JetBlue begins daily service to Costa Rica

I've always been a fan of JetBlue [2]. Even more so now that the budget airline has announced that it will begin operating daily service between Orlando International Airport and San Jose's Juan Santamaria International Airport, beginning March 26. This will be the airline's first destination in Central America.

The flight will leave Orlando at 10:40 a.m. and arrive San Jose at 11:53 a.m., with plenty of time to settle into a nearby hotel, such as Hotel Grano de Oro [3] (my favorite hotel in San Jose) with time for afternoon sightseeing.

Now you can fly direct to Costa Rica (or with stopover service in other Central America nations) with virtually every North American carrier.

No doubt JetBlue was prompted by rival budget carrier Spirit Airlines' [4] Orlando-San Jose service, introduced in 2007 (Spirit also flies to Costa Rica from Fort Lauderdale). JetBlue will compete against Spirit's Airbus 319s (which have 31 inches of seat pitch) with E-190s (with 32 inches of pitch). However, JetBlue promises "unlimited" snack and beverage service, whereas barebones Spirit doesn't even provide water, which you have to buy! The latter's checked bagged charges are excessive too, so pack light folks. Carry on only is the way to go.

At a time when the Costa Rica Tourism Institute is fighting hard against sex tourism and sexual abuse of minors, Spirit's controversial sexually-themed advertising is a real turn-off. "Barely legal fares - from only 18¢"... "Red light specials"... "We're having a threesome"... "We're proud of our DDs"... and the "M.I.L.F" sale. Sure, Spirit promotes "MILF" as "Many islands, low fares" but, seriously folks, imagine a kid asking "Mommy, what is a M.I.L.F.?" (for those not in the know, it refers to "Mothers I'd like to ****").

Seems to me that JetBlue is the way to go.