Reduced Change Fee for Flights Under $100!
 

Hi all,

I decided to start a new thread for this, as the original one is lengthy.

When JetBlue increased the change fee to $100, an initial complaint was that some fares are less than $100 and actually changing that flight would not be worth it. In yesterday's TB statement, you can see that there is now a lower change fee for fares under $100. I believe this will be $50.

Directly from the statement:

Enjoy!

Nice that they were finally able to see the light on this one. The change fee is the one fee that I believed to be counter productive. The higher the change fee the longer people will wait to buy tickets. If you buy in advance and have to make a change, you basically have to buy a whole new ticket anyway so why bother to book early unless you are absolutely sure of the dates and that the fare will not increase at least $100.

Any more specifics on this? I tried booking a $64 one-way on the site today, and the fine print right on the booking page still said $100 change fee. Obviously the change-fee-wipes-out-the-ticket problem is not nearly unique to jetBlue (with change fees of $150, most US majors wipe out even more expensive tickets), but I am interested to see how and when jetBlue will implement their new policy. I highly doubt anyone else will follow suit.

So essentially, they are admitting that this is a purely arbitrary fee, and is not really tied to the cost of processing the transaction.....

And yes, this is not just a JetBlue specific criticism -- it applies to all airlines and their ridiculous change fees.

The new policy was implemented immediately. Although it was mentioned in the TB email/statement last week, I don't think it will be "advertised" -- Just like the fact that you can get a full credit on a fare drop is not really "advertised." Also, I remember in the past (with the ~$25/$40 change fees) that the change fee was waived when the fare difference exceeded $100. This was not really "advertised" either...frequent JetBlue customers just (like here on FT) just knew it. Don't expect a change of wording in the T&C on fare rules/Contract of Carriage/etc. - just a way to be customer friendly when it comes to lower fares/change fees.

any reduction in fees is a good thing...

it may not be advertised for all customer, but I'm glad its discussed here so I know what to do when I'm flying.

--Russ

Hello, I'm a new member to this forum and I wanted to know if this statement is still valid today?

Change fees have nothing to do with the transaction cost. Who said they did? A change fee is a penalty assessed to recoup the cost of holding inventory without using it. Why is it ridiculous to charge for the loss in revenue?

Good question.

Since the seat can be re-sold at the then-prevailing rate for that flight's inventory, what if there's not a loss in revenue, but an increase, if the seat gets sold at a higher price?

Why do assume it will be resold at a higher fare? If the airline expected to be able to sell it at a higher fare then they wouldn't have sold it to you at a lower fare. If the airline is good at YM then it will almost always cost the airline revenue.

I would agree that the fee is arbitrary, sometimes the hit is less then $100 and sometimes more, but it absolutely costs the airline revenue. Furthermore, if there was no change fee then people would game the system and tie up far more inventory.

Why do assume? Do no assume. :)

That's why I said "What if there's not a loss in revenue?"

And that's why I said, "If the airline is good at YM then it will almost always cost the airline revenue." Add in the other line about gaming the system if no fees are in place and you will see why most every airline in the world has change fees.

Yes, it is in my experience.

How about cheeps fares for $6? A change fee of $50 is steep for those.

It was $6. You made a bet on being able to take the cheap flight. If it doesn't work out then throw it away. I've had to do similar on tickets that were much more expensive. That's part of the trade-off when you buy a ticket that isn't flexible.