JetBlue Might Just Make You Feel Good About Airlines Again

Yahoo Travel Contributors

JetBlue is changing they way we think about airlines. (Photo: Fred Prouser/Reuters/Corbis)

By Cathy Bennett Kopf / The Open Suitcase

Flying sucks, right?

Cramped seats. Delayed flights. Baggage fees. According to USA Today, 9542 passengers filed complaints against U.S. airlines with the Department of Transportation during the first half of 2015, a 20 percent increase from a year ago. If you want to travel any distance, you’re willing to put up with inconvenience and discomfort and pay a high price for it, grumbling all the way.

And then JetBlue goes and does a few things that are so heart-warming, you’re willing to look past the industry’s many flaws and fall in love again. Like that boyfriend you couldn’t dump back in 1983.

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JetBlue employees pose with students and staff from the Henry Viscardi School. (Photo: JetBlue)

First, JetBlue made us laugh. The airline has just released a short film called HumanKinda, a riff on the idea that we’re all so excessively busy that we’re kinda losing our humanity. In the 15-minute film (which you can watch here), comedian Sam Richardson attempts to give away a free Puerto Rico trip to commuters in cities around the country…and nearly fails. He also interviews some seriously and justifiably busy people who will put your own to-do list in perspective. As Richardson says at the end, “It’s okay to do one thing at a time, it’s okay get some sleep. Do something crazy like not check your email for an entire day. Everything’s going to be okay.” (Although it should be noted that JetBlue just added free Wi-Fi to its flights, so they’re not exactly helping with the no-email thing.)

After tickling our funny bones, the airline tugged at our heartstrings. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), and for the third year JetBlue is partnering with the New York-based Henry Viscardi School, a special place where the mission is to educate, employ, and empower people with disabilities.

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Have you ever felt this happy when you got off an airplane? (Photo: JetBlue)

As part of an ongoing effort to enhance the flight experience for people with disabilities, JetBlue invites the students for special events and offers career coaching. To raise awareness with its wide customer base too, the airline is screening a sweet video on all flights through October.

Prepare to have your heart warmed. In this video, JetBlue employees spend the day with physically challenged youth as a way to improve customer service for disabled passengers and to introduce the kids to their first flight. (Video: JetBlue)

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Think about your last flight and the obstacles you had to face. Then consider a parent trying to travel with a child who is immobile without a wheelchair and who requires special medical equipment to breathe. To educate their employees, JetBlue arranged for a special day so that students from the school and company personnel could get to know one another. The employees learned ways to better assist disabled passengers and the kids received VIP treatment at the airport before flying from JFK to Boston. Some of them had never traveled by plane. One young boy who is losing his vision, when asked what he loves about flying, says “Seeing the sky and the clouds.” That’s what I love and I bet you do too.

Related: Pilot Diverts Plane to Save Dog. Internet Goes Awww.

The next time a passenger whipping their wheelie bag into the overhead bin slugs you in the face, remember that airline travel presents even bigger challenges for many people. Try very hard to handle them with the dignity, grace, and strength of the students at the Henry Viscardi School.

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