I have just returned from Global Traveler‘s fifth anniversary celebration in New York City. Kim’s blog yesterday described that great event, and I will save stories of our four days in New York for another day. Today I’ll share with you my impressions of my first experience flying on jetBlue Airways. Although we live in southern Oregon and could have flown out of either San Francisco (SFO) or Portland (PDX), my husband found a “great deal” out of Seattle (SEA) on Jetblue. I know, it sounds a bit crazy to drive those added miles for a slightly cheaper fare, but we’ve got friends and family in both Portland and Seattle. The added miles just gave us the opportunity to stretch out our trip on each end with visits in those two cities. Besides, we were both interested in finding out firsthand what jetBlue has to offer. After reading Kim Krol’s blog last week about flying premium economy, we had decided to see if we could upgrade to that category when we checked in. However, even though we were flying on a Monday night red-eye, our flight was full and that was not an option. Check-in both coming and going was smooth and efficient; although we’d checked in online, we had not been able to print our boarding passes, but we only spent a few minutes in line. Boarding was fairly quick, too, and the crew got everyone settled so that we pushed back on schedule for both flights. I found the Airbus 320 a fairly comfortable plane for economy class and was especially pleased with the availability of DirecTV programming on seatback screens. Sleep was elusive (tight quarters and a somewhat stuffy cabin didn’t help), so the TV shows and movies helped pass the time. On the flight home we were even able to follow the Sweet 16 games (watching the unfortunate outcome of the Gonzaga-North Carolina game). Those who want to watch first-run films can use the handy credit card reader built in to the seatbacks to avoid dealing with cash with the flight attendants. There were the usual free soft drinks, juice and water and small packaged snacks in addition to for-pay alcoholic beverages and menu items. I noticed that instead of trundling those cumbersome and toe-threatening massive carts down the aisle, the attendants simply carried trays, yet the service seemed at least as quick and efficient as on airlines that use the carts. While I am not at all fond of transcontinental, overnight flights in economy class, jetBlue’s service made it as pleasant as possible (with the exception of one chatty flight attendant who took up a long and loud conversation with a gentlemen seated behind us on the flight to New York at 2:00 a.m. Harry finally pointed out to her that we (and everyone around us) were trying to get some rest and asked her if she could continue later or elsewhere . . . flirt with the guy on your own time, toots!). I would certainly fly jetBlue again. Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader