How is JetBlue for Boston to DCA weekly commute?
 

Unless you have access to a negotiated corporate discount on AA, you will likely find B6 significantly cheaper. Changes are also free once you achieve status. The current thinking is that you will do better with a card not associated with a specific carrier, but you can look at the various cards to figure out what you want out of the program.

Best card is definately the Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige which will earn 5x on Airfare/travel. Both cards will also give you priority pass lounge access that you will be able to use in Boston or Washington.

I prefer B6 E190's to ex-US planes on that route. You'd have to fly that route a LOT to get to Mosaic because they are usually cheap. Ditto to lounge access tho, but in BOS, those flights usually depart from the other side of the terminal. On those short flights I am showing up at the last possible second so not really useful to me.

If the OP will fly JB then Id say then 1st CC s/b the Barclay JB CC (with the AF) that way once $50k is spent theyd be Mosaic and can CX any res any time, and 2 free bags per person when using the ,pts for award tkts. Besides when stuff hits the fan the Mosaic folks are great.Once the $50k is reached then Id use the other CCs also if Mosaic day of flight the extra extra leg room seats are $0

Be prepared to never have an on-time afternoon/evening flight.

B6 = JetBlue. It's their official IATA (International Air Transport Association) two character abbreviation, like AA for American or DL for Delta. Being a relatively new carrier they didn't really get the pick of the litter so they got stuck with B6.

Really hoping this will change with the move to 14x daily (but not holding my breath).

People here love their acronyms and industry terms. It can be frustrating if you're not an expert.

It's also frustrating when people misuse acronyms or terms. In this thread, you'll notice people using both the correct airline code (B6) and the incorrect one (JB). Based on context, we know that means JetBlue...but in reality the JB code means Helijet International.

Most people here are willing to share knowledge, so feel free to do exactly what you did by asking for an explanation. Another option is to check the Glossary. If you scroll to the bottom of the page (at least on a standard webpage), you'll find this Glossary link:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/glossary.php

I am a huge JetBlue fan overall (Mosaic for several years) but would hesitate to bet on them for a weekly commute. Their achilles heel, IMHO, is operational reliability. As someone else noted, afternoon flights are often late, and when there are weather or mechanical issues, they generally handle them much worse than all the legacy airlines (e.g. cancelling the entire schedule more often, not being able to rebook you on other flights for days, having to fight to rebook on other airlines, and communicating very poorly about the nature of delays). For a single round trip I'd take my chances, but if you are flying every week you will almost certainly run into some or all of these issues on a regular basis.

Sorry, as has been noted the correct coding for JetBlue is B6 but since not everyone knows that I use JB

Barclay has a few credit cards for JetBlue, the personal one that has an annual fee gets you 1 bag free , however once you spend $40k on the card (after any returns and not including the fee (I believe), you will attain JBs highest (only) Elite level Mosaic. Which gets you 2 free bags, and you can change your res anytime for $0, eg I booked a tkt using my pts, then a week later the fare was 1/3 less I called up and they rebooked me at the new level and refunded my old tkt

What folks say about their on time departures is true but flying a few AA trips lately I found them to be no better.

Once Mosaic they ahv eno idea how you got it and your treated as if you got it by flying them the needed amount and spent the $$ as well on them

I recommend the Acela

All the way from BOS?

That's a long ride compared to a short flight.

I would assume that starting soon when JetBlue starts up the near-hourly BOS-DCA shuttle service, that the aircraft are simply going to fly back and forth all day, and not do what they're doing now (BOS-DCA-MCO-DCA-BOS) which causes cascading delays. This would boost reliability although DCA still isn't an aircraft base for JetBlue, so if something goes wrong at DCA, you'd have to wait for JetBlue to send another aircraft down from Boston. (although with near hourly service, I don't think the wait would be more than an hour)

I agree with everything said here though I'd add that since Boston is considered a focus city for JetBlue, the likelihood that they can swap an aircraft in the event of an issue is a bit higher. You may even luck out and get swapped on to the larger A320 or A321.

I was at DCA last week and they had 3 gates operating at once when I walked though. There was also a general departures board with all the flights listed for the day. I didn't realize their operation there was so big.

As someone who has been doing this at least once, sometimes twice a week, for more than a year, first I have to say I feel for you. Tough situation. But at least in my experience I have loved having Jetblue as an option for my BOS to DC commute – frequent flights, often on the E190’s which are slightly larger and more comfortable than other small commuter planes used sometimes by other airlines (but unlike the smaller commuter airplanes they actually have overhead compartments that can handle a roll-on), and they still have the 2 by 2 seating (so always window or aisle), friendly service, lots of schedule options (and even more coming from what it sounds like). I have had Mosaic status for some time and find the benefits to be great for a weekly / bi-weekly commuter like myself, so admit I don’t regularly compare the prices with AA…. but the times that I have checked AA, it has not been cheaper.

I do agree that AA may have slightly less operational impact in bad weather. I’ve been doing this long enough to look ahead at the weather and if it is coming I look at AA, and also other options include Southwest (between Boston and BWI for instance)…. Because Jetblue’s hubs are concentrated in Boston and New York, and New York tends to be jammed up even on a good days, they are more likely to have cancellations – etc when the northeast is hit with bad weather. Sometimes AA is just as affected but there was once that I was able to jump on an AA flight when Jetblue had canceled. You can have things that might seem minor (rainy windy weather) on the Boston / NYC side and you can get delays of an hour behind because it percolates though their system. Using a free app like flightaware can help you predict delays (e.g. alert you when the incoming plane that is supposed to take you to DCA or BOS is behind). Because of this, the further you get into the day (particularly late afternoon) are more susceptible to delays, but haven’t found it to be too bad. It’s not a weekly occurrence. May get better as they fly more planes back and forth between BOS and DCA instead of sending them to other destinations and then back These small downsides are not enough to detract from the upside of being a Mosaic – with the ability to do free same-day flight switches 24 hours prior to departure time and cancel without penalty, it gives me the flexibility that I can’t get with any other airline – if I finish work earlier that day for instance, I can usually switch on to an earlier flight. I can purchase flights ahead of time when they are cheaper (since I know I am going to be flying every single week) – but yet, if something comes up and I need to leave Thursday instead of Friday, I can cancel. When the flight is delayed, and I made it to the airport on time I'm usually able to bounce to an earlier flight so it doesn't affect me as much. Until you are a Mosaic, you don’t have those flexibility benefits, but if you are doing this every week you’ll probably be one within four to five months into the year even on this relatively short flight. I like that Jetblue has family pooling, so whenever my significant other flies the points get pooled, and when we fly together, even though one of us is mosaic both of us get the benefits. I assume AA platinum status can get you upgrades and things like that (that seems to be the complaint of mosaic folks here in comparison to the programs for the legacy carriers), but being upgraded on a short DC to BOS flight (1 hour and 15 min usually) isn't a huge deal, and I don't AA platinum well enough to know if it gets you the same status.

Good luck! It’s not an easy situation to be in, speaking from personal experience, but at least the two of you are in a city pair where there are good, very frequent, air choices that are not too expensive, there are ample public transit as well as good uber/taxi options on both sides, and if you find on a particular week you must park at DCA, the on-site parking is a relative bargain for a big city airport ($20 daily).