Well this is getting interesting. For a couple of years now JetBlue has owned a stake in JetSuite, and then a couple of weeks ago Qatar Airways announced that they were also buying a stake in JetSuite.
Continue reading: JetBlue & JetSuiteX Introduce Codeshare Agreement
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
They’re relocating their HQ to the Dallas area later this year and thus expanding operations to Texas.
https://www.ocbj.com/news/2018/apr/12/jetsuite-moving-dallas/
I think JetSuiteX will be more popular if they can open a base in the NorthEast. It benefits all involved, and I think there would be more of a market for summer flights between say Boston and East Hampton, or NYC and Saratoga than Concord and Vegas. Plus you have better connectivity between B6 and JetSuite, even if you have to change terminals or airports. I think JetBlue and Qatar's long term goal is to feed regional JetSuite X Flights with premium passengers, say fly Mint from Seattle, SFO or LAX to Boston, and then JetSuite X Flight down to East Hampton. Or how about FLL to LGA to Saratoga. Plenty of opportunities there.
Hell, if they really wanted to stretch this Qatar could code share and offer Doha - East Hampton. Its an intriguing business model, and would require a little departure from their existing model out west, but I think it shows more promise than what they already have. Its an interesting and potentially lucrative niche market.
@GuruJanitor that sounds like a dream for them to move out east! As a NYC based flyer, I would hope for this, the more options the better.
I wonder though with being out east, the NYC airports are so crowded you would have a rough experience flying private. A lot of private NYC flights go out of Teterboro on Westchester, which might not link up too well with JetBlue at JFK.
That said, given what seems like very reasonable fares out west I would love to try this out east.
@GuruJanitor said exactly what I was thinking. I would also add a hub at FLL/FXE. Intra-Florida flights would be much more cost-effective and almost as comfortable/convenient as on private jets, and a whole heck of a lot better than on Southwest/Spirit/Silver, which currently dominate those routes. JetSuiteX would also add worthwhile feeder routes to jetBlue's Caribbean/South America routes (at MCO/ORL, too) and their Mint service to Los Angeles.
I don't see how they can do this with regulations.
30-seat planes operate on a set schedule, sell individual tickets online, and then strangers converge and board the aircraft.
They can call this "private" and bypass TSA screening? For how long? How long until someone does something alarming on the plane and questions are raised? If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck...
Daniel's point is still valid. JS may be miscategorized now.
Further, the bigger it gets, the more I WANT security. You can't go to a concert without getting wanded at a minimum. Why would I want to get on a plane with strangers with no security?
JS is a money loser out west, so this is a 'go big' or go home move. We'll see what they do in TX, clearly that will be the next target market.
"Personally I find this interesting yet useless at this point, though I’m curious to see what comes next."
How is it useless? Millions of people who have never heard of Jetsuite but do use JetBlue can now book their flights.
I agree with Callum, this is more interesting than one might thing. For folks on this site, it may not be a big deal, but for the vast majority of people - they don't even know JetSuiteX is an option.
Heck, I didn't realize they were offering bookable style flights on their website until the screenshot in your post. Granted, I live overseas now so I don't super-closely follow every US aviation announcement, but travel every month or so back to the US. The specific routes mostly don't work for me today (except perhaps their CES ones), but if they expanded to other cities, that'd be perfect (which I know, easier said than done).