Low-cost carrier tops Airline Quality Ratings

When JetBlue started flying five years ago, skeptics said CEO David Neeleman`s New York-based discount airline was likely to fail. But JetBlue, which turned 5 in February, is thriving.

Low fares, good customer service and seat-back satellite television have made the airline a favorite of travelers. For the second consecutive year, JetBlue this week topped the Airline Quality Ratings issued jointly by the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Wichita State University. And the carrier finished atop the recently released J.D. Power rankings of consumer satisfaction.

Based at John F. Kennedy airport, the rapidly growing airline operates nearly 300 daily flights to 29 destinations, including Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Bahamas. JetBlue flies mostly across the country or from the Northeast to Florida. Later this year, JetBlue will begin adding 100-seat Brazilian-made Embraer 190s to its fleet of European-made Airbus A320s.

USATODAY.com reporter Ben Mutzabaugh recently sat down with Neeleman.

Q: What are major carriers doing wrong that they don`t do better in consumer-satisfaction ratings?

A: It`s more, “What are we doing right?” We`ve just kind of rethought the whole system and said, “Let`s treat our customers like customers. Let`s not treat them like they`re trying to game the system or try and make rules to stop them.” If you keep trying to beat down your customers, they eventually just feel like they`re not appreciated.

Q: You have 100 new Embraer 190 jets on order. How will taking delivery change JetBlue?

A: We`re going to grow a lot quicker. We`ll be able to go to these small and medium-sized markets that have only dreamed of having these low fares. Now they will be able to have the JetBlue experience.

Q: Where will JetBlue fly next?

A: I think there are a few hints. Obviously, primarily today we`re a Northeast-to-Florida and a transcontinental business. There`s a lot of room in between here (New York) and Florida and here and the West Coast. The mid-Atlantic region and the Midwest and, I think, the Southwest.

Q: So, you`re talking within those regions?

A: Not within — to those regions.

Q: Do Canada and Mexico fit into your expansion plans?

A: We`re primarily a domestic carrier, but we`ll certainly look at opportunities in both Canada and Mexico.

Q: Europe? New York-to-London?

A: Just North America.

Q: With the Embraer 190s coming, is JetBlue likely to consider another hub?

A: We`re not a hub-and-spoke airline. But we have Boston, and we can add a lot of capacity up there. We can add a lot more here (at JFK). We also have (Washington) Dulles, so we have a lot of options for those airplanes. The Embraer can do a lot of things. It`s a very versatile airplane. It can go short; it can go long. It can do all kinds of things.

Q: Tell me about the new Embraer 190s. JetBlue will be the first airline to fly them. What would you say to customers who have complained that previous regional jets tend to be small and cramped?

A: They`re not a regional jet, basically. Airbus came out with a seat that was an inch wider than a Boeing seat. And Embraer looked at the Airbus seat and said, “Let`s go an inch wider.” And they have ample legroom, ample space for your bags overhead so you can bring your bags in the airplane. And they even put in an inch-wider aisle. So this airplane is very comfortable — and there`s no middle seat. There may even be some people who would prefer a 190 over a 320. The seating space is about the same, and you still have live TV and XM radio.

Q: What`s the one innovative thing that one of your rivals has done that`s made you think, “I wish we would`ve thought of that first”?

A: This whole notion of selling food on planes. The whole food issue — we`re studying that and what we want to do. With Delta now pulling back and saying they`re not going to sell it anymore because they can`t get it right, that certainly gives us pause.

Q: What should we expect JetBlue to look like five years from now?

A: We`re going to be a lot bigger than we are today, obviously. We`ve got a lot of planes coming. We`re going to continue to push the envelope on technology and figure out what customers want. We`re not sure if the whole Internet thing on the airplane works, but there are other things with wireless devices that you can do that may be interesting. You may be able to communicate phone-to-plane. We`re looking into that through our LiveTV subsidiary.

Q: People seem to talk about flying JetBlue as an “experience.” Is that something you tried to create?

A: We did. Flying`s a pain. It didn`t used to be that way. You actually looked forward to the journey.

Now, flying`s a means to an end. and it`s not enjoyable. We thought if we could just make that journey something — maybe you didn`t look forward to it, but you didn`t dread it — then you would go more often. And you would go with us more often. That`s how you build a business. I think that`s kind of the premise we started out with, and so far — knock on wood — it`s working out for us.