Upcoming Changes to DCA Routes
 

JetBlue should be announcing the following changes soon (although unofficially leaked already):

1. More flights will be added between BOS-NYC (up to 18x/day) and BOS-DCA (up to 14x/day) for near-hourly service to both cities.
2. More flights will be added to their 12 most popular routes from Boston (AUS, CHS, ORD, CLE, DTW, BNA, EWR, MCO, PHL, RDU, DCA, and SAV) to increase the Boston market to 175 daily flights.
3. Underperforming routes DCA-BDL and DCA-TPA will be cut to reallocate the DCA slots to DCA-BOS.

DCA-BDL is not under-performing at all, but if that is how the bean counters in NY want to spin it, more power to them. No reason for me to fly B6 anymore, what a shame.

Hopefully they will also improve how they route the aircraft on BOS-DCA as part of this as well. Currently they do a lot of BOS-DCA-Florida-DCA-BOS routes, which expose the short BOS-DCA legs to any weather anywhere on the East Coast. That leads to a lot more delays on the route than you see on AA.

It may be performing well in isolation, but they have a limited number of slots at DCA. So if they want to increase BOS/NYC, they have to cut something else. My guess is that BDL is less profitable than other DCA routes.

As a Dulles/IAD flyer, I feel your pain. At least you still have JetBlue service at DCA...

I am really disappointed by #3 . I have used B6 several times to fly DCA-TPA and the flight is always nearly full. I was just on TPA-DCA on Wednesday and there were only a couple of empty seats. They were my much preferred carrier since the E90 is way more comfortable than a 737 or A320. Very sad.

We NEED a JFK option, or two. Connecting everything through FLL or BOS is a bit annoying.

The problem is that JFK is at capacity, so they'd need to cut something else to free up the slots. This is why Boston gets most of the new routes, while JFK gets most of the lucrative routes.

I would say this about DCA route, they did okay running a mini-focus city in DC area which is pretty much going away now that they cut IAD and reduced destinations at BWI/DCA. Now DCA is transitioning to one that serves their primary focus cities (with great emphasis on BOS) and less about serving where DC residents want to go. JFK-DCA would be a waste of slots on both end given that the main O&D is served via LGA and they simply don't have slots on either end to make it work.

Routes like DCA-TPA/BDL were definitely not making money.

I might be biased, but NYC-DCA(ish) is pretty well served by Amtrak. Getting to DC from Boston? Even the Acela isn't that much of an option. Heck, going anywhere beyond New York from Boston on Acela, the price jumps DRAMATICALLY (I have daughters in Philly and was shocked at the price jump of BOS-PHL compared to BOS-NYP).

That could be a reason why Boston's connection to DCA is hanging around.

If this were a factor, then why would Delta and AA have multiple fights daily and on weekends between NYC and DCA? Amtrak isn't always the most reliable or convenient option for people in the NYC area. Unless you actually live in Manhattan or one of the outer boroughs, it can actually be out of the way to get to Penn Station versus just going to the airport and hopping on a 40 min flight. And often, the flights are comparable in price if not cheaper than Amtrak. I haven't taken a train to DC in years because it's just not convenient to where I live.

Well NY is also getting the shaft when B6 decided to end JFK-CLT. IAH is a slight upgrade from HOU, but Delta just announced service as well out on JFK-IAH, which might adversely impact B6 and no longer let B6 have the exclusive JFK Houston flight.

I've wondered where in Connecticut do people switch use LGA/JFK for short haul needs vs. trekking up to BDL. New Haven is roughly 1 hour to BDL while 1.5 hour to LGA/JFK. And BDL isn't all that far from BOS itself. I once flew BWI-BOS, rented a car to drive back down to Windsor, CT (right by BDL) because flights into BDL were more expensive and I don't mind driving 1.5 hour in a rental car. What I noticed is BDL is somewhat sandwiched between bigger markets with better frequency, that competing hub airports around it might be diluting the market.

It kind of makes sense for B6 to end some of these smaller markets out of DCA. Really it's not offering the DC based traveler a nonstop to )SFO/LAX) on the west coast, Chicago, Atlanta, to name a few. Why Hartford. Kind of random if you look at it from the DC angle. Charleston was niche as well. The central/southwest Fl and southern Florida markets are very popular, although JetBlue isn't a leader on the TPA side just like its not in DC. Although at the same token, I've wondered if B6 could have offered BUF-DCA. BUF is somewhat a gateway to Canada and B6 likes to capitalize on upstate NY airports to appease Sen. Chuck Schumer or something.

If it wanted to be bigger in DC and NYC, it should have pursued more LGA/DCA slots from the AA/US merger and later Alaska sublease. I Instead Southwest grabbed most of these. Even at Newark which is a NYC airport, it seems to be stagnant while Spirit added a lot of routes. Jetblue has been adding markets to Boston, which is understandable for pursuing business customers out of there.

I really hope they use this schedule change to separate out the aircraft on the DCA-BOS route. Today I'm flying BOS to DCA on fight 755 and the flight is already delayed due to a delay this morning when the aircraft took a jaunt from JFK to RDU.

The BDL-DCA route was not underperforming. I flew it frequently-it was always 3/4 to completely full. Now it is completely gone. To fly to DC for me, I have to fly on AA or take the train. To fly to DC on Jetblue, I have to fly via FLL. I had to fly home July 8 from DC on a pre-booked trip-I was at Reagan at 6:30am and landed at Bradley at 2:30 am!!!

Load factor and profitability are two different things. They could have been filling those planes with low fares.

even if they were making money the simple fact of the matter is they feel that they can make more money running hourly service on BOS-DCA