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yet another Microsoft blogger

# Sunday, September 23, 2007

Flying with a Baby is better on JetBlue

"Look I'm Flying!" Flying with a Baby is pretty stressful. However, I have now flown on 3 different airlines with Sarah, and have learned a lot. The first thing I learned was to get Sarah her own seat, put the car seat in it and strap her in. She is a wiggler, and won't sleep or sit still on a plane without a car seat. Of course you should see what I look like coming down the aisle with a car seat, her two carry on bags (she has more carry on luggage than we do), and my teeny tiny bag with the absolute bare essentials in technology (iPod, book, headphones, camera). I learned quickly that taking a laptop with me anywhere with our baby is pointless... you see, 1) I never have time to use it, 2) it's big and heavy, 3) Security in this country is the biggest pain in the ass joke I have ever seen... Take off your shoes, take out your laptop, take out all the fluids and crap, take off baby shoes and on and on. It's hard enough by yourself, but with a family... I'm sure I'd forget my laptop lying there on the belt cause I'm so dammed overwhelmed with 800 things to do.

Anyway I digress....

So far I have flown:

  1. American Airlines
  2. Continental
  3. Jet Blue

And I have to say, Jet Blue is the absolute best experience when flying with a baby. Why? Oh, let me count the ways:

  1. Take off from the SFO International Terminal, which is quite possibly the nicest airport terminal in the world.
  2. Family Boards first (not many airlines still do this). Since it takes me like 10 minutes to collect myself, get on the plane, gate check the stroller, get to the seat, put the car seat in there etc I need every minute I can get and the last thing I want is a line of angry passengers looking at me like they want to kill me.
  3. 34 inches of seat pitch in the back, and 36 inches of seat pitch in the front (all coach). In fact, the coach legroom is on par or better than first class on Alaska Airlines. When you have a kid in a car seat, and tons of crap (and you are 6 foot 3) then this matter a lot. You don't even realize how much it matters till you fly on Continental and your plane has an astonishing 30 inches of seat pitch (the average in the US is 31).
  4. Direct TV with 36 channels. When you only have 30 minutes here and there it's great to pass time with some mind numbing television while baby is sleeping.
  5. XM Radio, not necessary with an iPod but nice to have.
  6. Good all you can eat FREE snacks and drinks.
  7. No stupid carts going up and down the aisle blocking you from getting to the bathroom to change a diaper.
  8. Changing tables in every bathroom
  9. Nice new clean planes
  10. Friendly staff

Seriously, about the only thing that sucks about Jet Blue is getting to the plane. That airline rocks.

 

Monday, September 24, 2007 5:56:08 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I flew JetBlue last week and it really rocks. But from what i read the absolute best flying experience nowadays is with Virgin.
Monday, September 24, 2007 6:17:17 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
Interesting comment on the family pre-board. I fly NWA constantly & have noticed (though I have no kids) that it seems to be an airline policy still, but is inconstantly applied by the gate staff.

Of course, this is also true of their elite pre-board (though to a lesser degree), which *is* of interest to me since I'm a mega-platinum whatever.
Monday, September 24, 2007 8:51:49 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
My college roomate just started working with Virgin America this week and he has nothing but great things to say. You know that if the Pilots are happy, the passengers will probably be happy as well.

I really look forward to fluing Virgin.
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