Jet Blue Comes to Burbank

You'll no longer have to travel down to Long Beach or all the way to Ontario to catch Jet Blue.

According to today's L.A. Times, the discount airline -- which elicits iPod/TiVo style raves from its clientel -- will launch service from Burbank's Bob Hope Airport to JFK on May 24.

Jet Blue will take over the gates in Bob Hope Airport's Terminal A that are expected to be vacated by Aloha Airlines. Aloha, which recently filed for bankruptcy, is leaving Burbank this year.

Writes the paper: JetBlue will launch the new Burbank-New York service with a promotional, $99 one-way fare. Regular one-way fares will range from $124 to $299, excluding security fees and taxes. The same fare range applies to the carrier's Long Beach to New York flights.

By comparison, the one-way fare on a Delta flight for May 24 from Burbank to New York's LaGuardia Airport, with a stop in Atlanta, was $159, a check of Delta's website showed Wednesday. A United flight the same day from Burbank to LaGuardia, with a stop in Denver, was $270.

We flew Jet Blue to New York last year, and like all things too hyped, we found it a tad overrated. Most frustratingly, the DirecTV service -- one of Jet Blue's main selling points -- would black out for several minutes at a time.

Still, the DirecTV came in handy as we attempted to leave New York. Our plane was stuck on the ground for two hours -- which normally would be death. But watching DirecTV, it was pretty painless. All told, I'd still fly Jet Blue again. And now that it's moving into the Burbank airport, I'm sure we will.