Just thought I would add my two cents. I don't fly JetBlue as I'm stuck in flyover land. But... I was trying to help a friend get to Cancun next January. Looking for BOS-CUN Jan 8-13. B6 was an obvious choice as they're the only carrier flying BOS-CUN n/s. I figured that because there is no n/s competition the tickets would be a little more expensive.
Care to guess what Jan 8th to 13th for BOS-CUN costs? Try $1,115.30 USD!
For comparison's sake, the one-stop through JFK is $449. That's quite the premium for the n/s. 2.48x as much.
One-stop flights on Travelocity are pricing out to $327 on other carriers.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cs19
Care to guess what Jan 8th to 13th for BOS-CUN costs? Try $1,115.30 USD!
For comparison's sake, the one-stop through JFK is $449. That's quite the premium for the n/s. 2.48x as much.
This is not completely uncommon. When a carrier has a lock on a non-stop market they will take advantage of that. EWR-MSP is outrageously expensive between CO and NW, but there are a ton of one-stop options or other non-stop options from LGA/JFK that are much less expensive. EWR-IAH is another market where CO charges a ton more for the non-stop versus a one-stop via ATL or a number of other cities.
It is also possible/likely that the lower fare buckets are not available on the dates you're looking at. That's a holiday weekend, right? I'm sure that JetBlue is hoping that some people buy the $509 tickets now. They can always sell lower fares closer to the actual trip dates. There are a bunch of fares in that market: [KVS Availability Tool 3.1.0/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US/USD]
Code:
BOS Boston Logan Int'l MA US [KBOS]
CUN Cancun MX [MMUN]
THU 08 Jan 2009 / TUE 13 Jan 2009 / RT
Carrier From To Fare Cur Fare Basis
--------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- ---- ----------
B6 BOS CUN 196 USD O3T
B6 BOS CUN 338 USD M14
B6 BOS CUN 398 USD R7
B6 BOS CUN 458 USD V7
B6 BOS CUN 518 USD L7
B6 BOS CUN 578 USD B3
B6 BOS CUN 678 USD Q
B6 BOS CUN 758 USD HZ
B6 BOS CUN 778 USD H
B6 BOS CUN 898 USD KZ
B6 BOS CUN 898 USD K
B6 BOS CUN 998 USD EZ
B6 BOS CUN 1018 USD E
B6 BOS CUN 1198 USD Y
The O fare requires travel at less than ideal times and the other buckets are zero'd out. I doubt it is because the flight is full; JetBlue is just hoping someone buys seats now at the higher price.
And there's an MCO connection option, too, though the website might not offer it to you.
Fares in excess of $1000 for BOS-CUN, which basically is a vacation flight, is in my opinion irrational.
Do you think that the average american has $1000 pp just for a flight to spend 5 days Cancun?? Hello??? Anyone home?? Heard of "foreclosure", "skyhigh gasprices", or "recession"?
One more seemingly irrational price: On 9/12/08, it costs $169 to fly SEA-JFK, or $154 to fly SEA-JFK-BUF...
jokes about Buffalo aside, I'm pretty sure I've seen threads on FT about the morality/advisability of booking a ticket like this and skipping the second leg, but I couldn't find anything specific to B6...
One more seemingly irrational price: On 9/12/08, it costs $169 to fly SEA-JFK, or $154 to fly SEA-JFK-BUF...
jokes about Buffalo aside, I'm pretty sure I've seen threads on FT about the morality/advisability of booking a ticket like this and skipping the second leg, but I couldn't find anything specific to B6...
Trying to book NYC-BTV for a long weekend in June. Comparing the cheapest flight on each carrier selling non-stop tix on the route, jetBlue is again the highest:
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Summer fares are way up this year. Partly fuel, partly that the airlines expect to sell every seat. For the same reason, awards will be hard to use this summer. Maybe we'll get some relief in the fall and winter.
