jetBlue
Description of App
Take JetBlue everywhere you go! Download our app and get instant access to your itineraries, flight status information, our in-flight entertainment, snacks and more!
- Book travel - Search for and book flights to your favorite destinations.
- Check-in - Get your check-in reminder 24 hours before your flight and check-in instantly right from the app.
- TrueBlue - Sign in with your TrueBlue account for a more personalized mobile experience.
- Instant updates - Receive real-time flight updates within the app and via push notifications.
- Smart home screen - Based on where you are in your travel window, see relevant details about your upcoming flight on the app's home screen.
- My trips – View your upcoming trips with ease.
- In-flight experience - View and set reminders for the DIRECTV® schedule for your flight, and check out a listing of all our SiriusXM Satellite Radio® channels. Plus, tease your appetite by checking out the tasty snacks and drinks being served onboard.
- Connect - Share travel plans with people in your life, and use the Pick Me Up feature to help people picking you up plan their ride to and from the airport.
- Guide to fun - Learn about the hotspots at your destination with the City Guide. Plus, create custom postcards, download wallpapers for your phone and more.
Version
Free or Paid
Compatibility
Device(s) App Was Tested On
VoiceOver Performance
Button Labelling
Usability
Other Comments
The in app background notification functionality sends you push alerts with delays, cancellations, gate changes, and a reminder to checkin. These alerts, for JetBlue flights, somewhat rival the paid Tripit Pro service used by road warriors! TripIt provides these alerts and more for many airlines.
When booking flights, all your data is pulled from your TrueBlue account profile, except your credit card. It would be nice to be able to save your credit card here, which would make the booking process nearly 100% pre-filled.
Another major ding, and its not just JetBlue, is that you can't change your flight (except perhaps if its been coded as impacted by irregular operations) (industry jargon for bad weather and such). I don't know about you, but as a frequent flyer, I often need to change my flight, even as we speak for tomorrow. You also can't undue your checkin, (offload) think stuck in a traffic jam or at a dinner or meeting, without a lengthy call to JetBlue.
Again, I'm writing for us road warriors regarding these changes, and I don't know if (yet) JetBlue is really going after the uber frequent flyer? If you take 2 or 3 trips a year, these things may not be a big deal, but try 20 or 30 trips a year :).
But bravo to JetBlue for a well done and accessible off the gate 1.0!!! Its better than many out there.
Accessibility Comments
JetBlue Airways is the first major US carrier to proactively address accessibility in its just released 1.0 app! Controls like primary navigation buttons, navigating the calendar to pick your flight date, and selection of seats work nearly flawlessly with VoiceOver and iOS! The tv guide function, which is syncranized with the departure and arrival time of your flights, also effortlessly reads you the channel number, network, and featured program. You can also browse available radio and television channel number guides, a complete list of food and drinks offered, and more!
Under the Fun Stuff tab, an option to use a JetBlue image as your phones wallpaper has labeled images with descriptions like "Alternating light and dark blue diamond pattern." Labeling images in this accessible way is something most companys flat out miss, unless you happen to be Apple or JetBlue. I'm thinking of the Apple cards app which has been designed with a similar keen attention to this type of detail.
The primary navigation elements, rather than being in a left to right dock style in the bottom of the window, can be thought of as being in 2 rows of buttons. In many screens you can also use the 3 finger left and 3 finger right VoiceOver gesture to swipe between screens such as available promotions.
Basics like flight status work well, and in some screens such as to book a flight you can even choose to search nearby airports which saves you time.
There are some caviats with the app as well. While it technically allows you to check in for a flight, it does not render a paper or electronic boarding pass. SO you'll be stuck dealing with the inaccessible flash based jetblue.com checkin experience, or having to get to the airport early and stop by the counter or a kiosk. This is being worked on, , barcoded mobile boarding passes are coming. Also the function to create a post card using an existing photo is not accessible, but this may very well be due to the core lack of accessibility of the Apple iOS camera roll filenames which often give you know feedback on what your photo actually is. So much for Apple being perfect. Finally when you navigate a calendar date picking window, VoiceOver announces AirPlay instead of the number 18. Go figure. But its an easy one to work around.