JB article

[Humty72]

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/1202333/

 

[furlough-boy]

Quote from the article:

"Everybody seems to believe that JetBlue has reinvented the wheel, but the fact is that they haven't. I worked for [an upstart airline] years ago and our stock rose more than ten times over a few years as we grew quickly and reported high margins, due primarily to the low maintenance costs associated with new aircraft. But then we ran out of new, attractive markets to penetrate, growth slowed, maintenance costs soared and our stock collapsed. I've seen situations like this many times before: As planes and employees get older, things change -- and what's amazing is how rapidly things change in this industry."

 

[labbats]

JetBlue apologizes for info release
By Dan Reed, USA TODAY
JetBlue Airways is apologizing to up to 5 million customers for the unauthorized release of their passenger data to a Defense Department contractor.
A travel expert and privacy rights activist says JetBlue's disclosure shows the need for privacy laws covering travel records.

"We have a law that protects the privacy of your video rental records, but no law that protects the privacy of the records of everywhere you've ever traveled, and with whom, how much you paid for it, what hotels you stayed in, and whether upon checking in with another person, you requested one bed or two," says Edward Hasbrouck, author of The Practical Nomad travel guidebooks.

A JetBlue spokesman said the company gave that information to Torch Concepts, of Huntsville, Ala., in August 2002 in response to a Defense Department request.

"This was a mistake on our part, and I know you and many of our customers feel betrayed by it," wrote JetBlue CEO David Neeleman to customers.

Neeleman said steps are being taken to ensure that such records never again are given to third parties. He added that JetBlue never provided Torch with passengers' financial or credit card information, or Social Security numbers.

However, Hasbrouck said that Torch was able to piece together that information on about 40% of the people whose records JetBlue provided. Torch matched the JetBlue passenger data with data in commercial databases.

Hasbrouck and Neeleman both said Torch used some data obtained from JetBlue in a presentation at a seminar that the Transportation Security Administration held in February.

Neeleman said JetBlue was unaware until last week that its data had been used for that purpose. That presentation, which for a time was posted on the Internet, did include specific data about one JetBlue customer, Neeleman said, but the customer's name was not used.

The purpose of Torch's February presentation is not clear. But Hasbrouck says the data-mining processes Torch appears to have been addressing in its presentation is similar to the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II), program the TSA is trying to develop as a terrorist identification tool. Hasbrouck objects to the government's gaining access to personal and financial information consumers provide to businesses.

Richard Marsden, Torch Concepts attorney, did not return calls seeking comment. But in a report Friday on TravelAgeWest.com, Marsden said that seminar was unrelated to the CAPPS II program.

Spokesmen for the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security could not be reached last week because of the government's Hurricane Isabel shutdown. A Defense Department spokesman said he could not reach department officials with knowledge of the issue.