EML price increase?
 

Has anyone else noticed that JetBlue has increased the cost of its EML seats for long-haul flights from $30 to $40? When did this go into effect? And is the increase across all flight distances?

EML fees on medium and long haul flights have increased to $25 and $40, respectively. Short-haul EML pricing has remained unchanged at $10. So, the new fee structure for EML seats based on flight distance is $10/$25/$40, compared to $10/$20/$30. These fee changes went into effect on June 2.

This increase was not publicized.

Thanks for the heads-up, karmasalad!

It helps analyze the cost/benefit equation when determining which of multiple carriers to fly non-stop from NYC to the west coast. ^

Hmm...I don't know if EML is going to be worth it for me anymore. $30/way was manageable. $40 is pushing it since, as of now, there are no other benefits than the extra room.

EML was worth it during the introductory pricing of $20. To pay an extra $80 round-trip is just retarded, especially when standard coach is 34". :)

looks like they are trying to make the equation work with EML, yields are putrid right now so they are trying to improve the cost of the overall ticket. It's bad out there now, the bright side is fuel hasn't nearly gotten out of control like last summer.

That's an interesting approach. Demand is down, so increase revenue by raising prices.

It would've been helpful if the impending price increase was publicized by JetBlue before the fact. Quietly instituting a 25-33% fee increase is pretty poor customer service.

As it stands now, the value of EML is not worth $40 to me. At $30, I would sometimes get it for my red-eye flights, but $40 just isn't worth it for the little that you get. If I had known that JetBlue was raising the price of EML, I would've bought it for some of my future flights in advance of the increase, but instead, they've lost that potential bit of revenue.

With these new prices they really need to add some value. It really does me no good to pay $40 for a few more inches of legroom.

How about priority boarding and a comp drink?

Thoughts?

I don't know if demand is down on EML seats. Last few times I bought a FLL-LGB I couldn't get an EML the day before. I don't mind paying the extra $10 on the increase.

No, I had not noticed because I stopped using the EML feature a month or so ago.

After paying for the EML seats on every JetBlue flight I took (and I fly at least once a month on JetBlue), I skipped paying the upcharge on my last two flights. Now, with the increase, for me at least, EML is a thing of the past.

Based on their Jet View survey's, JetBlue is looking to increase every fee they can and looking to add fee's anywhere they can.

Maybe they did not announce the increase as they are floating a trial balloon and if they see a slowdown in sales of EML seats, they will go back to the original fee's.

To play devil's advocate for a second, EML is really an extraneous add-on, not generally considered a "core" part of a ticket as baggage and food used to be. So, I'm not sure that is quite as critical to announce changes in EML fees. I'm actually rather surprised that jetBlue has never tried variable EML pricing based on demand, much as tickets themselves are priced. Considering that they have kept it as a fixed fee, perhaps they should have announced the changes somewhere though.

Also, the prices of EML are still rather cheap considering that the legroom rivals that of business class on some other domestic airline flights, and are somewhat lower than the equivalent prices for United's Economy Plus:

› Chicago to Detroit: $14
› San Francisco to Las Vegas: $24
› Denver to Seattle: $49
› No long-haul examples on website

or on Virgin America's Main Cabin Select (edited...I got my facts wrong the first time):

Up to $400 in advance (refundable ticket)
or same day as flight:
Long Haul Flights (such as New York to San Francisco) — $100
Medium Haul Flights (such as Los Angeles to Seattle) — $50
Short Haul Flights (such as San Francisco to Las Vegas) — $25

(Virgin America throws in a few extra perks, like priority check-in and food, which can add extra value, and free first bag, which is already free for all jetBlue passengers)

And, some airlines now charge up to $30 just to choose a window or aisle seat with NO extra legroom.

Also, all airlines are adding fees now, discovering that they can 'trick' customers into paying more by charging them less upfront and then tacking on fees. Upping EML fees is one of the least obnoxious ways of doing this, because it doesn't add a fee to a "core" service like food or baggage or making/changing a reservation.

Ok, devil's advocacy over. Raising fees does suck, and doing so without notice is bad business practice. And I think it's a strong argument that if you're going to raise a fee, you should justify it by adding a service (for example, in the case of a bag fee, a delivery guarantee). But all the airlines are hurting, they're all doing this, and jetBlue has been no worse than any of the others. (Then again, if all the airlines are doing questionable things, does that make any one airline's questionable decisions less bad?)

Over the weekend, the upcharge for EML seats between JFK & Vegas was only $25 for the flights I was looking at.

I wonder if they now have a floating EML fee based on the load of the plane. The flights I saw this on where very empty and the lowest priced flights those days.