jetBlue 854
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) – New York, NY (JFK)
Airbus A320
N527JL
Seat 6A
Scheduled Departure Time – 3:47pm
Actual Departure Time- 3:56pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 6:29pm
Actual Arrival Time- 6:15pm
2 hours 19 minutes
N527JL arriving. It flew down from JFK, before I was flying it right back
Not long after everyone deplaned, they started boarding
N536JB was going to Westchester. I have flown this plane before from SYR-JFK
6A, with N531JL just arriving from Newark
Before we pushed back the flight attendant made an announcement. She was not messing around. She said that the crew didn’t like wearing a mask. They had been wearing them since this morning, and their day didn’t end until 1am. She said we will remind you twice nicely. Then after that we will have the police meet the plane, when we land. After she was done with her spiel, the door was closed and we pushed back. Luckily 6B stayed empty.
Cleared for takeoff
Climbing out of PBI via the SLIDZ2 departure
On this flight we leveled off at 35,000ft, where we stayed for the entire flight up the east coast. The flight attendants came through with drinks and a choice of snacks.
About half way through the flight, the sun started to set. By the time it was dark, we were starting the descent into JFK. 31L and 31R had been in use at JFK all afternoon. By the time we got there they had switched it around, and were landing to the south
Descending via the CAMRN4 arrival
The pilots checked in at 2,000ft, on the ILS 22L. As we were checking in, an American 737-800 had to go around. The jetBlue airbus ahead of them didn’t get off the runway in time
We were instructed to taxi via Juliet, Zulu and Golf
Cleared to cross 22R
Pulling into gate 5, next to N239JB getting ready to depart for a flight down to Raleigh
N527JL had one last flight to Austin
A few minutes after I got off the plane, I headed a few gates over to see if plane was there yet. It had just landed from San Antonio. A few minutes later it pulled into the gate, an hour before we would be departing
N779JB getting ready for a flight to Atlanta
jetBlue 1005
New York, NY (JFK) – Portland, OR (PDX)
Airbus A320
N556JB
Seat 9A
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:45pm
Actual Departure Time- 8:24pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:08pm
Actual Arrival Time- 11:24pm
6 hours
Boarding
9A, next to N258JB going to Chicago
The captain announced that we were waiting for maintenance to bring back the logbooks, after completing some inspections on the plane. He also mentioned that we would be flying further south than normal to try to avoid strong headwinds, and he was anticipating the flight taking longer than usual to get across the country. The flying time was planned for a little over 6 hours. It ended up being exactly 6 hours, my longest flight on an A320. This was also only my second flight across the country in 2021, and one of the longest flights I have taken in a while. By the time maintenance came back, we ended up pushing back 15 minutes late. Just like on the first flight, the middle seat also was empty
Taxiing to 31L kilo-echo, behind an Alaska 737-800 also going to PDX. We followed them the entire way across the country. The other flight to PDX was a Delta 767-400. They took off a few minutes behind us, and followed behind us, and Alaska. When won the race to PDX. Right as we were exiting the runway Alaska was landing the parallel, even though they took off first. Delta landed as we were pulling into the gate
We had to hold for a few minutes for in-trail spacing. I saw the Alaska 737 to PDX climb out. A few minutes later, we were rolling down 31L
In the standard left turn, off of 31L
Climbing out of JFK
We initially went up to 34,000ft. The flight attendants quickly came through with the same service as the first flight. Over Illinois we climbed to 36,000ft, where we stayed until it got a little bumpy over Idaho and we went down to 32,000ft. I spent the flight watching Netflix and looking out the window for planes I saw on Flightradar24. At one point I looked out and noticed a Delta A321 flying DTW-LAX, flying 1000ft below us. They followed us for almost an hour, before I lost sight of them
Not long into the flight, a solid layer developed below us as we flew over Philly
Cruising
Randomly about 2 hours into the flight, the captain turned off the seatbelt sign, and let us know that “we had now reached our cruising altitude”
I got up once to stretch my legs, about 5 hours into the flight. I talked to the Flight Attendants while I was waiting for the bathroom. They said they were doing a turn, and working the redeye right back to JFK. They both said they like doing these. The one girl said that she does PDX turns a lot, because she is from there. She also mentioned that tonight was a really long flight, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had worked a PDX flight that was over 6 hours. They both were hoping that it would make the flight back quicker though. The winds must have been really strong that night. The flight back only ended up being 4 hours 9 minutes. They also mentioned that there aren’t many redeye turns anymore. Apparently, they only do them on the A320, and a lot of west coast cities are now done with the A321.
