JetBlue TrueBlue - Reduced Change Fee for Flights Under $100!

Hi all,

I decided to start a new thread for this, as the original one is lengthy.

When JetBlue increased the change fee to $100, an initial complaint was that some fares are less than $100 and actually changing that flight would not be worth it. In yesterday's TB statement, you can see that there is now a lower change fee for fares under $100. I believe this will be $50.

Directly from the statement:

Low fares, low fees
If you booked a flight for less than $100 and need to make a change or cancellation, we are now charging a reduced change/cancel fee, regardless of booking date.

Enjoy!

Nice that they were finally able to see the light on this one. The change fee is the one fee that I believed to be counter productive. The higher the change fee the longer people will wait to buy tickets. If you buy in advance and have to make a change, you basically have to buy a whole new ticket anyway so why bother to book early unless you are absolutely sure of the dates and that the fare will not increase at least $100.

Any more specifics on this? I tried booking a $64 one-way on the site today, and the fine print right on the booking page still said $100 change fee. Obviously the change-fee-wipes-out-the-ticket problem is not nearly unique to jetBlue (with change fees of $150, most US majors wipe out even more expensive tickets), but I am interested to see how and when jetBlue will implement their new policy. I highly doubt anyone else will follow suit.

So essentially, they are admitting that this is a purely arbitrary fee, and is not really tied to the cost of processing the transaction.....

And yes, this is not just a JetBlue specific criticism -- it applies to all airlines and their ridiculous change fees.

The new policy was implemented immediately. Although it was mentioned in the TB email/statement last week, I don't think it will be "advertised" -- Just like the fact that you can get a full credit on a fare drop is not really "advertised." Also, I remember in the past (with the ~$25/$40 change fees) that the change fee was waived when the fare difference exceeded $100. This was not really "advertised" either...frequent JetBlue customers just (like here on FT) just knew it. Don't expect a change of wording in the T&C on fare rules/Contract of Carriage/etc. - just a way to be customer friendly when it comes to lower fares/change fees.

any reduction in fees is a good thing...

it may not be advertised for all customer, but I'm glad its discussed here so I know what to do when I'm flying.

--Russ