David Neeleman Quotations

We're reviewing everything to see how we can do it better, faster, and more efficiently.

And, of course, customers really need to feel safe and are seeking reassurance when they fly.

I'm always crunching numbers, so my calculator watch is a must.

I believe the public's confidence would be increased if the federal government took over the functions of airport security screening for all passengers.

What you can't buy is the loyalty that comes through our dedicated crewmembers.

It's so important to experience what your customers are experiencing and listen to their suggestions.

Value will always be on top of everyone's lists now, right along with safety.

I also really like getting to know our crew members better.

Just keep thinking about the good side of ADD - the creativity and the originality it can stimulate.

We tried to set up a company that patterned ourselves after Southwest in all the fun, the spirit, the great people, the smile, the efficiency side of it, but we've added some extras that people aren't used to finding on Southwest.

This is not a business where you can hand off and run by remote control.

I actually thrive on all the challenges, and I don't feel like ADD has impaired my ability.

Certainly, we are hurt by the high fuel prices because it raises our cost.

And you've got to remember that I'm also the father of nine children.

Our people get profit-sharing checks. I got a report the other day that says that 84 percent of our people participate in our stock purchase program, where they can buy stock at a 15 percent discount.

Seat assignment didn't matter if you're flying Dallas to Houston and you did it 38 times a day. People just got on, you didn't sit next to your wife, and it was a 45-minute flight. It didn't matter.

A lot of airlines have come and gone.

I really see low-fare carriers, quality low-fare carriers anyway, continuing to become more and more popular.

The Blackberry is really essential for keeping up on my emails when I'm out of the office, which is a lot.

I think they got caught up in how much money they could get from each of the city governments as far as tax rebates. But that stuff works when you make money. It's a little bit phantom money.

People were desperately trying to fill their seats for the summer. And so prices are really low right now. And so they are kept from raising prices to make up for that difference.

We are just interested in dealing with the people were paying every day. We know federal law allows them to vote in a union at anytime, but we think we can resist that by talking to our own people and giving them enough upside.

We don't want a third party who may or may not have our best interests in mind or our crew members' best interests in mind because they may be serving a union of one of our competitors. They are trying to equalize us and take away our competitive advantage.

We're going to look at (slowing deliveries) very seriously as we look at our routes and where the capability is and where the substantial profitability (is).

We're going to diversify the route system into a lot of new routes. We feel really good about what we're doing going forward.

When you can sell [empty seats] at the gate for an upgrade for 500 bucks or 600 bucks... it makes all the sense in the world.

You can't charge for anything in Brazil.

There's just things that are against the law.

I just don't think it's good public policy to tax fuel. It's kind of silly. It stops people from traveling and actually costs the economy more money than what you gain in the taxes.

Fares are higher [and] people don't travel as much. If they don't do that, it doesn't have the trickle down effect into the economy and the other sectors.

I think because of all of the difficulties in Europe with terrorism and stuff, a lot of people ended up going to Portugal. They felt, I think, safer in Portugal.

Even though Brazil has been up and down and had some difficulties, it's still a very big country, and a very important country. It's got the fourth largest domestic market in the world.

If you want to go to Spain or you want to go to France or you want go to [any] southern European countries, [Lisbon] is a great place to [connect].

I think there's a big market in North America [with travelers] going to Lisbon and connecting over Lisbon.

When you do consolidation, you get rid of flying and you get rid of routes.

People who invest in aviation are the biggest suckers in the world.

The Lisbon hub is important to Portugal, the country. That's not going to go away. It needs to be there. The country depends on tourism.

People don't really look forward to flying that much. It's like they want to get to the place, but they don't look forward to the experience.

With high trust, success comes faster, better, and at lower cost.

Trust strikes at the heart of our success at JetBlue. Trust is key to the speed of our growth. The Speed of Trust articulates better than any book that trust is the one thing that changes everything-in business and in life. With high trust, success comes faster, better, and at lower cost.

People do a better job if they respect the leader of the company. I learned that on my mission -- the value of people and how to truly appreciate them,

Nobody ever thought about having to protect the passengers from the pilots.

If it's torture flying one airline and [yours] is a pleasant experience, it certainly helps your revenue.

Of course, we should all be aware of what we're packing in our carry-on luggage - anything that might be considered dangerous could be confiscated at a security checkpoint.

One of the constraints on the U.S. business is the pilot shortage. There's not an abundance of pilots. There may be an abundance of cheap fuel and airplanes. There probably isn't an abundance of gates at popular airports, either.

In the midst of all the chaos swirling through your brain, all the disorganization and impulsiveness, the condition (ADHD) also seems to trigger a certain kind of creativity.

I think that as the market moves and costs get higher and fares get higher, it always creates opportunity. That's been the cycle over the years.

Those wedgie seats, whatever they call them, those recliners, they're just not competitive anymore. The difference between those and a coach seat isn't that great to be able to warrant charging the amount. You need a little more space for a lie-flat, but not that much more.

I think there's new optimism in Brazil. The Olympics went well. Our demand is good. Costs are down. We're back in the black. We're feeling really good about what's going on in Brazil.

Never, ever forget that you are a servant.

You don’t have to spend a jillion dollars on advertising to get your word out. What matters is that customers have a good experience with your product at every single point of contact.

Richmond will play an important part of that. If we're successful in Richmond, we're going to add more flights and more cities.

I think it hurts profitability more than the business because the airlines have tried and tried to pass on higher fares, and it's not going to happen.

I think we can do better than that as we go forward.

Right now only 15 percent of costs are fuel-related. If costs double that has an effect, but it will be less on us than our competitors. It's not alarming right now.

Our major headquarters is at John F. Kennedy airport. We are four miles from the airport and are on top of our operations everyday.

London and New York through a secondary airport. There could be a new international model. We're just not anxious to get into that market.

Without a doubt, it's been the events of September 11th and their aftermath. There's never been a more critical time in the airline business.

We probably priced too high on the top end, and too low on the bottom end.

There are a lot of people interested in our network. We could have something by the end of 2006.

We're the No. 1 airline at Kennedy, and we're going to defend Kennedy. We don't believe Delta is doing well here.

We are very disappointed in our performance this quarter as we continued to feel the effects of record-high fuel prices and a tough revenue environment, compounded by the impact of Hurricane Wilma and the residual effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

We are going to cut our cost and figure out how our average fares can go up a bit.

Be it $15 million here and $11 million there, it takes hundreds of millions to be successful in this business.

It would be nice to have hedges like Southwest. But frankly, we don't. So we need to see what we can do to get fares up a little bit.

Of course, we should all be aware of what we're packing in our carry-on luggage - anything that might be considered dangerous could be confiscated at a security checkpoint.