The Jet Blue Way

Jet Blue HQ

This past weekend, I flew cross-country on a red-eye, spent the better part of a day getting a venue to its proper state, and was genuinely touched by my community. In some respects, it was an ordinary experience, because I've done all of these things before. In other ways, it made me feel validated that the project that I've taken on is on the side of the angels... because it feels like more of the same.

Let's get into it chronologically. I've never flown JetBlue before because it just hasn't been an option from a logistics or expense standpoint. This time around, the overnight flight from Oakland was in the market on the budget, the pre-dawn arrival at JFK was OK from a pickup standpoint since my ride out was too early for morning rush hour traffic, and my late August flight dates didn't put me into holiday surge pricing.

There's nothing *particularly* magical about JetBlue, and I'm not sure it's a better experience than Virgin (now Alaska)... but it's close. The wifi works and it's free, the leg room is just better than others, the flight attendants don't seem beaten down by the gig, and the whole experience just seems a little better. Not so much in ways that are going to make me pay more all the time, and I still wish that they had more mid-Atlantic ports of call because JFK is just not a great place for me. But they are preferred now, and I wasn't sure that there was enough of a difference in airlines to bother with before. (Frontier and Spirit, on the other hand, seem like they are actively trying to punish you for saving money.)

I flew back to New Jersey this weekend to run a poker game for my regulars, then conduct a fantasy football draft. The poker game has been going on since I left for the Bay Area in May, with the regulars keeping the flame alive... but the guys just don't have my same attention to detail and fiddly personality, so the venue just wasn't as clean as it should be, the snacks just weren't up to the same level, the vinyl records weren't spinning, and so on, and so on. There's no specific single thing that I do that makes people more into the game, but the cumulative impact of all of the little extras just gives the players more of a premium feel and helps them get more enthusiasm for the game. They reciprocated with an unprecedented expression of generosity, and I honestly teared up a little when I told my wife about it the next morning. It's not just nice to be appreciated for what you do. It's life-affirming.

Finally, Saturday was the fantasy football auction, which was more involved than past years given the depth of the draft, and another moment where my community picked me up when my own performance was lacking. I got the number of bench slots wrong on the prep materials, a basic oversight that I've never made before, and a mistake that could have had a real impact on the outcome for the players involved... but everyone just rolled with the mistake and picked me up. I have a history with both of these groups, and I know that I've given them value over the years. We retain our players in both the poker and fantasy leagues. Jet Blue retains their customers. The word of mouth from people who play in my leagues, or my poker game, draw new players because people like to tell the story of good service. (Not as much as they do bad service, but there's nothing you can do about that.) The same goes for Jet Blue.

There's always the temptation, especially when you can put dollars to decisions through data, to cut corners. Jet Blue probably loses a few fares every flight for the leg room decision and puts themselves at risk of not seeming as serious about making a profit as their competitors. I put myself at a little more financial risk, especially if my players don't tip at the poker game, or make my role difficult as a fantasy league commissioner. I also could have turned the time that I spent working on the venue into cash, or just not flown back for the events in the first place. There's also the love and tolerance shown by my family, who don't see me very often during this period and then shared my time and attention with my friends this weekend.

As a consultant and a marketing and advertising pro, I've known for a long time that you make your own luck.

To me, the best way to do that is to make your clients love your service.

Besides, you feel better about yourself that way.

And it seems to be working for Jet Blue, now in its 20th year of operation...

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