Something is a little different here. My wife and daughter were suppose to fly out of NY, to Columbus OH today. My daughter had a gymnastics competition out there. last night the Jet Blue website said the flight was ontime. They had a 830am flighter and left home before 5am. She heard on the radio that Jet Blue was still having issues with some flights....so i checked the website this morning and it said their flight was now cancelled. So she decided to contiune on to the airport to see if things would change or if they would somehow find an alternative option for it's customers. When she arrived at JFK airport...the monitors said the flight was departing ontime. so she rushed to the terminal, but when she arrived their were still tons of people there. Despite what the monitors were saying..the flight was indeed cancelled. My wife said there were some families that have been there for 3 - 4 days already. So at this point, Jet Blue was trying to find private bus companies to take the customers to their destination. Now here is the crazy part....the Jet Blue people never said what was going on and all flights were not cancelled. Just flights to: Richmond, VA; Pittsburgh, PA; Raleigh/Durham, NC; Austin, TX, Bermuda, Columbus, OH; Nashville, TN and Portland, ME. When I explained this to a cousin that owns a vacation store, he said it sounds like something more than the weather issue. He is not certain, but said that Jet Blue uses a certain plane to those destination and there has been recent issues with these very planes. So he is waiting to hear what Jet Blue comes out with as an explanation. He is thinking about shorting the stock if he could.......LOLOL Bottom line my wife and daughter missed the gymnastics meet and we will ask for a voucher in addition to a full refund. The following was placed on Jet Blue's website. I heard from friends in NC...and they said there were no issues with snow there. Also, I didn't see anything with snow or ice in Austin, TX and would bet my retirement money that Bermuda is not experiencing any snow issues......hehehehe: RECOMMENDATION: 'SHORT' Jet Blue Operations Update Last Updated: 2/17/2007 9:30:00 AM EST JetBlue continues to experience cancellations and delays as a result of Wednesday's ice storm in the Northeast. Please check the status of your flight online before proceeding to the airport. The airline has canceled all flights to and from the following cities on Saturday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 18: Richmond, VA; Pittsburgh, PA; Raleigh/Durham, NC; Austin, TX, Bermuda, Columbus, OH; Nashville, TN and Portland, ME. In addition, flights to other JetBlue cities may be cancelled, so be sure to check your flight status. If you are booked for travel between Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 and Monday, Feb. 19, 2007 you may cancel your flight and rebook travel between the same city pairs without change fee or fare difference through May 22, 2007. If you would like to rebook for travel between different city pairs, the change fee will be waived but you will be responsible for any difference in fare. To cancel your flight online, please click here. You may also call JetBlue at 800-JETBLUE (800-538-2583) anytime between now and May 22 to rebook. Please be advised that we are currently experiencing extremely high call volumes and may be difficult to get through to a Reservation Agent. If you can, we recommend you wait to until a later date to call and rebook.
Absolute Chaos, took me 3 days to get home from New York. You should be short based on the weekly chart. I would put a stop at $16.00. Interesting that the stock rallied on friday. No options on this so the MM will have to hedge elsewhere. This seems such an obvious short that it may rise; watch out for a head fake rally.
They say their schedule got so messed up, they couldn't match the flightcrews with their planes. If that is any explanation...
yep, ongoing issues with jetblue: JetBlue Passengers Describe Airport Tarmac Ordeal CBS Thursday, February 15, 2007 QUEENS, N.Y. Jet Blue Airlines apologized late Wednesday to dozens of passengers who were kept sitting on planes at New York's JFK International Airport for 10 hours or more without ever taking off, reports Andrew Kirtzman of WCBS-TV, the CBS affiliate in New York. The airline said half of its 550 flights were cancelled because of a winter storm that also caused massive traffic and transit delays throughout the Tri-State area. Ten JetBlue flights, however, were loaded with passengers on board. Some made it to the runways only to run into icing problems that kept them grounded. Some of the planes at the gate became frozen to the ground and passengers weren't able to disembark. One couple told WCBS-TV they thought they were about to honeymoon in Aruba. Others said were dreaming of the sun and warm waters of Cancun. Instead, many described they felt like hostages being held on the tarmac. "We had very limited toilet usage while we were on the plane," said Elizabeth Regale, who logged 10 hours of what she described as hell on a trip to nowhere. "To sit on a plane for that long to be pulled into a gate for nine hours was horrible," said another passenger. Early Thursday morning, the airline's Web site warned that other "flights to and from New York City (JFK, LaGuardia, Stewart and Newark, NJ), Boston, Washington D.C. and Upstate New York (Rochester and Buffalo) may be delayed or canceled." It urged passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to their local airports. JetBlue's apology said anyone stuck on one of its flights for more than three hours Wednesday would receive a full refund and a free roundtrip ticket for a future flight. Some, however, were in no mood to accept that apology. "Disorganized. No one knows anything. It's all chaos," one passenger said. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/150207_b_JetBlue.htm
I said earlier...there is something more here than the ice issues and that it does not snow in Bermuda. I also wondered if there were issues with the planes. But it seems the only thing other than the ice issues... is poor management. For this to drag on for so long makes me wonder how superficial their management resilience is. If this is systemic, you have to start to wonder about training and maintenance throughout the entire company. I understand that Airbus never charged them interest which helped it's bottom line for 5yrs. Hmmm ? Once they realized they screwed up, they still decided to surge rather than consider damage control. They left the passengers on the planes with the crews. If they walked the people off the planes and put the crews in the lounge, they would not have run into as many problems. Worse, they try to make it sound like they are constrained by FAA crew rest requirements. So ......The delays a few days ago were weather related. These current cancellations are due to piss poor management. The fact that JBLU tried to keep flyig a full scehd through presidents day weekend in order to pump up revenues is why they are in this spot. Other airlines have and did pull backed slightly in front of the big storm, so now their planes and crews are where they need them...and they are all still legal to fly. JBLU has to cancel their flights because they dont' know what crews have what hours, and they don't have the infrastructure in place to organize those crews. Not sure how to trade this now.....! ! Therefore, best for me to leave it alone. wondering what the rest of you think.
Analysts still rate this stock as a strong buy. Still one of the better discount airlines out there. Might get into some call options. The stock usually trends up and down between 10 and 16 last two years.