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By the summer of 2004, I1 was in Colorado on vacation. I had heard about this new low-fare airline called JetBlue, which was launched in 1999. I had no idea where they operated, but I needed to fly between Washington and Atlanta, and couldn't quite get the times I wanted,
By the summer of 2004, I1 was in Colorado on vacation. I had heard about this new low-fare airline called JetBlue, which was launched in 1999. I had no idea where they operated, but I needed to fly between Washington and Atlanta, and couldn't quite get the times I wanted, so I decided to call JetBlue and see where exactly they flew. I confess I did have another motive. I 5 had heard that JetBlue had outsourced its entire reservation system to housewives in Utah, and I wanted to check this out. So I dialed JetBlue reservations and had the following conversation with the agent: "Hello, this is Dolly. Can I help you?" answered a grandmotherly voice. "Yes, I would like to fly from Washington to Atlanta," I said. "Do you fly that route?" 10 "No, I'm sorry we don't. We fly from Washington to Ft. Lauderdale," said Dolly. "How about Washington to New York City?" I asked. "I'm sorry, we don't fly that route. We do fly from Washington to Oakland and Long Beach," said Dolly. "Say, can I ask you something? Are you really at home? I read that JetBlue agents just work 15 at home." "Yes, I am," said Dolly in the most cheerful voice. (I later confirmed with JetBlue that her full name is Dolly Baker.) "I am sitting in my office upstairs in my house, looking out the window at a beautiful sunny day. Just five minutes ago someone called and asked me that same question and I told them and they said, 'Good, I thought you were going to tell me you were in New 20 Delhi.'" "Where do you live?" I asked. "Salt Lake City, Utah," said Dolly. "We have a two-story home, and I love working here, especially in the winter when the snow is swirling and I am up here in the office at home." "How do you get such a job?" I asked. 25 "You know, they don't advertise," said Dolly in the sweetest possible voice. "It's all by word of mouth. I worked for the state government and I retired, and [after a little while] I thought I have to do something else and I just love it." David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue Airways Corp., has a name for all this. He calls it "homesourcing." JetBlue now has four hundred reservation agents, like Dolly, working at home 30