How Concerned Should I Be?
 

Good afternoon, my family and I are flying JetBlue from BOS to MCO on the day after Easter, its a once in a long time type vacation and we can't really afford to get canceled and miss a day or two due to reservations we already have in Florida. I am considering canceling my flight on jet Blue and booking on another airline after yet another weekend with a large round of cancellations. It would probably be around $2000 for the four of us. Am I overreacting? On a positive note in the last 45 days this flight has only been canceled once (last Saturday during that first wave of cancellations), it is a full flight (albeit on a smaller Embraer 190) and it is early in the morning (7:30 AM). Those reasons give me some positivity, but the bad news that has seemed constant around this airline makes me wonder if its unreasonable to spend the money to go to a different airline.

Secondly, if I booked another flight, when would I need to cancel my 4/18 flight by to receive the Jet Blue points back that I used to book it?

Thank you for everyone's help, sincerely, one stressed traveler.

You can cancel anytime before the flight takes off to have your points returned. What you might want to do is to book a fully-refundable ticket on another airline (or another points booking that allows for redeposit) as a backup if you are that concerned.

I think thats the route that I may take, if we something happens to our 7:30 flight would we be able to get any checked bags back if we wanted to do a 1:00 PM flight on a different airline?

We wouldn't count on that. Your go or no-go decision should be before you check your bags. Anyway, if your flight is going to be canceled, you'd most likely know about it, or at least have a heads up, before that point, unless it was something unforeseen like the fight went mechanical. Backup plans are good, but you're probably overthinking it at this point.

My advice is simple Before you CX anything or book another tkt, check that other carrier to see how they have been making out. Yea B6 has been hit lately but so have many others, especially in regards to Florida flights where the weather has been bad for flying

I am in the same nervous boat as OP, though my trip is to STT. The idea of a refundable backup is a good one and I was exploring it, unfortunately there are literally zero backup flights available that don't require an overnight stop. I would even be ok with a delay, but an outright cancellation would screw us, as good rebooking options will be nil. Fingers crossed...

Nothing can guarantee that your flight won't get cancelled but JetBlue is down to 5% cancelled flight today and that number is likely to continue to come down over the next few days.

With the Easter holiday weekend and marathon combined with school vacation next week in BOS there is heavy travel demand... I would expect JetBlue to continue its meltdown and will be shocked if they don't have a lot of cancellations in BOS this weekend and early next week.