About 30 minutes before landing, we started the descent
We checked in with Portland tower, on the visual approach 28R
Final 28R
And 6 hours after leaving JFK, we were back on the ground
We had to go around an Alaska E-175 that was pushing back for a redeye to ORD, on the way into the gate. That seems like it would be pretty painful, flying a redeye on an Embraer
N556JB spent a little over an hour on the ground in Portland, before doing the redeye right back to JFK
jetBlue still has the old check in counter at PDX
After spending a few days in Portland, it was time for the second part of this trip. I had the option to either fly into LGA on a United 737-800, or into JFK on the 757-200. I decided on the latter, since I had never flown United into JFK. When I get to the airport, I dropped my bag off first. My plane would be landing in about 20 minutes. I decided to go up to the parking garage to watch it land
N307AS arriving 28L from Seattle
N630VA from Vegas
N457AZ taking off to Baltimore
N263SY from Seattle
N898DN from Salt Lake City. I’ve flown this plane from CUN-MSP
N913FX to Medford, OR
N359NX taxiing to 28L, for a flight to Phoenix
My plane arriving from Denver
At gate E3
United 1491
Portland, OR (PDX) – San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Airbus A319
N876UA
Seat 11A
Scheduled Departure Time –10:23am
Actual Departure Time- 10:28am
Scheduled Arrival Time – 12:12pm
Actual Arrival Time- 11:50am
1 hour 22 minutes
11A
We pushed back a few minutes early, and taxied to runway 28R. We had to hold for a little bit, for a Delta E-175 that was landing from Seattle. Once they cleared the runway, we were on our way. The captain mentioned that it would be a bumpy ride out of Portland, and said that he was going to have the flight attendants stay seated. With the exception of a few bumps on the way into SFO, it ended up being pretty smooth the entire time
We leveled off at flight level 330. The flight attendants did a drink service. They gave everyone full cans, but no snacks were offered
Cruising
The weather in SFO was showing clouds at 400ft, 800ft and there was an overcast ceiling was 1,300ft. The pilots put out the flaps, as we descended through 10,000ft. The clouds weren’t that high. The gear was lowered, while we were still on top. After about a minute in the clouds, we broke out
Final 28L
It was a super smooth touchdown
Pulling into the ramp next to N17104, the 757 I’d be flying to New York. It had arrived a little before us from Ft Lauderdale. This would be my second time flying it. I flew it 3 years ago in 2018, from Newark-Denver when it was still in the old colors
The next flight for N876UA was up to Seattle
A6-EPZ taxiing after a 15 hour flight from Dubai
C-FZQS taxiing for a flight to Toronto
N905EV from Reno
JA882J starting the 11 hour to Narita
United 522
San Francisco, CA (SFO) – New York, NY (JFK)
Boeing 757-200
N17104
Seat 27A
Scheduled Departure Time –1:30pm
Actual Departure Time- 1:56pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 10:02pm
Actual Arrival Time- 9:50pm
4 hours 54 minutes
Boarding was delayed about 20 minutes because there was some cleaning that still had to be done on the plane
27A, next to N76508 that had just arrived from Seattle
The door was closed about 10 minutes late. A few minutes later we were pushing back. We taxied around to the other side of the airport, and taxied past a few planes that were holding for 1L. We taxied past it, and taxied into position on runway 1R
Taxiing past N2135U pushing back for its 13 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan
Line up and wait. We held in position for traffic that was landing the crossing runway
There was a United A320 going to Cabo, on the parallel runway
And pretty quickly, we were back on top of the clouds again
The pilots checked in with Norcal departure, that we were climbing out of 2,300ft via the TRUKN2 departure
We initially climbed to 33,000ft, and about 30 minutes into the flight the clouds started to clear up
Just like on the first flight they gave full cans, and they were also giving out pretzels. Over Utah it started to get pretty bumpy and we climbed to 39,000ft. The captain asked the flight attendants to take their seats. A few minutes later they got up again. But shortly after this, the turbulence started again, and the captain asked the flight attendants to take their seats again immediately and to check in with the cockpit. He never made an announcement, but it got really turbulent for about 30 minutes. Eventually it somewhat smoothed out. But it was bumpy off and on throughout the entire flight, all the way down to the final approach. This flight had the most turbulence of any flight I’ve been on recently
