JetBlue TrueBlue - unethical advertising by Jetblue

Got an e mail saying jetblue was running fantastic fares throughout their system. Went to the website and seemed I could never find the quoted fare on either the JFK/FLL rt fares or the JFK/SJU fares. But at least on the SJU fares they say pointedly that the fare is only good on one flight each way. I have never been a big fan of Jetblue and this kind of misleading advertising only serves to turn me completely off to them.

Mary-
Please put in specific days. I did a random search in Sept, Oct and Nov and came up with $59 OW for 90% of the JFK-FLL trips.

(did you notice the ad said, "Sale fares are not available between Nov. 20 - Dec. 2, 2003."?)

I found that you needed to have at least 14 days notice. For a trip I want to make (this weekend), the fares don't apply.

I never had a problem finding the lowest fare on jetBlue, most of my flights are booked with the superfly fares. In one case, I booked a $149 ticket and got $50 refunded as credits cause jetBlue lowered the fare to $99 for the 4th of july weekend.

I'm also finding the fares...

Heading out so don't have much time, but briefly, I was doing JFK/FLL rt departing 12/3 and returning 12/7. I didn't find one fare that was $59. I bought AA which was only $150. rt out of lga. Haven't check back so it may be available now but it wasn't when I looked.

Have fun sitting on the LGA runway! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

What were the dates promised in the ad? believe it started in September, but when did it end?

14-day advance purchase is required. Tickets must be purchased on jetblue.com by Aug. 27 for travel between Sept. 3 - Dec. 17. Sale fares are not available between Nov. 20 - Dec. 2, 2003.


<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jeffreyt:
What were the dates promised in the ad? believe it started in September, but when did it end? </font>

And I suspect, like most sale fares, they are capacity controlled. In other words, there are only a small number of seats on a given flight that will be sold at the very cheap fare, or the fare will only be offered until the flight is x% full. Wait too long and you won't get it. (Sometimes "too long" is just hours.) Pick a popular time and you won't get it. This happens on every other airline as well; can't see how it's particular to JetBlue or where the "unethical advertising" is. It's the same thing every other airline does with sale fares.

Edit: Just to ensure I knew I was talking about, I went over to the JetBlue site. The very first thing in the small print says "Seats are limited and may not be available on all flights." As I said, this is the same thing every airline, including other low-fare airlines, do with sale fares. Singling out JetBlue for this standard practice is hardly appropriate.


[This message has been edited by CrazyOne (edited 08-02-2003).]

I understand capacity controls, but if I get an e mail from an airline and immediately go to the website and look for tickets and there are absolutely no sale prices available for my date at any time, I do get suspicious.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marysunshine:
I understand capacity controls, but if I get an e mail from an airline and immediately go to the website and look for tickets and there are absolutely no sale prices available for my date at any time, I do get suspicious.</font>

SUSPICIOUS? You're trying for Dec. 3rd, the 1st day applicable after the blackout period, which usually ends up selling out pretty fast. You also want to return on Dec. 7th, which being a Sunday, probably doesn't apply for the $59.00 fare.

Dec. 4th has a flight available at $59.00, if you're going to be suspicious, then you should base it on not finding any promotional fare around the time you wish to travel and not on one specific date. As the fine print says on all airline ads, "Seats are limited and may not be available on all flights." Sometimes, one needs to check +/- 1 day.

Good luck in your future fare searches.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marysunshine:
I understand capacity controls, but if I get an e mail from an airline and immediately go to the website and look for tickets and there are absolutely no sale prices available for my date at any time, I do get suspicious.</font>

Some times those e-mail go out a day or two after the airline posted the sale in their promotional section, in jetBlue's case, it would be in SuperFly. Also in addition to SuperFly fares, you might also want to keep up with the press releases sent out by jetBlue, especially the one about a new destination. Take Oakland to Atlanta Non-Stop for example, the press release were sent out but it was not advertised or posted anywhere for a week or two. However, during that time, the OAK to ATL nonstop fare were on sale and those that read the press releases or went to make a reservation for an flight between OAK and ATL took advantage of the introductory fares before it was even posted in SuperFly or sent out in a e-mail. My advice is to read press releases and check the website everyday if you really want to take advantage of low sale fares... don't just rely on the e-mail

It doesn't matter if you knew about the sale a microsecond after they added the fares to their system. If you choose dates with full flights, you're not going to get the cheap fares. That's part of what "Seats are limited and may not be available on all flights" means. It's what every airline has done for years. If you want to argue about all airlines' annoying fare tactics, that's fine, but there is nothing specific to JetBlue in this complaint.

This is such a basic premise of fare shopping that I'm surprised it has caused so much discussion. The airline, in announcing a sale, is hardly going to go back to a flight that's already x% full and sell tickets for the really cheap fare. It just never happens. And they're perfectly justified in doing that. If the flight is under the target percentage full, then there will be sale fares on it. Simple. Part of the game is figuring out which flights are empty enough to have the sale fares. And as I said before, it's the same with every airline.

Okay, I will say "Uncle" . After reading all of these responses, perhaps I over-reacted. However I have to say once again that i did get my nonstops on the date I wanted on AA for $150. and after checking it is now down to $130, which is not much of a difference than the sale fare on Jetblue. So now everyone is happy, I have my cheap fare and Jetblue has their full planes. AND now I get to increase my AA ff miles as well. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I am happy you found your fare. You have B6 to thank for getting that fare on AA. (which is good for me too since I am AA GLD)


<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marysunshine:
Okay, I will say "Uncle" . After reading all of these responses, perhaps I over-reacted. However I have to say once again that i did get my nonstops on the date I wanted on AA for $150. and after checking it is now down to $130, which is not much of a difference than the sale fare on Jetblue. So now everyone is happy, I have my cheap fare and Jetblue has their full planes. AND now I get to increase my AA ff miles as well. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

I cant resist http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif...and increase your wait time on the runway and/or gate at LGA.