Despite ranting by other airlines who the government to give them more of American and JetBlue’s takeoff and landing slots, and JetBlue pilots rejecting a deal allowing full planned implementation of the partnership, the two airlines have approval from the government and don’t want to lose momentum.
So shortly after the hiccup with JetBlue pilots narrowly rejecting a deal negotiated between the carrier and their union, American and JetBlue have announced the first stage of moving forward.
- 33 new routes in New York and Boston starting in June (some previously announced)
- Codesharing for sale immediately for flights starting next Thursday in “almost” 50 markets covering 80 flights
- Coordinated schedules between New York JFK and Newark and Los Angeles
In addition to international routes like New York JFK – Tel Aviv and Athens, American is launching daily routes from New York JFK to Cali (CLO), Bogota (BOG) and Medellin (MDE), Colombia and will add additional Santiago service. Saturday service is being added to St. Lucia (UVF) and Turks and Caicos (PLS).
American’s newly-announced domestic summer seasonal routes from New York and Boston include:
| Origin | Destination | Season | ||
| Boston | Asheville, North Carolina (AVL) | June 5 – Nov. 6 | ||
| Boston | Columbus, Ohio (CMH) | Aug. 17, year-round | ||
| Boston | Jackson Hole, Wyoming (JAC) | June 5 – Sept. 4 | ||
| Boston | Traverse City, Michigan (TVC) | June 5 – Sept. 6 | ||
| Boston | Wilmington, North Carolina (ILM) | June 5 – Aug. 14 | ||
| New York JFK | Orange County, California (SNA) | June 2, year-round | ||
| New York LGA | Kansas City, Missouri (MCI) | Sept. 8, year-round | ||
| New York LGA | Key West, Florida (EYW) | June 5 – Sept. 4 | ||
| New York LGA | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (MYR) | June 3 – Sept. 7 | ||
| New York LGA | Pensacola, Florida (PNS) | June 3 – Sept. 7 | ||
| New York LGA | Rapid City, South Dakota (RAP) | June 5 – Sept. 4 | ||
| New York LGA | Savannah, Georgia (SAV) | June 3 – Sept. 7 |
The most important things for customers – reciprocal mileage-earning, redemption, and elite recognition – remain unanswered questions,
This spring, customers of both American’s AAdvantage® and JetBlue’s TrueBlue programs will enjoy the benefit of earning points or miles on either carrier, further enhancing the value of both loyalty programs to all flyers.
Over time, customers will also be able to redeem points or miles on either carrier and the airlines are exploring opportunities to recognize American’s AAdvantage elite members and JetBlue Mosaic customers across both airlines. More details will be announced to loyalty program members later this year.
Earning will start ‘this spring’ while redemption will occur ‘over time’ and details will be shared ‘later’. This announcement, then, is incomplete from the perspective of the customer and should be viewed as capturing some momentum rather than risking a setback after JetBlue’s pilots pushed back on the deal (which is strange, because their pilots will benefit from access to American’s slots in New York, while American Eagle crew could take it on the chin a bit).
Ultimately though this deal should make American Airlines more relevant in New York, which is good for competition – creating a more formidable opponent of Delta (JFK and LaGuardia) and United (Newark).
Have they figured out how a connecting passengers will be handled at JFK? Arriving American international passengers connecting to a domestic Jet Blue flight with luggage, customs, immigrations and security in different terminals maybe more than a couple of hours.
Pretty enthused about the TLV and ATH flights, and coordination of schedules beats a sharp stick in the eye, but I’m not sure what the codeshares will do for American flyers. If I know AA, they’ll charge double to book a Jet Blue flight with an AA code.
That SNA JFK will be on a 3 cabin 321T Gary
Many of these routes are long, thin routes that will be operated on a seasonal basis on American regional aircraft which is precisely what B6 pilots were most concerned about. The amount of really new capacity (vs. previously flown routes) is actually quite small. In some of the large markets where the two will coordinate schedules, they will actually offer fewer seats than DL and/or UA based on currently loaded schedules.
So Long Beach loses JFK so that a plane with crappy seat pitch can replace it at John Wayne. Thrilled.