When JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) shoved founder David Neeleman out from his CEO position in May, he described it as a "natural evolution of our leadership structure." Wow, that's more spin than you see at a dreidel at Hanukkah.

To say that things haven't gone JetBlue's way in 2007 may be an understatement. in February, thousands of fliers were left stranded in jam-packed aircraft that never took off because of inclement weather. To Neeleman's credit, he quickly owned up to the blunder and enacted a "bill of rights for customers" and apologized until he was blue in the face -- no pun intended.

Since his departure, Neeleman tried his hand at blogging, though his "flight log" hasn't had a new entry since November. Maybe he's busy counting his money. InsiderScore estimates that he's sold more than $30 million worth of stock over the past 18 months. That should help heal his wounded pride. Too bad that investors aren't so lucky.

Continue reading Money Losers of 2007: JetBlue's David Neeleman hits turbulence

Money Losers of 2007: JetBlue's David Neeleman hits turbulence originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Though JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU)'s Chief Executive Dave Barger seems to be bringing much needed focus to the plucky airline whose reputation was damaged by service disruptions in February, investors should continue to avoid the stock for now.

JetBlue currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 21, higher than Southwest Airlines Corp. (NYSE: LUV) and American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), so the shares are no bargain. Plus, Barger told the Wall Street Journal that he wasn't interested in selling the airline, which rules out any buyout premium.

"I wouldn't welcome any overture. In an acquisition, the product would get lost. The focus on costs would get lost," he told the paper. "Most importantly, this relationship we have with our crew members, 11,500 strong, [would be lost]. I just don't think that's a good solution for us."

Continue reading JetBlue not for sale or looking to buy another airline

JetBlue not for sale or looking to buy another airline originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When David Neeleman stepped down as CEO of JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU), the company he founded, the stock rallied. Some speculate that with Neeleman no longer in charge, the airline could be for sale. While anything is possible, I wouldn't get too excited, for a whole bunch of reasons.

First of all, Neeleman is only resigning as CEO. He will stay on as chairman and owns about 6% of the company. So if he doesn't want the company sold, it still probably won't happen. And even if he does, there's still the problem of finding a buyer. While the shares are beaten down, they're still not that cheap by any metric that I can see.

And then there's the reputation of the airline industry. As billionaire Richard Branson has said, "The fastest way to become a millionaire is to start off a billionaire and then buy an airline." Most of the major airlines are emerging from bankruptcy and are probably in no rush to take on a huge amount of debt buying JetBlue.

So while takeover speculation might be fun, it just doesn't really seem justified here.

Is JetBlue for sale? Will anyone buy it if it is? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 May 2007 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since mid-February, JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) has been in a state of meltdown, according to Julie Johnsson of The Chicago Tribune. JetBlue had to cancel over 1,000 flights and it took days to recover from that mess. Once the airline's home base at JFK Airport in New York City closed due to an ice storm, JetBlue had neither the planes nor the personnel to construct a work-around solution. JetBlue then compounded the problem by not canceling additional flights soon enough or by leaving airplanes stranded on taxiways for hours before eventually canceling the flights. Such widespread negative publicity sounds like a recipe for corporate disaster. To counteract the negative publicity, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman issued an apology to the traveling public and released JetBlue's new Customer Bill of Rights. It is difficult to tell who is more gullible, CEO Neeleman who thinks that a marketing ploy will undo horrendous negative publicity caused by systematic corporate malfunctioning or investors who have bid the stock up in recent days. JetBlue stock closed at $11.82 on Tuesday, 6 March, up 2%.

JetBlue's Customer Bill of Rights is merely boilerplate blather that presents passengers' legal rights as though JetBlue were doing them a favor. If the flight is delayed by 1-2 hours, the customer gets a voucher for $25. That may be enough to buy lunch at the airport. For delays 2-4 hours, the voucher increases to $50. But please bear in mind that these delays must be due to a "controllable irregularity," such term being nowhere spelled out in the Bill of Rights. If the plane has landed but cannot get to a gate to unload after 3 hours, the customer gets a free round trip ticket on the same airline that couldn't get the job done in the first place.

CEO Neeleman is very proud of the guarantee that if a JetBlue flight has been stranded on the taxiway for more than 5 hours, JetBlue promises to return to the terminal where customers can deplane and begin the process all over again. In such case, passengers may want to keep the number for Amtrak handy.

Jet Blue's lame bill of rights originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ:JBLU) suffered yet another humiliation in the press.

BusinessWeek dropped the low-cost carrier from its first-ever ranking of "client pleasing brands" following the recent embarrassing revelations that it left passengers stranded on the runway for 10 hours during an ice storm. The magazine compares how Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) handled a similar situation and finds that JetBlue's response fell way short.

The airline, of course, says the same thing. Chief Executive David Neeleman has apologized more than Mel Gibson, Michael Richards and Kevin Federline combined. Wait, Federline hasn't said he was sorry yet for his rap album but he should.

This reminds of a time when I was invited to a chemical plant for a safety demonstration. While I was on the site, there was an accident. Timing is everything.

Maybe BusinessWeek is being too harsh. Judging from the huge response to my last JetBlue post, there are plenty of people who think the airline's service is great. But as a great sage once said, actions speak louder than words.

JetBlue dumped from BusinessWeek customer service rankings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.