When does Jetblue release new schedules?
Mar 29, 2007, 10:52 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11
When does Jetblue release new schedules?
I'm interested in booking Jet Blue for a family trip we are taking next February. Currently, the JetBlue website is allowing reservations to be made through October of this year (despite the fact that there is an apparently outdated message on the site saying bookings are ony being offered through September 4th).
Whatever, given I plan to try and get seats for flights during a high demand holiday period, I'm hoping someone has some idea of typical timing of when Jet Blue releases updated schedules (so I can get an idea of when to plan on booking those as early as they become available).
Specifically, does anyone know if their schedules "roll over" at the end of every month (ergo, at the end of March 07 the schedule for November 07 will open up, with December opening at the end of April, etc.) or are updates released on some other timetable - or perhaps even randomly?
Any insight will be appreciated!
Whatever, given I plan to try and get seats for flights during a high demand holiday period, I'm hoping someone has some idea of typical timing of when Jet Blue releases updated schedules (so I can get an idea of when to plan on booking those as early as they become available).
Specifically, does anyone know if their schedules "roll over" at the end of every month (ergo, at the end of March 07 the schedule for November 07 will open up, with December opening at the end of April, etc.) or are updates released on some other timetable - or perhaps even randomly?
Any insight will be appreciated!
Mar 30, 2007, 12:17 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Long Island, NY and Boca Raton, FL
Programs: JetBlue TrueBlue, AAdvantage, Rapid Rewards, Sky Miles, SPG, Marriott Rewards, HHonors, Hertz
Posts: 2,275
I'm interested in booking Jet Blue for a family trip we are taking next February. Currently, the JetBlue website is allowing reservations to be made through October of this year (despite the fact that there is an apparently outdated message on the site saying bookings are ony being offered through September 4th).
Whatever, given I plan to try and get seats for flights during a high demand holiday period, I'm hoping someone has some idea of typical timing of when Jet Blue releases updated schedules (so I can get an idea of when to plan on booking those as early as they become available).
Specifically, does anyone know if their schedules "roll over" at the end of every month (ergo, at the end of March 07 the schedule for November 07 will open up, with December opening at the end of April, etc.) or are updates released on some other timetable - or perhaps even randomly?
Any insight will be appreciated!
Whatever, given I plan to try and get seats for flights during a high demand holiday period, I'm hoping someone has some idea of typical timing of when Jet Blue releases updated schedules (so I can get an idea of when to plan on booking those as early as they become available).
Specifically, does anyone know if their schedules "roll over" at the end of every month (ergo, at the end of March 07 the schedule for November 07 will open up, with December opening at the end of April, etc.) or are updates released on some other timetable - or perhaps even randomly?
Any insight will be appreciated!
Mar 30, 2007, 7:19 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11
Thanks for the replies. The "pro-forma" guess about sometime around July makes sense, since the JetBlue website says booking are "currently" being allowed up to 8 months out, which would make July the time when February '08 schedules open up. But I understand the random element, so I guess this boils down to ongoing, regular checking of their website.
The other interesting issue here is pricing. From what I can see, JetBlue knows their markets and definitely changes prices on an hourly basis depending on projected demand.
Since we want flights during the President's Day week in Feburary (from New York to Florida), -- a high demand school vacation period in the northeast -- I just did some comparisons on the Jetblue website to get a sense of how much they might jack up pricing then.
Specifically, I looked at some currently bookable holiday periods (week of July 4th and the Labor day period this year). In both cases, Jetblue is significantly raising prices on those itineraries for flights leaving NY towards the beginning of the holiday period and returning from Florida towards the end. That suggests their "standard $99 each way" pricing I could get for a flight during a lower demand period will likely be as much as $189 for the periods I want to travel in 2008.
I know, that would appear to be airline piricing 101, but -- as I put it to my wife -- also raises the issue of whether JetBlue is worth waiting for, given I can book a comparative itinerary on a "legacy" line for not much more than that right now (the 330 day out booking windows are just now hitting President's Day week '08). And if I was willing to go with non-direct flights (which frankly I'm really not, adding connections is just asking for trouble when flying out of the northeast during the winter), I could get round trip pricing down to about $240.
The classic case of whether to go with the bird in hand.. or wait.
The other interesting issue here is pricing. From what I can see, JetBlue knows their markets and definitely changes prices on an hourly basis depending on projected demand.
Since we want flights during the President's Day week in Feburary (from New York to Florida), -- a high demand school vacation period in the northeast -- I just did some comparisons on the Jetblue website to get a sense of how much they might jack up pricing then.
