Final words on my first JetBlue trip

The flight was delayed for another two hours on the way back home. May be it's the de-icing crew to blame, but JetBlue has a problem if this becomes a norm for all its flights out of JFK, which is their main hub. One of the main reasons for the mess over the past two weeks is that their crew and pilots had been stuck in JFK so planes in other airports had to stay grounded.

Besides, Direct TV stopped working after 15 minutes on the plane. The XM satellite radio works though along with the FOX in-flight TV shows.

In the end, transportation is all about on time. No matter how comfortable and convenient you are in an airport or on a plane, ultimately my choice of air travel will be whether I can get from point A to B in a controllable time frame.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), JetBlue flights sits in the bottom half for on time arrivals, while Southwest ranks the highest among large airlines. Not surprisingly, Southwest also ranks the top at profit margins. Its east coast hub, BWI, is one of the top airports that has the best on time arrival record as well.

The love Hate affair with JetBlue

This is the first time ever I fly with JetBlue. Heard it many times, but it's the first time on it.

Let's start what I hate:
The delays at JFK is horrible. If they really care about their customers as they claimed, or they simply just want to survive the brutal post 911 airline market, they got to get out of JFK. The volume of the airport that causes constant delays is killing them. My flight to JFK was delayed for more than 2 hours and the return flight is at least 1 hour late at this time (I'm writing this piece inside JFK thanks to this delay).

One other thing is how they designed their JFK terminal 6. The walkway to the airtrain station and short term parking lot has only entrance/exit outside the terminal building! what do they think this is? With subfreezing temperature and heavy snow in Big Apple, it doesn't take a geniuous to make everything inside the building, as much as possible.

Beside that, I love almost everything they do. This includes in-flight movies/tv shows (that's probably why their customers could stay more than 9 hours on the stranded plane last week). On top of that, they have put free wireless Internet in the terminal and many power outlets for peope to use their laptop.

Anyway, it's a tough call. Depends on who they want to target, this may make business sanse, who knows?

Web 2.0 under 5 minutes

Got this brilliant video from YanFeng's laser blog. It's created by Michael Wesch from Kansas State.

Google patent

It's almost natural for Google to have this search function. Google must have agreements with USPTO so they cna download all existing patent data and distribute. After all, it will reduce the server load at USPTO to zero (may be, but very likely), and the data should be, in principle, free to the public. Just curious what the deal is.

In the mean time, I still think the advanced search at USPTO is better and InnoVue is the best software to download them. However, their days are numbered.