At the end of last week, one of our travel-nerd dreams came true: we were given late-night, behind-the-scenes access to JetBlue's JFK Terminal 5, which is scheduled to open this Wednesday, October 22nd.

For those readers who are unaware: JetBlue has just spent one billion dollars on a project that promises to change the way New Yorkers experience air travel. And unlike any airline in history, in the process they've partnered with actual New York City chefs at the very top of their industry, to bring their talent and food to the airport. 

What we saw convinced us they're on the right track. Though there's still lots of last minute work to do, the staff was working away until the wee hours of the night, confident they'd be ready on opening day.

As frequent travelers, however, the thing that's exciting us most about the the terminal isn't the food or design - it's the promise of excellent customer service. In our experience, every airport transaction seems to be defined by two attitudes from staff: vague disgust or sheer apathy. The shiny new Terminal 5, however, struck as a place where a new hospitality philosophy could be born. And it seems to be a goal everyone at the terminal shares.

I spoke to one manager, for example, who's in charge of multiple restaurants. A seasoned NYC restauranteur and serious foodie, his focus during our conversation was on his experience of hiring and training a new team to work in this flagship terminal.

"It's a huge change, of course, coming from the trendy restaurant scene in Manhattan to Queens - and to an airport. Some of my friends in the industry think I'm crazy; they're acting like I've decided to go work at McDonald's," he confided. 

"At the same time, there was no way I was going to turn this opportunity down. It's a pretty crazy challenge, after all - nothing like this has been done before. We're trying to completely change the way people experience food - and drinks - when they're waiting for a flight. We're also trying to match the excellence of the food with an unprecedented level of customer service, which is a tough goal in its own right. Obviously we have new team members here at the airport who are less experienced than their Manhattan-restaurant counterparts. But we've hired really enthusiastic people, hard workers who are excited and proud to be working on this project. You're going to get an entirely different level of service at Terminal 5 than you would elsewhere." 

It's quite a promise and we admit we remain a bit cynical on its execution. Then again, this manager greeted everyone we passed, including the security guards, by name and with a smile; and the staff genuinely seemed happier than any other airport employees we've seen. Whether the workers can keep up this camraderie when the doors open on Wednesday is one thing. But at least for now, during crunch time, it seems like everyone at Terminal 5 was trying to live up to the hype.

And not to sound like we're shilling for JetBlue (seriously, we're not) but we have to mention one other thing. We love the idea of using technology to streamline anything at the airport, and the automated, gateside kiosks that are installed seem pretty slick (they're pictured; basically, you can order food from a touch-screen and servers will bring your items over to you). 

There's also a very strong rumor that there's going to be another, even cooler way to order your apple cobbler, one that tech geeks are going to love. We can't say any more than that. But we're excited!

On a final note: for readers who are more interested in the food aspect of Terminal 5 than anything else, we did talk comestibles with our source and we were able to get our hands on the latest menus (which are still subject to change, even as the hours count down). We'll be publishing the most delicious of the bunch later tomorrow. 

So stay tuned and let us know: are you as excited about Terminal 5 as we are? (Or is that pretty much impossible?)

xo

your jauntsetter team