keep the customers. SWA has lost a whole lot of our loyal customers who have gone running back to Delta. They were accustomed to a certain kind of product, and then it was replaced with something that they didn't much care for. When Delta is offering the same fare (or less), they don't hesitate to leave.
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Not sure of your point here.

The loyal customers to AirTran that have fled to Delta could be offset by the loyal Southwest customers who flock in droves to Southwest. Frontier has changed their business plan. They may have driven away some customers, but they also probably gained some. In the end, it most likely is a wash.
 
cencal83406 said:
Hmmm.... I've been passriding on Delta since 2008 and have yet to see ice cream offered in First or Coach on a transcon. International - only to First/Business Class.
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Its really strange. On the ground I never want ice cream. Just not something I seek out. But when they roll that cart through the aisles on an international flight...oh hells yes!
 
Seggy said:
The loyal customers to AirTran that have fled to Delta could be offset by the loyal Southwest customers who flock in droves to Southwest.
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Except that they haven't been. Read any of a half dozen articles written in the AJC since SWA came to town. Load factors are disappointing, departures are way down, the "Southwest effect" didn't materialize, and passengers are flocking back to Delta.
 
Acrofox said:
Complex but profound philosophical disagreement in flight control methodologies and the role of the flight crew,
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I went from a conventional yoke RJ to a side stick flight control law Airbus and I like it. As a pilot with an Aerospace engineering background, I understand the Airbus philosophy and have a respect for it. I'm not sure what you mean by role of the flight crew, but my role hasn't changed much from a conventional yoke to a side stick Airbus.

along with a nationalistic preference for a (theoretically) predominately-American-built airplane,
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Starting in 2016/17 most Airbus deliveries in the United States will be Airbuses (Airbii?) built in the new Mobile, Alabama plant. American workers in Alabama with American jobs with Airbus.

along with my antipathy to other attitudes displayed by the manufacturer after AA587, AF447 et al., which contrast strongly with the attitudes displayed by Boeing after incidents such as OZ214.
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Airbus got a bad rap for AA587 whereas I believe the NTSB probably cause was dead accurate. You never see other A300s falling out of the sky because of their rudder and tail lugnut attachment design. The FO had a history of over reacting to wake turbulence, along with a complete misunderstanding of energy management as evidenced on the CVR and FDR. I will give you AF447, but in all fairness the stall horn and aural warning was going off dozens of times. And remember, a BirgenAir 757 crahsed into the Ocean for a CA stalling the aircraft after only the CA pitot tube became blocked. Even a conventional yoke, stick shaker, and CA pulling back on yoke was not enough for the FO to correct on that 757 and it stalled and crashed just like AF447.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I disagree. I see it as an extension of their brand and one more reason why they are not an eligible merger partner for anyone. Not just ice cream but locally sourced organic ice cream. The affluent gen-Xers who fly jetBlue and will buy Mint do so not only because they like the product, but because it's "hip" to buy the product. Assimilating that product into a tired old brand won't automatically reap that market share - if they gain any it will be begrudgingly.
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Locally sourced ice cream, affluent gen-Xers, like the product, "hip"...... all define Virgin America. And jetBlue of course, which was suppose to be the original Virgin USA when the idea of a NewAir first came out. IMO the DOT is done allowing the three large legacies from buying/merging with more airlines. I think the next round will be the LCC/Major level and my bets are on Virgin/jetblue and Spirit/Frontier in the next 5 to 10 years.

Seggy said:
My concern is that a foreign airline uses JetBlue to 'test' the foreign ownership laws here (again) in the United States.
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Hmmm. What Branson didn't get with NewAir in the late 90s maybe he will be the partial foreign airline owner of jetBlue, merge it with Virgin America and call it virgin Blue. Branson's dream from the 90s would finally come true. :D
 
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Merger rumors abound on the B6 side of things.... in no particular order they are: (And this is all rumor, conjecture, and just plain black helicopter WAG stuff - but if any of it is true, you heard it here first!)

1.) jetBlue + Virgin America

The Gossip: Our 'soon to be new CEO' (if you believe those rumors) seems to favor the marrying of the west coast presence of VA and B6. It is a 'fit' culture-wise, whatever that means.

The Naysayers: If B6 wanted those markets/routes, they could just 'take' them. The planes don't match up engine-wise.

2.) jetBlue + Alaska

The Gossip: The perfect merger of east and west, and size. A carrier that can take on Mama-D now that the cozy partnership seems to be going by the wayside.

The Naysayers: Politics - Uncle Chuck and the New York liberals don't get along with the polar circle collective. Different fleet types. Culture differences, business model diferences.

3.) jetBlue + Alaska + Hawiian

The Gossip: If you think that B6 and Alaska would make a carrier... East, plus West, plus Far-east and the islands would make a MEGA CARRIER that could take on the legacies! (and still not bother to fly to any of those 'flyover' towns between LAX and JFK)

The Naysayers: Politics, politics, and more politics. Plus, why would the B6 BOD give up their ATM.

4.) jetBlue + Lufthansa

The Gossip: They owned a big chunk of us before, why not again.

The Naysayers: That's just plain crazy!

5.) jetBlue + Azul

The Gossip: Neeleman is back, Baby! He want's his airline back.

6.) jetBlue + Lufthansa + Azul

The Gossip: All of the crazy from 4 and 5 rolled into one.

7.) jetBlue + United

The Gossip: DOT would approve because it's not EWR, it's more of a presence in JFK.

The Naysayers: DOT wouldn't approve because New York/Newark metro lift is one big pot in their eyes.

8.) jetBlue + Southwest

The Gossip: AirTran was a mess and they wish they bought B6. It's still a good fit culture-wise. They want that instant entry into JFK and the island flying. No route overlap.

The Naysayers: Fleet types, man. Never gonna' happen, dude.


As for me, all I want in a merger is a big west coast base (LAX) where I live in that grows to the point that I won't see Haley's Comet before I see the left seat in that base. Or, at least one that I can commute to that is 'commutable' and I can fly decent trips. (Or, really, I'm happy to be stapled/sit right seat forever/whatever as long as I can make the $$$$$$$, have decent insurance and retirement, and have the same QOL here on the left-coast and drive to work. This is the first time in my career that I've been able to drive to work and let me say, it's addictive.)

Discuss.
 
Oh damn. That's a whole-new-thread level post.

That being said, I like the Alaska-Hawaii-JetBlue concept. Of those options, the only one that I would freak out about is Southwest. I have no interest in their business model, and they completely screwed ATA and AirTran. We would be no different.

What would we gain from Virgin? That wouldn't really make us big enough to truly compete, but it would give us a big-ass lead weight around our ankles.
 
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