I was recently flying with my family JFK-PHX. I decided to fly JetBlue because of a number of reasons, newer aircraft, tv in every seat, seat pitch, etc. - and it was worth to me to pay $600 more (for 4) than some other offers I have seen for the same dates. I think people realize that JetBlue has a fine product that is worth something. Now, whenever I have to travel, I'll check JetBlue first, then look at Virgin, then CO/NW/DL or UA. I would never even consider US or AA - no matter what the cost difference is.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nerd
Trying to book NYC-BTV for a long weekend in June. Comparing the cheapest flight on each carrier selling non-stop tix on the route, jetBlue is again the highest:
NYC New York Metro NY US = JFK LGA
BTV Burlington Int'l VT US [KBTV]
FRI 20 Jun 2008 / MON 23 Jun 2008 / RT
Carrier From To Fare Cur Fare Basis
--------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- ---- ----------
B6 NYC BTV 158 USD R21X57
DL NYC BTV 167 USD UC21ABV6
UA NYC BTV 188 USD SA21ON2A
B6 NYC BTV 198 USD V14
UA NYC BTV 218 USD L14NX
B6 NYC BTV 218 USD L7
DL NYC BTV 227 USD U14NBVX
UA NYC BTV 238 USD T7NX
DL NYC BTV 247 USD L7NBVX
B6 NYC BTV 258 USD B3
UA NYC BTV 278 USD V3NX
B6 NYC BTV 278 USD Q3
DL NYC BTV 287 USD K3NBVX
US NYC BTV 288 USD UJAVNA2
UA NYC BTV 298 USD S3NX
DL NYC BTV 307 USD Q3NBVX
B6 NYC BTV 318 USD H
US NYC BTV 328 USD RXAUNA2
UA NYC BTV 338 USD V0NX
DL NYC BTV 347 USD Q0NBVX
US NYC BTV 348 USD KXA7NA2
B6 NYC BTV 378 USD K
US NYC BTV 388 USD EXA3NA2
I culled the list a bit, but as you can see, B6 still has the lowest published fare on the route. They've zeroed out inventory, but they do have the lowest published fare. That they don't want to sell any more at that price is their prerogative, and flying a different carrier is yours.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sbm12
B6 still has the lowest published fare on the route. They've zeroed out inventory, but they do have the lowest published fare.
I've noticed this sort of thing for years with Southwest. Other airlines are often willing to sell deeply discounted seats on flights that are guaranteed to sell out anyway. Southwest typically insists on higher prices at peak times on peak dates, relenting about 8 weeks before departure if sales are too slow. The other guys do it backwards, selling the cheap seats 11 months ahead and then not being able to sell full fares a week ahead because the flight is fully booked.
But I've started to see signs that the legacy carriers are catching on, and charging more for Friday and Sunday flights, for example. Restricted standby policy (Southwest's is among the most restrictive) is an essential ingredient, to prevent you from buying the cheap off-peak flight and flying on the peak hour flight.
It is a little misleading I think to simply price check a route and then post and represent that information as proof of an airline's apparent overpricing their product relative to competition.
A variable such as time out from travel for those itineraries being searched for months in advance may also lead you to conclude that the airline simply has a different pricing strategy and if the product is not "worth"(to the public in general) the higher price at a far out date, you can probably rest assured that the price will come down as it gets closer to travel date.
Another variable with the power to affect a quoted price would be advance bookings on any given flight. Jetblue has maintained in conference calls that demand has remained strong where other airlines have complained about a slackening of demand. It could be that the price you witness is an effect of the plane being nearer to capacity than the competition.
That being said, it would not surprise me if a thorough analysis concluded that the airline is overpricing their competition as it would be in line with the differentiation strategy the new ad campaign seems to be striving for. Whether or not these fares remain above the competition depends on whether Jetblue customers value the airline and its product at a premium(and if so, how much) to their competition.
Obviously, some of the prices being quoted here are not going to result in a full aircraft no matter who the customer base is. If you're looking for a deal and can wait I would imagine that one will be coming your way.
Thanks sbm12 for posting the fare bucket information as it shows us that at the least lower fares are still in the system, even if they may be starting to collect dust.
I culled the list a bit, but as you can see, B6 still has the lowest published fare on the route. They've zeroed out inventory, but they do have the lowest published fare.
Clearly, no one is concerned what the lowest published fare is.
JetBlue should charge the most they can; I agree. It's their perception of being low-cost that I think they unfairly get away with. But again, if it works, they should tap it for all it's worth.