Specifically, I looked at some currently bookable holiday periods (week of July 4th and the Labor day period this year). In both cases, Jetblue is significantly raising prices on those itineraries for flights leaving NY towards the beginning of the holiday period and returning from Florida towards the end. That suggests their "standard $99 each way" pricing I could get for a flight during a lower demand period will likely be as much as $189 for the periods I want to travel in 2008.
I know, that would appear to be airline piricing 101, but -- as I put it to my wife -- also raises the issue of whether JetBlue is worth waiting for, given I can book a comparative itinerary on a "legacy" line for not much more than that right now (the 330 day out booking windows are just now hitting President's Day week '08). And if I was willing to go with non-direct flights (which frankly I'm really not, adding connections is just asking for trouble when flying out of the northeast during the winter), I could get round trip pricing down to about $240.
The classic case of whether to go with the bird in hand.. or wait.
Mar 30, 2007, 7:54 am
#5
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
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My standard advice with Southwest is to buy the legacy ticket if it's a deep discount on a peak flight that's bound to sell out (e.g., Friday or Sunday evening). Southwest is stingy with deep discounts on peak flights, and apparently JetBlue is doing something similar.
Mar 30, 2007, 8:09 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11
Frankly, after several days of extensive searching of flights for our 2/08 trip, outside of ridiculous connecting itineraries (ergo, White Plains, NY to Orlando via Detroit on Continental) there aren't (as I expected) really any truly deep discounts on legacy Fri/Sun flights, just nominal ones.
But I'm very quickly heading towards grabbing one of those. The "crunch decision point" will come tomorrow, for that's when the 330 day window hits our targeted return date (Sunday 02/24/08). If I'm going to buy a legacy ticket, it will be then, because the price isn't going to get any lower.
Mar 30, 2007, 8:51 am
#7
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 244
You are almost certainly correct that the ticket prices won't get any lower, because there are rarely fare sales covering major holiday travel periods. But, at the same time, I don't think you'll see airfares getting higher this far out, either. You can probably safely wait a few days, weeks, or even months, and still book way in advance at similar fares. I'd probably go with your gut--if the prices and flight options are ok tomorrow, go for it--but I don't think it's 'now or never.'
And, on the very tiny chance that any sort of fare sale would apply to your dates of travel, those fares wouldn't even be in the system for several more months. If you were flying during an off-period, I'd actually advise you to wait for that to occur, but since you're flying on a holiday, that's not going to happen. There's still a chance, perhaps, that airlines release more buckets of semi-affordable seats closer to the actual dates when they can better gauge demand. In my experience, I have often booked Thanksgiving and Christmas tickets around August or September (on transcons)--obviously at higher prices than during the surrounding slow-travel weeks, but nonetheless at prices that were not yet through the roof. It often helps to be flexible +/- 1 day if you can.
Perhaps you should look to farecast.com for an opinion, if it has data covering your airports.
Anybody have more insight on this? In general, when is the right time to book holiday airline tickets? Is there such a thing as too early? When do the bulk of passengers book travel, and are they all paying exorbitant rates for the privilege of traveling on a crowded day? Is there a 'golden window' for getting the best deal?
Last edited by somedude24; Mar 30, 2007 at 8:58 am
Mar 30, 2007, 10:44 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11
I don't claim to be an expert on the way airline ticket pricing works (can anyone claim to be an expert on this?), but I think that you don't have to jump on a ticket 330 days before traveling, even during a big holiday week.
You are almost certainly correct that the ticket prices won't get any lower, because there are rarely fare sales covering major holiday travel periods. But, at the same time, I don't think you'll see airfares getting higher this far out, either. You can probably safely wait a few days, weeks, or even months, and still book way in advance at similar fares. I'd probably go with your gut--if the prices and flight options are ok tomorrow, go for it--but I don't think it's 'now or never.'
And, on the very tiny chance that any sort of fare sale would apply to your dates of travel, those fares wouldn't even be in the system for several more months. If you were flying during an off-period, I'd actually advise you to wait for that to occur, but since you're flying on a holiday, that's not going to happen. There's still a chance, perhaps, that airlines release more buckets of semi-affordable seats closer to the actual dates when they can better gauge demand. In my experience, I have often booked Thanksgiving and Christmas tickets around August or September (on transcons)--obviously at higher prices than during the surrounding slow-travel weeks, but nonetheless at prices that were not yet through the roof. It often helps to be flexible +/- 1 day if you can.
