Any company that manages to rewrite the rules of the industry in which it competes deserves to have its story told. Having fundamentally altered the expectations of the traveling public—and in the process, forcibly elevated the price and performance standards of other U.S. airlines—JetBlue is just such a deserving company. JetBlue's story, at least as it's unfolded through the company's first five years of operation, has now been told by Barbara S. Peterson, in her book Blue Streak (Portfolio; $24.95), subtitled "Inside JetBlue, the Upstart that Rocked the Industry." The Man The story of JetBlue's start-up and early years is largely the story of the company's founder and chief visionary, David Neeleman. Neeleman is a seventh-generation Mormon. In fact, his first notable accomplishment in life—after lackluster performance as a student, likely due to his as-yet-undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder—was his unparalleled success in baptizing new Mormon converts during a two-year missionary stint in Brazil. His first foray into the travel business ended inauspiciously, in bankruptcy. But Neeleman persevered, becoming president of discount carrier Morris Air, which was sold to Southwest in 1993. In the aftermath of the Morris Air sale, Neeleman was offered a high-level job with Southwest, where he would have the opportunity to work side by side with a long-time hero, Herb Kelleher. But he was unable to adapt to Southwest's culture and parted ways with the company after a scant five months. Neeleman also failed to bring to fruition another discount start-up, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic's Richard Branson. (Yes, in a parallel universe, David Neeleman is the co-founder and CEO of Virgin America, Branson's U.S. discount carrier.) The Name Among the book's many threads is the story behind the JetBlue name itself. The company incorporated under the name "New Air," intending at the time that the new carrier's name would actually be Taxi. The connotations of lackluster service doomed the Taxi name. Subsequent contenders included Air Spray, Free Air, Egg, The Competition, and It. Peterson describes in minute detail the behind-the-scenes battle as the name debate mushroomed beyond a discussion among the marketing principals into a wild free-for-all as investors, family members, and the venerable corporate image consultants, Landor Associates, all weighed in with their opinions, considered and otherwise. It's a fascinating glimpse into just how convoluted the answer to the perennial question "What's in a name?" can be. As a sign-of-the-times sidelight to the episode, once "JetBlue" had become the front-runner in the name race, Neeleman took the precaution of buying the domain names jetbluesucks.com and jetblew.com to preempt their future use by disgruntled customers or employees. The Fleet Another thread: How JetBlue came to fly the Airbus 320—instead of the ubiquitous Boeing 737, which at the time was the established workhorse of low-cost carriers. Neeleman was particularly impressed by the A320's extra seven inches of circumference over the B737—a seemingly insignificant difference, but one that permitted increasing the width of each seat by a full inch, which translates into a quantum leap in seat-of-the-pants comfort. Also characteristic of Neeleman's approach was the decision to order JetBlue's A320s fitted with three lavatories, rather than the standard two-lav configuration. Setting aside the obvious financial incentive to maximize the number of revenue-producing seats, Neeleman reasoned that JetBlue's customers, including families with kids and retirees flying to and from Florida, would need more bathroom breaks. Another telling calculation: It would cost JetBlue $1.25 per passenger to provide a mediocre in-flight snack. Alternatively, they could deliver free live programming to TVs in every seatback for $1.00 per person. The decision to opt for individual seatback TVs was yet another of the many choices which, taken together, have contributed to JetBlue's phenomenal success. The Vision While it has become standard practice among business and aviation writers to compare JetBlue to Southwest, Blue Streak reveals the extent to which Neeleman drew inspiration from a carrier in a very different segment of the airline market as well, Virgin Atlantic. To be sure, from Southwest Neeleman borrowed the strategy of low prices and opportunistic destinations. But if JetBlue had stopped there, they would be just another AirTran, ATA or Frontier. What has set JetBlue apart from other low-cost carriers is the "surprise and delight" factor, famously a key to Virgin Atlantic's success. (A number of JetBlue's top managers came from Virgin, so the philosophical affinity is undergirded by a kind of genetic connection between the two airlines.) The Book During her research for Blue Streak, Peterson was given carte blanche to come and go within the company as she saw fit, interviewing top managers and front-line employees, attending meetings, undergoing flight attendant training at JetBlue U, and even working a JetBlue flight. Much of the story is told from the inside out, oftentimes from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. Which brings us to the book's weakness, if it has one: Peterson's undisguised admiration for Neeleman and his accomplishment. Blue Streak sometimes reads like that most suspect of genres, the authorized biography. (One is reminded of the controversy surrounding the practice of embedding journalists with the troops during the Iraq war. While unfettered access is better than the alternative, objectivity sometimes suffers.) Peterson's occasional breathlessness may be questionable from a journalism standpoint. But readers will find it infectious. And if Peterson has indeed drunk the "blue Kool-Aid," as true believers are said to have done, she's in good company. JetBlue's thousands of employees, tens of thousands of stockholders, and millions of customers have done the same.
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