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David Neeleman
JetBlue's CEO answers our questions
Wednesday, March 1, 2006;
Window or aisle?
The last thing I ate from a minibar?
I won't leave home without...
The best trip I've ever taken? And why?
My dream trip?
My greatest travel pet peeve?
How I deal with jetlag?
If I could travel with any living person...
I'll never go back to _________And why?
If I could be anywhere right now...
Jumpseat. When I'm flying on planes I like to hang out in the back with the flight crew and help serve the customers. Some days I'd rather sit and watch TV, but I learn a lot from hanging out with our customers and crew. I think it's time well spent.
I'm a budget traveler. I'm too cheap to buy anything from a minibar. I won't pay two bucks for a candy bar.
My Blackberry charger and a calculator watch. The charger because if I run out of juice I can stay connected and my watch because I'm always thinking about new deals so I've got to have it to run the numbers.
Paraty, Brazil. It's an over 400-year-old town with a bunch of little islands off the coast. I was there with my family and on the way home we stopped at the Embraer factory and looked at our new planes being built. It was a great trip.
I've been trying to get my wife and family to go to Rome. I'm a Christian history guy so I'm interested in visiting the museums there. The movie or book that inspired me to pack my bags? Southwest Airlines annual report.
No TV's on airplanes that aren't mine. It's just boring. There's got to be something in the seatback that entertains people, not some three-month-old movie that's ten or twelve rows away.
I don't really get jetlag. When I get to the place that I'm going to, I never sleep out of rhythm. If I've been up all night and I get to my destination at ten in the morning, I don't go to bed. I wait until it's the hour to go to sleep, and even if I go to bed early, like eight or nine o'clock, I just fight through it. Don't ever arrive at noon, go to sleep and wake up at five in the afternoon--you'll never get over it. You'll be up all night and the cycle will continue.
My father. He's getting along in his years and we've got precious time over the next ten or fifteen years. I'd like to spend as much time as I can with him. He travels a lot and knows the world, like every great restaurant to go to. He's a blast to travel with.
I'm not a very picky traveler. I'm not someone who needs to stay in the best hotels. Every place I go I find interesting. I can't think of anyplace that I've been that I wouldn't go back to. India's an interesting place. I've never been there, but my dad claims that his best two days in India was the day he visited the Taj Mahal and the day he left for home.
I wouldn't want to be anywhere but where I am now.