An extra $20 for leg room

One of the airlines - I don't recall which one - has a commercial that parodies the charges that carriers are tacking on, not just for a lousy sandwich, but for a pillow or a visit to the restroom. Funny, huh? Well, JetBlue is announcing a new program in which passengers can pay an extra $10 to $20 for four more inches of leg room (amount depends on the distance of the flight). The low-cost carrier reconfigured its fleet to offer six rows with 38 inches of "pitch," as opposed to the 34 inches in all other JetBlue coach rows. The industry average is about 31 to 32 inches - and as any passenger knows, those extra inches can make a big difference. Maybe it'll make a difference in its competition with Virgin America, which has quickly become the hot airline. It's certainly no coincidence that JetBlue is starting service in May out of LAX, where Virgin has several flights each day. JetBlue is also adding new routes at three other Socal airports). From USA Today:

The new routes will thrust JetBlue into competition with several rivals on the new routes. Just on the route between LAX and JFK, JetBlue will go head-to-head with rivals American, Delta and United. But, perhaps most importantly, the new JFK-LAX flights will also put JetBlue up against start-up carrier Virgin America, which began service between those cities last year. Many industry observers have suggested that JetBlue may be among the most vulnerable of existing U.S. carriers to incursions by Virgin America, which so far flies only to Las Vegas, LAX, New York JFK, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington Dulles.