Opinion: What flies with customers

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Just give me a close-in parking spot for not too much money. A trot to the flight gate that doesn’t feel like I’m in a walkathon. And rental cars right across the pickup area from the air terminal? Please, one hardly dreams of such a thing.

JetBlue has decided to stay at Long Beach airport after all, after earlier saying it might cut flights there because the airport hasn’t made upgrades on time, including new waiting areas.

Now, I’ll admit, I’ve seen better snack bars, but overall, I wonder if airline executives tend to see things the same way as their customers do.

Long Beach is a treasure for the nostalgic, a funky, tiny terminal where the long-term parking is less than a tenth of a mile from the terminal, and the walk to the gates from the front of the terminal is shorter than many a suburban lot. This place doesn’t buzz, it doesn’t hum, and it isn’t packed with homicidal drivers backed up for a mile. Not to mention it offers the chance to climb the stairs to your plane like you’re a 1930s movie star.

The agreement probably means changes are in store for the airport in the not-distant future. That might be a sad day. I’ll be the one clinging to her leatherette seat in the tacky portable-building waiting area.