GEM Top Talker: Et Tu, JetBlue? (POLL)

GEM Top Talker:
Et Tu, JetBlue? (POLL)

Okay I have to preface this by saying I get it; as a business woman, I understand business, well, am understanding it better than before. But as a consumer, this news made me a little sad.

JetBlue, the 13-year-old low cost carrier is announcing it will soon offer first class cabin service and I weep.

But like every boyfriend who ever broke up with me (“It’s not you, sweetie; it’s me), this really is my issue and its roots are several years old.

See, back when I had that big TV gig, it was stipulated in our contracts that we all got to fly first class. This was a big, damn deal as first class travel was something I had only recently experienced, well, since I got that big TV gig.

When gig went bye-bye, so did a bunch of the perks that went with it and you guessed it, first class air travel was one of them.

So I started frequenting JetBlue. Now, I had flown them before here and there, mainly with the kids. Soon, they became my carrier of choice.

Why?

The leather seats, the TV screens, the smiling flight attendants, sure that was all part of it, but there was something else.

It wasn’t a low cost carrier.. it was an all-inclusive carrier.

Everyone who has ever shuffled by the fortunate crowd stretched out in first class (glancing up at you only to make sure you don’t hit them in the noggin with your carry-on), knows what I’m talking about.

On JetBlue we weren’t all coach; we were all first class.

And now that’s changing sometime early next year.

Like I said, I get it; market conditions in an industry that’s bleeding money necessitate change, but even JetBlue’s vice-president of network planning acknowledges it’s a huge shift in their culture.

But still it makes me a little sad.

Okay that’s my take; what’s yours? Take the poll, then leave a comment!

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