Life at Jet Blue

[stator vane]

anyone out there able and willing to tell me a bit about life/work at JetBlue in NYC?

thanks

[EGCC4284]

I think they have a webiste

www.jetblue.com (http://www.jetblue.com) I think

A lot of a320's

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A BIT EXTRA FOR MUM.

[Roc]

How are they doing? lately alot of these start-ups are hitting hard times, one day they are painting a rosey picture the next its Ch 11 Anybody know?

[Anon-x]

JetBlue are doing great. A very professional friendly run company based at JFK. Take a look at their website. They have just taken delivery of their 11th Aircraft this week.

[Roadtrip]

Jet Blue start up plan was very well thought out and executed. They also have a great deal of money in the bank to tide them through the high cost startup years.

[Phil Squares]

Taking delivery of 11th A-320. 10 more scheduled for this year and then 10 a year until the fleet reaches 82. The CEO gave a speech to the financial community and made references to another large (2.5Billion$) order from Airbus.
Upgrade is taking less than a year.

[stator vane]

i knew they had a web site and flew airbuses, just wanting to hear from pilots there.
they tell me at least a year for upgrade.
is that what they tell the pilots and if they have the hours and can fly the airbus, they do it earlier? on the phone she said, a year minimum. i have 12,000+ but mostly on B737.

any ideas on the next base they may have?

are the cabin crew fun to fly with? are the overnights good, or min rests.

etc. normal questions any pilot would like to know before going there.



[This message has been edited by stator vane (edited 10 February 2001).]

[Phil Squares]

OK, here's a little more.
Right now upgrade is taking less than a year. It is done in seniority order and everyone is very happy about that. (My background has been 14+ years in the orient on 747/747-400) But for me the choice has been worth it. Normal schedule gives you about 14-16 days off per month. Guarantee is 70 hours with all time above 70 hours at 150%. Good medical, dental and vision. Passes from day one, 8 "buddy" passes per year. More and more interline agreements, there seems to be quite a few for European carriers, BA, Virgin et. al. Only base currently is JFK, however, FLL, TPA and MCO are being looked at for a MX and crew base. No "minimum rest" layovers. Most are 15-18 hours. The company is currently in the process of upgrading hotels to "Embassy Suites". $1.90 per diem. 1st year F/0 is 43/hour Capt is 78. We use a pref bidding system with the schedule set at 81-91 hours but lots of open time to play with. Reserve is usually less than a month, although it depends on when you're done with IOE.
Plan on one more class in Feb, none in Mar, then one per month starting in April. Class size will range from 14-24 depending on aircraft delivery. 2 320s arriving in April and then one every 5 weeks. SEA, SAN, SYR will be the next cities announced with service planned for DEN, PDX, BOS, MSY, ORF, DCA.

[stator vane]

Thanks Phil.

how did you find the transition from Boeing to the airbus. was the training good and do they allow for and boeing handicapped relapses?

do you use a crash pad system in new york and is that okay with transportation to and fro to office or airport?

anything you wish you had known before coming there? i am on the list for april 23.

thanks again.

[FatEric]

all sounds pretty rosey at Jetblue.
There must be some drawbacks though. Any.

[stator vane]

well, they do use airbuses. that's drawback number one!

they are new airline, and new airlines don't have a good track record in America.

but they do have some southwest management i hear, so that is a good.

still would like to hear from a pilot who flies there about the "flavor" of the whole package.

[Phil Squares]

Don't know what else I can say about jetBlue. After being on Boeings for most of my adult life, I do say the 320 is very nice. The FMGS is a bit of a step backwards, but that is apparently being corrected in the next 18 months or so.

Drawbacks? Not many, I suppose the biggest is being a startup. But the management here has a proven track record. Pay could always be better, but for a start up is is very good, not up to UAL but not far away from SWA.

[LAVDUMPER]

This very interesting and relevant Jetblue synopsis is courtesy of Shanwick Shanwick over in the BizJet forum:

Jet Blue is a domestic airline based at JFK airport, New York. Currently they operate 11 A320 series aircraft with another 81 on order. They have been operating for just over a year.

From the start of operations, Jet Blue adopted a completely new and revolutionary method of operation. This highly original approach to the problems and execution of day-to-day flight operations makes the maximum use of “new technology” and minimum use [although not the elimination] of paper. It is corporate philosophy that prevails from the very top to the shop floor of the company including rostering/crewing, e-ticketing and maintenance.

First Impressions

Jet Blue is a highly professional, efficient, friendly and informal organisation. The offices are modern, clean, bright and tidy; the absence of piles of paper is most evident. To illustrate the informal ethic everyone wears a nametag with his or her Christian name in large bold type: the surname is barely readable. The personal issue laptops are partitioned to give space for the pilot’s own stuff and personalised set-ups are allowed; one pilot had a cartoon dog chasing his mouse pointer around the screen, another an Incredible Hulk screen saver. How would you personalise yours?

Rostering/Bidding/Crewing

The rostering/bidding system [supplied by US based NOVA] is available to the crew via the Internet. They can bid for trips/days off from home, on the road or from crew check-in using their personal laptop. They can also view a “master roster” displayed as a PDF file on the Internet.

Crewing functions, such as trip swaps, are not yet available on the Internet, although they have a working version soon to be activated. At present they use a sophisticated voicemail system that uses voice recognition for identification instead of PIN numbers.

