This morning the Statesman carries the news that jetBlue will start flying nonstop between Austin and San Francisco in May. Currently, there's only one nonstop for that route, which makes for an expensive ticket.
Granted, choosing jetBlue means you'll be squeezed into a regional jet instead of the Airbus A320 that United flies for the route, but at least it's an Embraer 190, whose "double-bubble" fuselage is a lot taller and therefore more comfortable than most RJ's.
The new flight's schedule is also a win, departing AUS at 6:55pm and SFO at 8:30am. This complement's United's nonstop nicely, which departs AUS at 8:00am and SFO at 11:00am. Essentially, this means less wasted time on the road.
As an Austinite who visits the Bay Area frequently (with a roughly 50/50 SFO/SJC split) I'm very glad to see some competition come to this route. It should certainly bring prices down. And hopefully the flight will become popular enough to merit a full-sized aircraft.
Update: Morgan Johnston from jetBlue sent me a message in response to this post pointing out that, "the leg room in the E190s is still equal to or better than all but a handful of coach seats across the domestic carriers," and that, "[with] our great service, DirectTV, XM Radio, and the knowledge that you'll never get stuck in a middle seat - the E190s are often the preferred aircraft for our customers."
Morgan's points are all valid, and as I said in my reply, I think the E190 is a fine aircraft. But I'm even more impressed that someone from jetBlue actually responded. Could it be? An airline that actually... cares?!
