JetBlue offers low airfare to over 100 destinations including many areas around the United States, Caribbean, and other regions. They have a reputation as being an affordable airline and apparently according to a recently released Wall Street Journal ranking they have also dropped down the list for preferable airlines.
According to that recently released ranking list it appears JetBlue is on the lowest spot for rankings with U.S. airlines.
Some of those airlines that do have a negative reputation are those which have come under scrutiny for how they treat passengers. We have seen videos of customers being pulled off of planes etc, and that doesn't help to generate a positive look for the airline. There are countless videos to be found online of situations happening mid-flight, unruly passengers, and issues with flight staff too. But this sort of information isn't what is making up these rankings.
There is no shortage of airline meltdowns that have taken place around the world. It is those airlines which are frequently mentioned in those negative publicity situations that you might think would earn the lowest reputation for an airline but there are other reasons why some airlines have declined in preference with Americans today.
JetBlue isn't immune to having flights cancelled or travelers unexpectedly delayed. Is any airline? But COVID-19 certainly hasn't helped things with the staffing issues and cancelled flights as a result.
Just in Jan alone it's estimated that JetBlue cancelled some 1,300 flights because of Omicron difficulties.
The recent list placing JetBlue at the bottom is one for airlines that determines those favorites for the recent rankings based on several factors.
To arrive at what airlines might be preferred the data used to calculate the list includes info on time arrivals, cancelled flights, delays, tarmac waits that are longer than 2 hours, baggage that goes missing or is mishandled etc, complaints from customers, and info on passengers being bumped from flights. They use data from the US Department of Transportation and an aviation analysis firm to determine the list.
Delays have been hurting JetBlue as they were seen to have the worst delays at the highest rate, as well as having passengers wait on the tarmac for at least 2 hours as well. Even though they didn't rank well on everything there were some areas that they did see more positive results for JetBlue like with cancellations.
In 2020 it looks like JetBlue helped to carry over 14 million passengers to their destinations. Competitors like American Airlines saw over 95 million in 2020 and United Airlines which saw 37.5 million passengers.