Hustle Award: JetBlue Airways

I always appreciate people who work hard. I was raised to believe that a little sweat and hard work goes a long way.

This week, the JetBlue team impressed me with its worth ethic, and as a result, it has earned more of my loyalty.

I flew to New Orleans for work, and my return flight was scheduled for Thursday mid-day, a direct flight from Louis Armstrong Field to Boston.

Arriving at the airport the customary two hours early, the line at the JetBlue counter stretched out the front door of the terminal. A power outage, I was told, made things a mess. The guy in front of me was on a 10:30 flight to New York. It was already 10 in the morning.

I looked up and saw a literal flurry of activity behind the JetBlue counter. It was organized chaos, including numerous employees who-- my guess is-- don't normally haul bags around.

With that type of effort, it did not take me long to check in.

At the gate, the aircraft I was to ride to Boston was delayed inbound. I would find out later the delay was due to a mechanical check-up at the plane's origin.

When the plane finally landed an hour late, the ground team in New Orleans, along with the flight attendants, cleaned and serviced the aircraft in about ten minutes. A half hour later, I was in the air on the way to Boston.

It's not often that I praise airlines, because, frankly, there's rarely praise worth bestowing. But JetBlue this week put a lot of extra effort into their service. And this weary passenger definitely appreciated it.

P.S. The guy in front of me made his flight to New York, too.