Pay-per-Click Observer

Hey, I have a new forum in which to rant. Why not? It’s relevant to PPC in that I had to travel to New York to meet with a bunch of clients, and I decided to try out JetBlue. You might read this should you be considering business travel with that particular bunch.

My first flight on JetBlue from Portland to JFK went swimmingly. The TV was nice since I couldn’t sleep on the red-eye. They got me there. They didn’t crash. All the things I appreciate in an airline.

And then, things got interesting. My flight home was scheduled Thursday evening. At the hotel, I checked in on their Web site before I left. No problems. I printed my boarding pass and went out to catch a ($45+tip) cab to JFK. On the way, my cell phone rang, and I answered. Nothing. Then again, and again… Still nothing. More on this later.

I got to the airport, and it was packed. A quick check, and I realized that I’d forgotten my boarding pass at the hotel. No problem; they have these snazzy kiosks, too. So, I went to a kiosk, and entered my confirmation number. Again, no problem. I printed another boarding pass.

I started walking to the gate on the boarding pass, and just out of curiosity, I stopped at the departures board. Flight 165 to Portland: Canceled. But, but… I checked! I just printed a boarding pass 3 minutes ago! There’s a JetBlue person standing in the hall with a clipboard. Hey, what’s up with flight 165? Oh, yeah, uh, it’s canceled because it rained yesterday. What do I do? Well, you can call our 800 number. The end. He walks abruptly away.

By now, the line in front of JetBlue is hours long. So, instead, I decide to catch a cab back to Manhattan (another $50+). Now, I needed to find a place to go. After a bunch of calling around, I decide to go hang out at a friend’s place– assuming I’d be on a later flight.

Long story short, hours of phone calls later (on hold, mostly) JetBlue informs me that the next flight that they can put me on is on Monday. Monday is four days later. Not a single “let us put you up in a hotel,” “let us try another airline,” or even “let us get you a burger.” Nothing. Four days in Manhattan on my dime. Returned calls are met with JetBlue’s “sorry, we can’t take your call, call back later” message.

I spent the rest of that day trying to find some way to get back to PDX without dishing out $2500 for a last minute ticket. Ultimately, I convinced JetBlue to fly me to Oakland two days later, and I arranged my own flight back to Portland with Alaska (I love them.) Hours later that evening, I get that mysterious phone call again, only this time there’s a recording: ‘Your flight’s been canceled.’ Really. Thanks for the heads up.

Now, more than a week later, I just received an email from their “Customer Commitment” team.

“Our records indicate your flight did not qualify for compensation. Our Compensation Team carefully reviews every aspect of our Bill of Rights before making that determination. Even though we cannot provide you with all of those details, we want you to know that we cannot reverse that decision.”

Nice, huh? Oh, I should mention that they offered me a $100 voucher on JetBlue. So, that’s great.

It amazes me that such self-destructive business decisions take place every day. I didn’t do anything to bring this on myself. I flew JetBlue because they had a non-stop flight to JFK. They took it upon themselves to strand me there. Is it unreasonable for me to expect them to try to get me on another flight? Is it unreasonable of me to expect them to at the very least put me up over the time I’m stranded? Apparently it is.

If you’re going to travel to visit clients (see how this is relevant to PPC?), be sure that you do so with an airline that will dependably get you there and back when they say they will. Otherwise, you’ll find, as I did, that no number of satellite radio channels will make you feel better.