Airline Report: You Are JetBlue's Guinea Pig
JetBlue may still be good for some things, but we also just priced out a round trip from JFK to Burbank and pulled up a fare close to $700. Doesn't one have to be cheap before acting cheap? Not in JetBlue's case, apparently. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the semi-LCC played undercover miser last year when it purposely overworked its pilots on regularly-scheduled commercial flights, unbenknownst to passengers, as part of a money-saving experiment.
JetBlue pilots volunteered for shifts of up to 11 hours--FAA regulations permit only 8--and were monitored for any changes in alertness. The airline says that backup pilots were always onboard in case anyone got tired, but the FAA is still angry, saying that its top officials never gave approval for the scheme and that they "don't allow experiments with passengers on board, period."
JetBlue isn't the first airline to want longer officially sanctioned hours for its pilots, and this can't be the first time a commercial pilot has flown for over 8 hours; we'd call out more offenders if we could. It's too bad not everyone is stupid enough to get caught.
[Photo: bivoir]
Related Stories:
· JetBlue Used Passengers as Guinea Pigs in Pilot Fatigue Experiment [Consumer Affairs]
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