There is something about traveling with JetBlue that just changes my entire mood. First, my cabbie made fantastic time to JFK. Yes, I left the house at 5:45am but in New York you never know. Sometimes it just takes forever. He was also cheerful and friendly. Maybe it was just that he was just starting his shift. But somehow I think it was weird JetBlue Good JuJu.I had gotten my boarding pass online at home but I was still checking one bag, so I expected at least some line and waiting. When I walked it, it was of course buzzing and crowded with holiday travelers... and some obvious add frustration because of storms in Denver and such. But the lines seemed to be moving quickly. I just wasn't sure what line to get into. Normally just finding someone to tell you where you need to go is a pain. Not at Jet Frackin' Blue. Not only is each counter staffed, but there are at least a dozen folks standing at the line entrances to help. A dozen! At least!
So one quickly directs me where to go to check my bag and I have to wait maybe 8 seconds before I'm at the counter. My bag is tagged and checked in under 3o seconds. I have been in the airport for under two minutes and my bag has been checked.
So off to security. This has been mildly problematic for me in the past because I share a name with someone on the Do Not Fly list. But that always gets hung up at check-in, so I figure I'm in the clear. Nope. See, I'm an idiot. Well, and idiot in NYC who uses his ID for 3 things: buying booze, occasionally to show when making credit card purchases, and getting on planes (oh, and the very rare getting into certain buildings). I don't drive with it because I live in NYC. I also somehow missed that it expired last March.
The TSA at the start of the security line catches it, gives me an apologetic sigh (Lady, no need to apologize... I'm the one who let it lapse and never noticed) and marks up my boarding pass with 4 large S's and some scribbles. The advantage of this is that I get to by pass the rest of the line (Yay!). It was short and moving quickly anyway. I go straight to the x-ray machine, go through and then get put into a glass box. It felt a bit like I was in a 50's tv gameshow sound proof booth and John Tuturro was about to out me as a cheat. In in a minute a very pleasant TSA agent led me to a table while a junior (and obviously a bit nervous) agent grabbed my stuff from the conveyor belt. They led me to a table and the senior agent went through my stuff and cleaned my laptop with a cloth on a stick (okay, maybe he was checking for explosives), while the agent McShakey-hands wanded me. But they were very nice and clear with their instructions and what they were doing. It also felt thorough. Short on some sort of plastic weapon attached to my yam sack (sorry, that is my current favorite euphemism) or inserted... well, where on 'inserts' things, I'd have a darn hard time getting anything through.
And it was quick. Maybe 4 minutes.
The food court was a bit swarmed, but Dunkin' Donuts had set up an extra coffee booth (medium only) at the back of their kiosk. So my waiting time to buy a coffee was under a minute. I then spent way to much on a thing of salted mix nuts. I've been craving nuts lately. I think I've recently cut my meat intake way down in a quest to eat healthier and I may be lacking proteins. Neither here nor there, really, just that it explains why I spent $6.49 on 9oz. of nuts. (They are tasty, though. Even the brazil nuts which I usually find dry and dusty.)
Anywhozits, the best think about flying with JetBlue before I've never even got on the plane? Free wi-fi. Free. Because they know the cost is negligible. And it makes me happy with my extreme lack of sleep over the last two days. (It occurs to me that sending the words "TSA," "security," and "explosives" might trigger something if sent through their system. Mmmmm. Let's see what happens.....)
