ATOBTTR

ChinaShrek

Thank you for the suggestions. I am going to book out of PWM. I can probably make the PWM-IAD-FLL flight at 2:15. I also think there are fewer delays in Dulles than Newark. Plus, as you say, I can always get re-routed of our Boston if the PWM flight is cancelled.

BearX220

In OP's scenario, absolutely, positively stay away from JetBlue. In the event of weather or tech delays / cancels, B6 leaves you on your own. I have had enough B6 failures in mission-critical situations that I only book JetBlue now if it doesn't really matter when I get there. Do not risk it when you have a boat to catch.

aacar

The AA option through PHL leaving at 5:44 PM may be a bit safer, as it's all mainline (on United it would be a CR2 to IAD). AA is also quite a bit cheaper.

pbjag

ijgordon

+1 on the B6 will leave you high and dry in IRROPs, and modest chance of that in late December (probably not as bad as Jan/Feb though). B6 is quick to cancel flights in bad weather, and probably won't be able to rebook you until 3 days later. Just happened to my parents coming from FL to EWR in August. It was very stressful, but fortunately not $$$$.

However, that's a busy travel period to Florida and even DL may have a hard time re-accommodating you. AA might be a better choice because they have PHL, CLT and DCA alternatives (though not DCA-FLL, you'd have to do MIA or PBI), whereas DL really only has ATL (NYC would probably, though not necessarily, have similar issues to BOS).

I would probably recommend travel insurance, though I'm not entirely sure if it's normal practice to cover the fare differential if you have to buy a last-minute fare out-of-pocket due to a weather cancellation.

wrp96

With a 5pm departure, you have to be onboard no later than 3:30pm or you will be standing onshore waving goodbye to your ship.

tphuang

this fear over irrop stuff is getting out of control. B6 has a billion flights to FLL out of North East. If all of the 5 or 6 flights BOS-FLL get canceled, there are still 6 flights a day to JFK/EWR/LGA each + 10 to DCA, which will allow you to transit to any number of FLL flights.

I've taken many flights with B6 and never had an issue outside being late sometimes.

If you are worried about JetBlue flight being late, book the earliest BOS-FLL flight of the morning. How often do you think they are 5 hours late?

This forum is getting so ridiculous.

Edited: I've actual done a search on google of all the flights on that day getting to FLL by 3 pm and of duration < 9 hours.
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=B...;sd:1;t:f;tt:o
There are 3 non-stop flights on B6 + 2 connection. All of them get there before 1:30.

There are 1 direct flight on DL + 4 connection itinerary (including 2 going through NYC airports). Only one of which is over ATL. I would say the additional flexibility through ATL is a fiction

tphuang

If he leaves at 6 am and the flight is 4 hours late, he will still get there with plenty of time to spare and get there just an hour later than if he had made a connection at ATL.

BearX220

People aren't making this stuff up. This is years of experience talking. And my years of experience with B6 say, stay off B6 in mission/time-critical situations.

tphuang

but here is the thing. They don't cancel many flights in December.
JetBlue | JetBlue Airways Reports December Traffic
last December, they completed 99.8% of flights.

And they are also quite on time on the early morning flights. It's the later flights that they struggle with, especially when weather is bad. And more recently, their BOS OTP has been better than average for that airport.

For example, B6 569 the first flight of the day on BOS-FLL is on time 81% of time https://www.flightstats.com/v2/fligh...ing/B6/569/BOS
and average delay is 25 min.

It's kind of ridiculous to worry about a flight like that being 5 hours late when that has not happened in the 2 months that it's been measured.

cardsqc

Booking through the cruise line isn't necessarily that bad of a thing depending on the cruise line. I know these days the system that Princess uses is actually pretty transparent, and you select the actual flights that you want, and if you're choosing the flexible fares option, you have a lot of flexibility up until a certain number of days before the cruise (i want to say 45?). While I still don't do it very often, I have booked flights through them as a result. I've especially had pretty good luck at getting fairly reasonable priced business class fares to europe by going this method (and with the flexibility, I can keep watching for a lower fare and switch to that). I think with some airlines you don't get as much access into the booked itinerary as others, but I know with Delta, it immediately shows up in my trips and I can change seats and stuff right in the delta site.

(I do find that booking through the cruise line tends to be a more reasonable option for an international trip, and that domestically it doesn't tend to work out quite as well. That said, I do currently have my cruise for december booked through the cruise line - price was slightly cheaper for the same flight on delta, and since we're stuck flying out the day of the cruise on this trip, having the potential to get help from the cruise line is somewhat reassuring. I've never had to deal with needing that in the past, and hope I never do, but I *have* been one of the last people to board a ship before departure, even when I had flights booked for the day before.)

And personally, personally, I can care less if someone can do a 2 week cruise with carry ons. Good for you. Not everyone wants to deal with that. Hell, personally I carry a carryon full of camera gear, which severely limits the ability to pack clothing in one.

hotturnip

Have you not read the intervening posts?

The OP is going to leave from PWM now and avoid taking an unreliable bus to BOS. B6 is out.