On February 11, 2000, JetBlue Airways began flying. The sonic boom that was heard shortly after didn't come from their brand new Airbus 320.

JetBlue disrupted air travel and punched big airlines right in the mouth; American, Delta, United, etc., thought they had a firm hold on air travel.

They learned quickly that they were wrong.

JetBlue took the country by storm with brand new planes, TV screens in the back of seats, comfortable seats and a disrupting culture of fun, caring and eager-to-please employees, from baggage handlers to flight attendants to Pilots.

But their brilliance was behind the scenes; to offer competitive pricing, JetBlue had to be uber-efficient! So they bought fuel in advance to guard against price fluctuations, minimized their airport downtime (drastically reduced ground fees) and avoided big airports with premium maintenance and expensive docking fees.

They single-handedly turned an experienced most of us hated (scary, boring, cranky flight attendants) into repeatable behavior. Of course, you had to pay a price for flying JetBlue; limited routes and inconvenient airports, but their new tribe of loyal passengers didn't care.

And there's an incredibly valuable lesson in this case study; when delivering superior service with unmatched value, your customers are not only loyal but willing participants in your success.

Seth Godin asks about any business, "will they miss you if you're gone?" In JetBlue's case, you bet.

What do I mean by willing participants?

What other airline has the audacity to ask paying customers to help them clean the plane before landing?
What other airline has everyone willingly picking up their trash and handing it over to the flight attendant?

Everyone can offer amenities and force employees to be friendly, that's not the real story here. JetBlue is an efficient machine that minimizes waste and squeezes every cent towards profits.

EFFICIENCY=PROFITS

JetBlue wasn't without fault or failures, but they were forgiven. And, of course, everyone else rushed to imitate their model (but no one, to my knowledge, has the courage to ask passengers to clean after themselves). You must have a culture of efficiencies and uncompromising for the JetBlue model to work for you.