Interesting JBLU review...

[SeaSlam]

http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2003/commentary030620wt.htm?source=mppromo

 

[colorado418]

Great Article.

Thanks for the post!!!

 

[skirt]

*****Excerpted from article:

Having studied JetBlue carefully and flown it roughly two dozen times, I'm convinced that it is not only the greatest airline I've ever encountered, but one of the finest businesses in the world. Seriously. Not in the sense that its margins or competitive advantages can rival those of, say, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) or Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), but rather that its strategy, execution, culture, customer service, and success relative to its industry are among the most impressive I've ever seen.

Thus, I think every entrepreneur, businessperson, and investor should study JetBlue carefully because it is a fascinating, illuminating case study in ways that_I will highlight in this and subsequent columns.

*******End of excerpt

I started looking at JB in March (wish it had been sooner) for both an investment and airline career change, for precisely the reasons listed above. I dug very hard into the background of the airline and leadership, and even checked in with a few big name business school professors who HAVE done case studies already on JB. Sure there are naysayers out there, but not a single naysayer amongst those who have really done the research. Those who really know businesses are starting to say the same thing as is quoted above. From a fundamental and technical perspective JB is a good bet, for both an investment and a career.

I put a bunch of faith into the airline May 1, after "sampling the product" that week. I invested a good portion of my 401K in their stock. For reference, it was $27 on May 1 and it is now $40. Sure beats what happened to my United ESOP stock. I would bet on the JB leadership, long before I would bet on the United leadership. In fact, I am willing to bet that in 10 years JB will be thriving and UAL will be a shadow of itself....oh wait a minute, that has already happened!

Skirt

 

[race#53]

Skirt;
Reminds me of when people asked how my Co was doing i would tell them i was making 5 million dollars a day more than UAL.
Your comparison of JB to UAL is about the same.
Ask yourself why JB costs are lower and remember all the startups that are long gone.
No one that got on at UAL was unhappy when they got hired and the ESOP was great for a long time.... things change.
See me in 30 years when JB has the history of UAL or EAL built by employees that lost a lot.

 

[Ty Webb]

Business professors and stock analysts be d@mned- they make their bets with other people's money.

Venture Capitalists, on the other hand, make their bets with their own money.

What they usually say is "Give me a grade "C" idea but with grade "A" people running it, and I'll put money in it".

Jet Blue has grade "A" management. UAL has grade "D" management. Avolar, the failed USAirways merger, etc., etc., etc. These clowns couldn't make money with a frigging printing press straight from the Treasury.

 

[Skank]

Ty,
I though you had departed our humble message board. Welcome back to the struggle.

-JB

 

[dogg]

I have to second the thoughts of others concerning Jet Blue and it's meteoric rise. Not that hey don't have the best mgmt, the best planes etc....... but where will they be after their first ALPA contract has been negotiated and their first AMFA contract has been negotiated and their first AFA contract has been negotiated. That is when they will have the right to be compared to Southwest(one of the most unionized carriers in the business). It sounds like a great place to work now and hopefully it will still be in 15 years when they have matured and the fun and glamour has worn off. But for now it just doesn't pay to put any creedence in what the wall st idiots babble on about. Those guys have never earned an honest dollar or worked an honest day in their miserable New York lives.......The country and the economy would be much healthier if the season for travel industry consultants and wall streeters was as long as fall deer season in Georgia.....

 

[TriStar_drvr]

The author or the article wrote:

flies point-to-point (shunning the hub-and-spoke system used by the major carriers)

I took a look at the JetBlue route map on the website, and if that's a "point to point" route structure, then someone please redefine to me what that term means.

I'm not trying to diss Jetblue, I see a few routes that don't go to JFK, but it sure looks like there's some semblance of a hub at JFK, and the beginnings of one at LGB.

Maybe the author, being a Wall Street type, believes that everyone wants only to go to NYC, and thus JetBlue has the perfect point to point system!

Whatever it is, it's obviously working for them. To you guys that work there, do you know how what percentage of pax are "through passengers" in JFK and LGB?

 

[Blue Dude]

To you guys that work there, do you know how what percentage of pax are "through passengers" in JFK and LGB?

A little over 10%. That's comfortably in point to point territory. JFK and LGB are not run as hubs, where people mostly travel for the purpose of connecting to somewhere else, and schedules are optimized for flight banks. JFK and LGB (and to a smaller extent, IAD, FLL and OAK) are focus cities, where point to point routes converge, since that's where people want to go. There's not much connection going on there.

 

[stillaboo]

it just doesn't pay to put any creedence in what the wall st idiots babble on about. Those guys have never earned an honest dollar or worked an honest day in their miserable New York lives

Interestingly, these 'wall st idiots' are some of JB's core customers. The route map says it all: "JFK to what city, sir?"

-Boo!