Anyone who has traveled by air anytime recently probably realizes that there are many differences between air travel today from how it was before the 1970′s. When President Carter deregulated the airline industry in the late 1970′s with the express stated reason at the time to increase competition and make it more consumer friendly, little did he probably realize the incredible ramifications from those actions. If someone were in a time warp and fell asleep in 1975 and woke up today, he world be shocked to see what the industry has become. Many of the major airlines of that era have either not survived, merged, or are certainly not dominant carriers today. Gone are airline legends such as Pan Am, TWA, Eastern, etc., and United, Continental, US Air, and Northwest have been involved in multiple mergers. A few airlines, including some that he been created in the twenty- first century, have become major players, while these former grand players are now struggling. After having owned and managed a retail, wholesale, tour, and convention company in the 1980′s and 1990′s, and having been an Event Manager for over thirty year, the entire concept of ramifications of an airline’s business plan came to light. Thus, the tale of two airlines, American Airlines and Jet Blue.

There are many different comparisons between the two airlines, and below I shall just touch the surface of a few, However, based on these comparisons it is rather easy to see why Jet Blue has been faring better.

1. Let’s compare the two airlines terminals at a hub airport for each, New York’s JFK International Airport. Most of us would probably be surprised to find out that Jet Blue now has the most flights in and out of this airport. While American Air has upgraded its terminal, it is underwhelming compared to Jet Blue’s showcase.

2. Jet Blue’s fleet of planes is one of the newest in the industry, while American’s is one of the oldest. Unlike other newer airlines. Jet Blue’s business plan was to only purchase new planes. Jet Blue has DirectTV monitors and sets at every seat, XM satellite radio, and leather wider more comfortable leather seats (compared to American’s predominantly cloth), with the most legroom in economy class of any major carrier.

3. Jet Blue serves free snacks with options, while American, on domestic flights, only sells their snacks. » Read more: A Tale Of Two Airlines And Why One’s Faring Better