Cruising
About halfway through the flight, the sun started to set
Almost dark
The flight attendants came around with drinks and snacks again, an hour and a half before landing
Cabin
The weather at JFK was showing 3 miles visibility with light snow and mist. There were few clouds reported at 600ft, and a broken and overcast ceiling at 1,200 and 1,800ft. As we flew down the LENDY arrival I could see the ground, but around the time we flew from Jersey into NY, we flew into IMC and did not break out until we were a few miles from the runway
Into the clouds
The visibility was so low, you could barely see the wing
The flaps and gear were lowered while we were still in IMC
ILS 31R
Pulling into gate 2. For all the times I have flown into JFK, I had never been in Terminal 7
N17104 spent the night at JFK, and flew to Los Angeles the next morning
I was spending a few days in New York. One of the days, I had to pick someone up from JFK. I saw a few planes land, when I was waiting for their flight to land
HZ-AK27 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
N702CK from Anchorage
N784AN from Paris
N309JB from Fort Lauderdale
G-VLUX from London
N632JB from Dallas
N346JB from Syracuse
G-VIIH from Heathrow
A few days later I checked my seat assignment for my flight back to Florida. I never usually look, but I couldn’t remember picking my seat. I was supposed to be flying on a Delta 737-800 from LGA-PBI. So I go on the Delta app, put in my conformation number and it says that it can’t find my flight. So, I try it again and the same thing happens. Then I try it on my computer, and it still does not work. I called them, and apparently the woman had never attached the credit to the new reservation. So the flight was never ticketed, even though I had received a conformation email. So it was the day before I was supposed to leave, and I had no flight. When I thought I had booked the Delta flight, it was $79. The same flight was now close to $250. jetBlue had flights for $120, from JFK or LGA. The JFK flight was on an A320, and LGA was an E190. I decided to just forget about the Delta flight, and book myself on another jetBlue A320 back to PBI. On the day of the flight I met a friend for dinner near JFK, then went from there to the airport
N589JB at gate 3. It had flown up earlier in the afternoon from Charleston
jetBlue 553
New York, NY (JFK) – West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
Airbus A320
N589JB
Seat 16A
Scheduled Departure Time –8:21pm
Actual Departure Time- 8:34pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:26pm
Actual Arrival Time- 10:50pm
2 hours 16 minutes
My first time seeing the Redsox plane since it had been repainted. It was going to Dallas
N645JB was going to Albuquerque. I have flown this place twice before, from JFK-PDX, and PHX-JFK
N805JB was doing the same flight to PDX, I had flown 10 days earlier. I’ve also flown N805JB from MCO-SYR, before it had sharklets
16A, next to N329JB to Raleigh-Durham. I’ve flown on N329JB from SYR-JFK, and BOS-ATL.
The flight was not full and a lot of people moved around, but I had the entire row to myself. The captain welcomed us aboard and told us it would be 945 nautical miles, and that it should be a nice journey togther to Palm Beach. It wasn’t a long taxi out to runway 22R, and there was only a jetBlue A321 to MCO, and a British Airways 777 to LHR ahead of us. We were cleared to line up and wait. We held briefly for wake turbulence from British Airways, and for two planes that were crossing the runway downfield
We checked in with NY Departure. We were cleared to the WAVEY intersection, and up to 12,000ft before being handed off to NY Center
We spent the entire flight at 38,000ft. I spent the flight studying for the ATP written exam. So, that kept me “entertained” and the flight went by quick.
Descending into PBI
Final 10L
Pulling into the gate next to N304JB. It had arrived from LGA. This was the other flight I was considering taking
N589JB flew the next morning to White Plains
It was a good trip. All the flights on this trip were good, except for the whole thing with the Delta flight. I had another flight I had to take the next day, so I was back at the airport the following afternoon to go to Dallas.
