In the interest of taking a little break and enjoying some warm air, my fiancee and I headed down to PBI for a long weekend. We flew down Friday morning and back Monday night. This trip was a couple of firsts for me: first time to PBI, first time out of JFK, first time on B6 (I fly commercially very little, it turns out). Considering Friday's weather and that the return flight was at night, I don't have any photos, just text.
JBU77, JFK-PBI
I'm sure we all remember the lovely fog that covered the NY area on Friday. JFK ATIS was reporting vis. from 1/8 to 1/2 mile with ceilings of about 200 feet. On the drive over we could see that the fog was very spotty; in some areas you could see a good distance, then the road would curve and you wouldn't be able to see very much anymore. We managed to arrive at the airport in one piece (though we watched someone spin out behind us on the Belt) and headed into T5 to check in.
One thing that would be nice is if there were signs that said "International." The check-in counters and kiosks at one end of the terminal are for international flights but there's nothing outside that indicates that, so we had to walk further down a bit from where we were dropped off. Not a huge deal, but a minor annoyance.
Once through the check-in and security process we stopped for a bite to eat on the way to the gate. The food court area in T5 seems pretty poorly designed. There was a long line for the Dunkin Donuts (all the way from the DD counter to the refrigerated cases along the back wall) and it was getting in the way of everyone trying to walk through or get to the (separate) line for the cashier.
We pushed on time and taxied over to 22L; I think we were #17 in line but it was moving along; we did depart a little late but nothing too serious. Not really a whole lot to see; there was some nice condensation over the wings and then we were in the clouds. Came out on top and it was a solid layer below us most of the way down. (Once we were out over the ocean, of course, it cleared up. So instead of solid white it was a mostly solid blue view.)
I pulled out my headphones and plugged in to the much-vaunted IFE system. I must say, I wasn't that impressed. It's nice having some TV to watch but weekday mornings are basically television wastelands and the XM radio has some pretty terrible sound quality. The volume when the cabin crew cuts in is also WAY too loud. I had to yank the headphones off my ears every time they made an announcement.
Arrived on 9L at PBI with a nice crosswind. (The sock was blowing right across the runway as we rolled past it.)
I was pleasantly surprised when they brought stairs up to one of the rear doors and allowed people to get off that way and then walk over and up some other stairs into the terminal. Jet bridges are so boring; it's nice to be able to get out, get a little fresh (warm) air and take in some of the sights of the ramp.
Aircraft: N706JB (I think), "As Blue as it Gets"
Then we enjoyed a few days of nice weather (in the 80s Friday/Saturday and 70s Sunday/Monday with plenty of sun) and headed back to PBI for the flight home.
JBU838, PBI-JFK
The saddest part of a good trip is having to go back, and this was no exception. We did manage to force ourselves to go to the airport for the flight home.
PBI's terminal has a lot more space between things than T5 at JFK did; you checked in just inside the doors, then went downstairs and around quite a bit to get to security. I started to wonder if we were doing something wrong considering the distance between the check-in and security.
Had a pretty short wait for boarding to start, and I was again surprised that they were also using stairs to board at the rear. Naturally I jumped at this opportunity again, for one last taste of warmth, if nothing else. Boarding went pretty quick and we pushed a few minutes early. Taxied right to the runway (9L) with no waiting and we were off.
The IFE was terrible on this trip; the headphone jack on my seat was broken and at best, I would only get sound in one ear, but there'd be a nice sound every time the plug was moved the slighest bit. My fiancee's control thing was broken; with a lot of effort we managed to at least get it turned off so that we weren't staring at the "STAY TUNED TO THIS CHANNEL" stillframe for the whole flight. I just listened to my MP3 player and looked out the window.
It being night, and the first part of the flight being over the ocean, there wasn't a whole lot to look at. (Figures that the seats and windows lined up a lot better on this plane.) I decided to play "spot the airport beacons" and saw four. I probably would have seen more but there was a broken layer at about FL250 as we got further north and it was tough to see the ground.
Landed on 31R at JFK; it was neat to see Firestone from the air (the parking lot is well-lit at night) and then had a short taxi to the gate. Sadly had to walk up and through the jet bridge here (not that I was surprised) and then to the baggage claim.
Aircraft: N536JB "Canyon Blue" (my fiancee was not happy when I mentioned that this was the plane that had the gear thing at LAX)
Observations
- It seemed like a lot of people only had carryons. My fiancee picked up the bags at PBI while I got the rental car, but at JFK there were very few checked bags going around the carousel. It seems like people are getting good at packing everything into a carryon, even when they don't need to. I can only imagine how it is on airlines that charge for the first checked bag. (Bonus: not a lot of waiting and it's easy to pick out your bag.)
[/*:m:v7ruy0ys]- I don't see what's so great about the IFE. I guess I'm picky about what I watch on TV but if you get it at a bad time it's basically useless, and the XM radio sounds awful and doesn't have a whole lot of choices. (100 stations broken down into several genres including sports/talk radio, maybe a dozen are unavailable, so there are maybe 6 choices per genre and I found about 1 1/2 that had music I liked.)[/*:m:v7ruy0ys]
All in all, it wasn't a bad experience, but I didn't come away with the "JetBlue is awesome" vibe that so many people seem to have.
