Review of JetBlue Airways flight from New York to Chicago in Economy

Background:
While living in New York City I had the idea to try an airline I wanted to fly with for a long time. JetBlue - a young, modern and innovational carrier with a fleet of Airbus and Embraer jets. My destination happened to be Chicago.
As a tourist I want to experience the strenghts and weaks of cities, to have a good insight into it it makes sense to me to try public transportation, because riding taxis basically is everywhere the same.
Flight-Report:
This time I used the NYC Airporter, a shuttle bus connection between multiple stops in Manhattan and the different terminals at JFK.

Unfortunately this was not the best solution for me, as the whole trip took me about 90 minutes (30 minutes longer than with the subway).

In addition the free Wifi did not work at all.

After stopping at almost each of the Terminals it finally reached JetBlues modern T5 on the arrivals level.

After taking the escalator up you will find yourself in the check-in area.

Printing my boarding pass at one of the self check-in machines …

… and dropping my bag off at one of the counters. Unfortunately the lady was not able (or did not want) to print me a real boarding card.

Another weird thing is that passengers have to take their bag again, walk around the counter to the back and place it onto the belt. One of the most idiotic check-in processes I have ever experienced!

I already though if I should purchase Even More Speed to skip the line at the security check, but it turned out that there was no line at all. The check itself was also quite fast, at least faster than what you are used to by TSA.

Right after the security checkpoint.

The destinations on the flight board are arranged alphabetically.

No system works perfect.

A clip for people who are curious how a jet engine works.

And if even that is not enough: A real engine.

A view of the beautiful decorated Christmas tree.

All over the terminal these iPads are free to use. Something you just might know from Virgin America is that you can order food and drinks from the restaurants in the terminal by the tap of your finger.

This I would call a security breach.

While watching the happenings at the apron, I coincidentally saw the first newly repainted Austrian 767-300ER passing by.

JetBlue A320

A brand new A321 delivered in October 2015.

Maybe somebody knows the reason for placing two connected pylons behind the wheel? This was the first time I encountered something like that.

And here's the main person of this whole report.
The aircraft was an Embraer ERJ-190AR with the registration N353JB. In 2012 it entered service and since then it is part of the JetBlue Airways fleet. It is configured with 100 seats.

At gate 5 just before boarding.

Wow that's a huge seat pitch! Compared to other US carriers JetBlue offers the most leg room in Economy Class. As the overhead bins were completely filled I had to store my jacket under the front seat.

The controls for the screens are located in the armrests.

The image was not that good, but at least I had a personal screen on such a short flight, what I absolutely was not used to.

In the seatpocket I found a safety card …

… and a kind of inflight magazine. The user NGO85 has already reviewed it before.

Unfortunately the Fly-Fi did not work on this flight. Maybe the aircraft was not even equipped with it.

Soon the FAs went through the cabin and took drink orders. The system is a bit weird, because they have to walk between the galley and the seats for almost each passenger individually. Advantage: They don't block the aisle with a trolley.
I went for an Apple Juice. Surprisingly the FA gave me two of it.

Later they went with a snack-basket through the cabin. I grabbed a bag of Skeeters.

Then after some time the idiot - I mean passenger - in front of me decided to lean back and make himself comfortable.

This flight was fully booked. By the way: JetBlue states they never overbook their flights and everybody can select their seat already upon booking.

I went back to have a small chat with the two flight attendants.

A short glance at the airshow map during approach. I apologize for the bad low-light performance of my camera…

The last minutes before touchdown.

My seat.

Just as everybody left the aircraft the crew started preparing the cabin for the return flight.

I did not like the look of Terminal 3 here so much.
Two ATMs facing each other.

The walk to the baggage claim was quite short and my bag arrived just as I got there.

American Airlines should have chosen screens which are more suitable for running 24/7.

The gloomy way to the Blue Line (subway) going to the city.

A single ride starting at O'Hare costs $5, a day pass (valid for 24 hours) is $10.

After a 40 minutes ride which sounds endless, but was not that bad, I was in downtown Chicago.

Staying at the Swissôtel located on E Wacker Drive with a great view of the river.