Performance Planning

On each laptop is a copy of the performance program. This is easy to use and very sophisticated. It calculates take-off and landing performance figures based on pilot input [the Jet Blue SOP is for the F/O to do this and then for the data to be checked by the Captain] taking into account weather, windshear, runway surface condition, aircraft load and any MEL or CDL requirements. Once common data had been input it took just a few seconds to calculate all V speeds and flex/de-rates for ALL runways and intersections at JFK. It also provides a gross error check of fuel uplift, warns of illegal combinations from the MEL/CDL and works out C of G and other weight and balance problems. This system is as idiot proof as can be imagined, fully certified and not open to the errors sometimes encountered when interpolating. In real world operations it is often convenient for us to work out performance based on the worst case to cater for sudden requests from ATC to accept an intersection take-off or shorter runway. A genuine advantage with the Jet Blue system is that the program holds all the figures for all the approved runways and can be accessed in seconds ensuring that the most effective de-rate and V speeds are always employed. All calculations are saved to disk and downloaded back to the company next time the laptop is docked.

Flight Operations

I occupied a jump seat on a JFK – Burlington – JFK roundtrip. The only time I witnessed the Captain with a pen in his hand was when he signed the tech-log: Jet Blue are working on making this electronic too. I don’t think the F/O even had a pen! The only paper on the flight deck comprised of the refuelling chit, ACARS printout and the Jepps plates [again, they are working on producing the plates in an electronic format subject to FAA approval]. All the ACARS paper goes in the bin to be recycled once it has been read.

The planning and flight can be summarised as follows.

When the crew check-in they plug in or “dock” their laptops. This action, following a short login sequence, updates all the company manuals, delivers the days flight plans, weather [including satellite images] and NOTAMS. It also copies to them all company e-mail and uploads previously stored performance information back to the company. Crew notices arrive as an e-mail which they read and then reply to as a method of acknowledging receipt. The Jet Blue system architecture allows these actions to be performed at any outstation. The entire process takes a few minutes. The crew then go to the aircraft.

When they enter the flight deck a fairly lengthy ACARS print awaits them. This is essentially a copy of the plan, weather and NOTAMS already in their laptop plus load sheet data, special airport requirements, drift down info, ATIS, a crew list and any other free hand notes. From this printout the Captain types in the route and the F/O does the performance calculations. The whole thing takes a few minutes. The F/O does the walk-round and the Captain signs the tech log. Briefing is done in the normal way and they are ready to go.

Timings for off blocks, take-off, landing and on blocks, plus in-flight reports are all transmitted back to the company automatically by ACARS.

Jet Blue work to a 30 min turnaround. On the ground at Burlington the ACARS sent a complete record of the flight back to the company for filing and then delivered details of the next sector. The Captain typed this in and signed the tech log. The F/O completed the performance calculations, did the walk round and briefed the sector. All pre-flight actions were completed in less than 10 minutes.

Of note is that none of the aircraft carry any books. The library is carried on the pilot’s laptop and [provided they dock it at check-in] all the manuals are entirely up-to-date. Both pilots carry every single company manual, not just the 3 or 4 that we are issued with.

The entire operation was very efficient and stress free.

Conclusion

Jet Blue has a first-class and robust system built from the ground up to make the most of electronic communication technologies. The advantages over a paper-based system are obvious and compelling.

[stator vane]

any info about the crash pad's in use in the new york area?

i have an april 23 class date, and am confident that i will pass, so am so far ahead of the airplane that i was just interested in some nuts and bolts about the way that other pilots are dealing with the task of living in the area, especially since the FO pay could rule out an apartment on the solo and i have no idea what the going rate of apartments in that area are, and buses, or car pools etc.

if you wish go on company frequency my email is [email protected] please don't send me a picture of any tennis players please!

thanks for your assistance

[Roadtrip]

SV -
Decent crashpads are moderately difficult to find. The best source are recommendations from colleages at your airline. Usually there is a big bulletin board in ops that has crashpad possibilities listed. Quality can vary from OK, to very bad. I would recommend that you do NOT get into a crashpad with flight attendants - only other pilots. There are numerous crashpads in Queens (Kew Gardens area) just north of JFK and Long Beach area, out Long Island a ways. Crashpads in Queens are good because the bus system is very good - about $1.50 a ride in peak hours, $1.00 off peak. If you have to take a taxi, it's about $12. The going rate for your own bed is about $235/month. Usually there are about 3-5 per room. Since everyone's on different schedules, you'll probably be more lonely than crowded.

Recommend you stop by ops, check out the bulletin boards, and ask around to your company pilots.

Good luck. You'll love NY . . . NOT!

[boxmover]

Roadtrip

Whats the prob with the FAs. Why not share?

[Roadtrip]

I've never shared a crashpad with FA's, but those who have told me "don't do it." On subjects I have little experience on, I tend to heed advice pretty well. The obvious facts are that, if you are married, you're wife may not be fully understanding of sharing close living quarters with female flight attendants. Besides the female FAs probably don't want you around either. In the case of male flight attendants, it's obvious why you might not feel comfortable. BTW, most female pilots get together in their own crashpads and don't share with males. Crashpad life sucks, so don't make it harder than it has to be.

[Phil Squares]

There is always the hotel option. The two that I know of are the Five Towns and the Sunrise. Will pick you up at JFK, Sunrise will pick you up at LGA. Both provide continental breakfast. I think the Pan American is still in business, but that's closer to LGA.