4 Comments

Inside JetBlue Terminal 5

November 17, 2008 by in Random with 4 Comments

As the major domo at Experiment23 and as a general technologist I travel a lot. I’ve had the opportunity to see tons of places and in the process have become an airport buff. A well designed airport can make a flight extremely enjoyable but the lack of attention to detail can really ruin anybodies whole traveling experience. Thankfully JetBlue, in cooperation with the Port Authority of NY paid careful attention to all the details to create a really unique and passenger friendly airport. Terminal 5 is such a breath of fresh air compared to the decrepit eroding Terminal 6.

From the get go the new terminal is clean, wide open and airy, there are tons of places for passengers to sit plug in a laptop and surf online. There are 20 security lanes with one central queue which makes waiting for security much shorter then other airports. However, I’ve never seen all 20 lanes open. Once inside there are 22 restaurants and food outlets plus 25 stores. JetBlue, on their new premium flying kick, has made each shop and restaurant have a very boutique modern feel. No nachos and beer here (well if you don’t count one of their Mexican restaurants, Revolución). They have a steakhouse (5ive Steak), Tapas restaurant (Piquillo), Jamba Juice, French Fry House (Pommes Frites), two pizza places, as well as a open buffet market. But if you don’t want to sit at a restaurant at each gate JetBlue offers at gate ordering via touch screens where your food is delivered as you wait.

Also if you forgot something to read or more importantly your headphones the retail at Terminal 5 is almost mall quality. They have Borders, EH Eyewear, Lacoste, a spa, Techshowcase (for all your plug in needs), and a pharmacy.

All in all the experience was VERY enjoyable and if you live in NY or fly in to NY via JetBlue take a little time to enjoy the new terminal.


  • http://blog.deadlycomputer.com steve

    Which NYC area airport is this Dan?

  • http://www.uneasysilence.com Dan

    JFK

  • Roger

    Thanks for the review, Dan (and all of the other zillion posts this week). I don’t fly all that often, but always try to use JetBlue when I do (and have an Amex card that gets me free flights there, which is extra fun), and have been wondering when this terminal would open. Last time I traveled, it almost was, and I was delighted to find a sushi restaurant right there, sort of a ridiculous step up from the McDonald’s and Craperia that normally are there after you’ve gone through the security hoopla.

    For any of your non-NYC readers, I assure you that this is a BIG deal, since it’s really hard to predict how long it will take to get to any NYC-area airport. If you don’t want to be in a panic–or even possibly miss a flight because of a long delay whilst “security” checks you–you end up arriving with a lot of time to waste prior to your flight. So, to be able to connect and manage eating something without a “Mc-” in front of it makes the whole trip almost seem civilized.

  • Terri

    Um, not to disparage your detailed review, but my experience at the new terminal showed what is, to me, a glaring flaw in this new design. Those 20 security gates? They are bisected by a (presumably bomb and bullet-proof) plexiglass barrier. When I was there, November 1 at 7:30 AM, all passengers were herded up to the gates, and yelled at to place our carry-ons on the moving belt. Problem was that there was a big back up at the x-ray machines so our belongings immediately became inaccessible on the other side – many many feet away. I’m really bad at estimating distance, but this was waaay farther than a typical security conveyor belt. You could not see what was happening at the other end, other than a flurry of presumed travelers and TSA folks. All of us in line kept asking when we’d be able to go forward to claim our items. We just kept getting yelled at to keep feeding things onto the belt., although by this time it was clear that the people couldn’t move through as quickly as the baggage so people began refusing to place items on the belt until they saw the person in front of them had been completely cleared which would allow the next person to walk through the metal detectors and quickly claim their belongings before they were possibly taken by anyone else. So, in my judgment, this sparkly new terminal is much less than ideal.

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