Perhaps you should look to farecast.com for an opinion, if it has data covering your airports.
Anybody have more insight on this? In general, when is the right time to book holiday airline tickets? Is there such a thing as too early? When do the bulk of passengers book travel, and are they all paying exorbitant rates for the privilege of traveling on a crowded day? Is there a 'golden window' for getting the best deal?
You are almost certainly correct that the ticket prices won't get any lower, because there are rarely fare sales covering major holiday travel periods. But, at the same time, I don't think you'll see airfares getting higher this far out, either. You can probably safely wait a few days, weeks, or even months, and still book way in advance at similar fares. I'd probably go with your gut--if the prices and flight options are ok tomorrow, go for it--but I don't think it's 'now or never.'
And, on the very tiny chance that any sort of fare sale would apply to your dates of travel, those fares wouldn't even be in the system for several more months. If you were flying during an off-period, I'd actually advise you to wait for that to occur, but since you're flying on a holiday, that's not going to happen. There's still a chance, perhaps, that airlines release more buckets of semi-affordable seats closer to the actual dates when they can better gauge demand. In my experience, I have often booked Thanksgiving and Christmas tickets around August or September (on transcons)--obviously at higher prices than during the surrounding slow-travel weeks, but nonetheless at prices that were not yet through the roof. It often helps to be flexible +/- 1 day if you can.
Perhaps you should look to farecast.com for an opinion, if it has data covering your airports.
Anybody have more insight on this? In general, when is the right time to book holiday airline tickets? Is there such a thing as too early? When do the bulk of passengers book travel, and are they all paying exorbitant rates for the privilege of traveling on a crowded day? Is there a 'golden window' for getting the best deal?
Right now, as mentioned earlier the best prices I can find on legacy lines are for connecting flight itineraries. Anything nonstop is crazy ($400+). In comparison there's a connecting one on United that with taxes etc. is just $208, which is as cheap as I'm likely ever going to see for that holiday period.
Unfortunately, one of the flights is on a turboprop, which makes it D.O.A. with my wife. The only other truly deep discount one that's all jet is that crazy Continental itinerary I mentoned earlier (getting to Orlando via Detroit in mid February, which in IMHO is just asking for trouble).
Interestingly, the prices I'm seeing out of our preferred airport (White Plains NY, we live about 20 minutes away) are less than those out of LaGuardia. Historically, it's been the other way around - which leaves me wondering if the entry of JetBlue and Airtran (both are starting service out of White Plains to Orlando) is already affecting competition there. I also checked out Kennedy, Newark and even Newburgh, and White Plains is the cheapest of all of 'em.
So it likely makes sense for me to hold out per your recommendation. The presence of JetBlue and AirTran (who will also both be starting this itinerary soon out of Newburgh) is presumably over time going to hold or lower prices, not raise them.
By the way, I tried Farecast (using LGA, it doesn't cover White Plains). For whatever reason, it's not showing the predictive analysis, just quotes from a bunch of flight booking sights. That happened even when I followed the site directions. only testing dates within 90 days.
Mar 30, 2007, 11:28 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: AA EXP, Hertz 5*, Marriott PLT
Posts: 1,092
I'm looking for some Thanksgiving and Christmas travel on other carriers. One trip is outrageously high. The other trip is okay but no great deal. A lot can happen between now and then. My experience has shown that the prices for both trips will come down. Unless supply drops significantly or demand increases significantly, pricing isn't gonna increase too much over where its been.
One exception to waiting is if you're looking to book award tickets. If your dates are set, grab those when they open up.
Apr 2, 2007, 7:28 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11
I agree with this; wait until the date gets closer. It makes sense for airlines to put the high price out there now and see who will bite.
I'm looking for some Thanksgiving and Christmas travel on other carriers. One trip is outrageously high. The other trip is okay but no great deal. A lot can happen between now and then. My experience has shown that the prices for both trips will come down. Unless supply drops significantly or demand increases significantly, pricing isn't gonna increase too much over where its been.
One exception to waiting is if you're looking to book award tickets. If your dates are set, grab those when they open up.
I'm looking for some Thanksgiving and Christmas travel on other carriers. One trip is outrageously high. The other trip is okay but no great deal. A lot can happen between now and then. My experience has shown that the prices for both trips will come down. Unless supply drops significantly or demand increases significantly, pricing isn't gonna increase too much over where its been.
One exception to waiting is if you're looking to book award tickets. If your dates are set, grab those when they open up.
