Kudos to JetBlue for bringing civility back to summer travel

A packed flight. A weather delay. Angry passengers — many of them crying.

It sounds like a flight to Anywhere, USA, this summer. Except that I was on this flight, and it didn’t end like you would expect, especially if you believe all the recent media reports about the state of air travel.

JetBlue 577 from Newburgh, NY, to Orlando was scheduled to leave at 2:50 p.m. yesterday, but at one point it appeared the flight might be delayed for more than an hour. We arrived at the terminal to find a lot of unhappy passengers and their offspring, presumably all on their way to Disneyworld or some other Central Florida theme park.

Here’s a picture I took of the boys while we waited.

Even though a delay seemed inevitable, the crew turned the plane around quickly and we left just a little late. Onboard, the flight attendants went to work immediately to soothe frayed nerves by handing out cookies to the crying kids before takeoff. (All three of our children were the grateful recipients of a package of animal crackers.)

The attitude of the flight attendants really impressed me. You would expect crewmembers to be just a little disgruntled, with all the recent bad publicity and the resulting fallout.

Instead, they were cheerful, eager to please and sociable. I haven’t seen that on a domestic flight in a long time, at least not to that extent.

The attendant assigned to our section of the plane handled herself well, considering that she had several screaming children (including, at times, ours) to contend with. She talked with them, brought them extra drinks and even gave them a set of wings before we landed.

Oh, and the flight arrived early.

But here’s what really made my day. At the luggage carousel we saw our flight attendant again.

“I thought I’d find you here,” she said. “You left this on the plane.”

She handed us the kids seatbelt I had been testing for National Geographic Traveler. We had somehow forgotten it.

All I could do was thank her, and shake my head in disbelief.

I haven’t had a bad flight all summer. I haven’t even had a delayed flight.

Am I living in some kind of parallel universe?

At any rate, my hat’s off to JetBlue and in particular to our attendant on Flight 577. Thanks for bringing some dignity back to air travel this summer.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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