phllax

JetBlue has loaded 5 daily flights in the market starting Thursday, May 23 with the 190. Let the bloodbath and hating begin!

I wouldn't be surprised to see SJU, AUS and LGB start as well.

Phudnik

I hope they last longer than WN/FL...

A quick look at fares shows that US is asking $404 for one-way tickets and $558 non-refundable roundtrip for a one-night stay; JetBlue's fares start at $79 one-way (with promotional fares of $17(!) the first week of service) with refundable tix at $254 each way.

I wonder whether they will try to compete with WN on the Florida routes from PHL.

GNRMatt

Excellent news!!! Hopefully this will mean cheap non-stop fares to Boston again from US Airways!!

N830MH

It's official!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jetblu...140000715.html

Let's the bloodbath begin! Give it some more competition against US. US will be big pissed!

There is some a few airlines who tried BOS-PHL before. It was DL, FL, & WN who flew it before.

sts603

And AA.

jroff1

This is great news! Let's hope Jetblue can make it work. They have the largest presence of any airline in Boston, so maybe they can keep fares low on this route...

doctor15

With this plus the increased frequency on BOS-DCA, it seems like B6 is really going after US's BOS market.

Maybe we'll see some more promotions coming?

iahphx

Here's the last thread to discuss a failed attempt by a competitor to fly PHL-BOS.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...eb-2012-a.html

For now, I'm sure Jetblue will stick to PHL-BOS. It's a stone-cold loser to try to compete against US in PHL. Which reminds me: I'm a bit surprised that Virgin America is still flying transcons out of PHL. In general, Virgin America is a loss-making airline, so maybe the additional losses on the route don't matter much to them.

That said, JetBlue MIGHT do a little better in this market than even Southwest. They have an undeniable presence in the BOS market so a good potential for support there. Aren't they the largest carrier out of BOS these days (at least in total pax)?

Jetblue has a rotten loyalty program, so most of the truly frequent flyers won't bother much with them. To compensate, they do have a good in-flight product. A couple of months ago, I flew a similar short-haul flight: JFK-BTV. If you don't care about status, lounges, upgrades and state-of-the-art website support, JetBlue provides a good product. Plenty of legroom (even in the cheap seats toward the back), free TV, nice little snack packs. Really, for folks without status, a better value than you get from US and the other legacy carriers.

US will ruthlessly schedule against JetBlue, and likely throw in some special services and frequent flyer bonuses. We'll all get to fly the route for cheap (especially leisure travellers booking ahead). Jetblue's current intro offer is relatively sucky, in that the $17 fares are only good on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (you're looking at $60s each way on other days). I'm sure they'll go down from there.

I'd give Jetblue a 40 to 50% chance of surviving 2 years on this route. That's much better odds than anyone else would get. Indeed, on the last thread, I predicted that they'd probably attempt this service. If they fail, NOBODY is ever likely to try again!

Alphaguy

I should add that B6 is opening a maintenance bay at BOS and the fact that like US in PHL its essentially becoming a mini hub for B6. Yes, the points about FF programs and such being true, the average Ma and Pa can get a much better non-elite product on B6 than any that tried before. You can also essentially get a one stop cheaper than a direct US flight on most routes.

I'm giving it a 70-80% chance of working.

I'll enjoy the flights on B6 and the bonuses on US in the meantime....

If the AA merger goes through I'll likely find another airline.... which one though, I don't honestly know yet...

iahphx

But it's not the ma and pas who buy the airline tickets that make airlines money. If it were, I assure you that Southwest would still be flying the route.

In the last months of WN's service, when fares were like $39, I remember flying both WN and US. WNs flights were half empty. US was full. And, I'm sure, US had higher average fares.

3Cforme

RITA BTS data show that US-operated flights represented about 13% of domestic emplanements at BOS in 2006; B6 was also at 13%. Latest data (August 2012 and back 11 months) show US at 13% - and B6 at 26%. JetBlue has ample recognition in BOS to succeed on this route if it wants to.

phlwookie

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. There will almost certainly be a war of attrition on fares. Several other thoughts:

- B6 starting with 5 daily frequencies is probably the bare minimum they can plausibly start with against the 15 or whatever US is running.
- In terms of load factors, US fills a lot of those flights with connections, but B6 is likely to need to focus on O&D traffic. This will likely soften the fare war blow for US, which will likely only lower fares on the PHL-BOS nonstops and not for connections, and this may also result in a revenue and load factor issue for B6. WN was at least able to offer some connections in PHL. BOS is also not a good connection point unless you're heading to parts of New England or maritime Canada, or perhaps Europe.
- With the frequency that US is already running on the route, I wonder if they ought to just brand it as Shuttle. This might be a marketing differentiator for them.

If I were betting I'd put long term success at 30-40% - and I agree they're the most likely of anyone to be able to pull it off with their BOS presence.

iahphx

Yeah, this is one of the problems for competitors on this route.

Whatever frequency US is currently running on the route, they'll ramp it up 25% (at least in seat capacity terms). And they'll match whatever fares JetBlue wants to offer. At a minimum, US will offer twice as many flight times; probably three times as many. So US will always be more convenient. JetBlue can't offer these frequencies because they can't sell the connecting seats.

We've seen this movie several times before. If WN couldn't make it work, the odds are probably against JetBlue. But I suspect Northeasterners will like JetBlue more than Southwest, so they've at least got a shot.

For pax, it's a great deal, as it will once again be possible to fly for leisure on this route. It's a crummy drive, but the monopolistic fares US charges when they have no competition make leisure travel impossible on the route.

phlwookie

The drive and even the length of the Acela trip makes flying the preferred mode on this route except when there is a big snowstorm or the like that tanks air travel in the NE. It's a shame that WN has also cut PHL routes to places like MHT and PVD which makes those less plausible as alternate airports to allow more affordable leisure traffic with reduced competition.

diburning

That's a win for me! US has really jacked up the prices on tickets from BOS to PHL. It would be nice to see them come back down again. Even if they don't I don't mind flying B6 although I would miss out on those *A miles.