Best timeframe to book JetBlue

KEVD · May 4, 2015

I know JetBlue opens their booking window 8 months out. We are trying to build up as many TrueBlue points as possible prior to booking our flight to MCO.

In order to have a good choice of nonstop flight times, how far in advance should we book?

We flyout of either Hartford, CT or Providence, RI. It will be a relatively high demand travel time as our trip is scheduled for the third week of April 2016 when public schools will be on Spring break in most of the New England states.

kaytieeldr · May 4, 2015

As soon as you see a fare you like and are positive of your travel dates. I don't recall any recent changes to jetBlue's policy to not reduce fares as travel dates approach. Fare sales excepted, of course.

RejoyceoverDisney · May 4, 2015

PVD is a great airport to fly out of. And for the Boston Area I've been watching flights for months. The Nonstop flights have been between $96 and $109 for the lowest prices. So when you see the flights come out if they are in that range, grab them!!!! Originally I saw the flights in SEptember/October/November this year to start over $160 but eventually went down. Hope that helps. PVD has been pretty consistent as it looks like they are trying to get people to fly out of there.

Note that JetBlue no longer does the free adjusting prices to lower flight prices after you book. I think it's a $75 or $100 fee.

kj2mom · May 4, 2015

As soon you see something you can live with. I am flying out of PVD and checked prices daily, sometimes several times, comparing Boston, Worcester, Providence and Hartford. I missed the boat and ended up paying hundreds more than I would have if I booked right away. Don't wait if you find something reasonable! We ended up paying just under $1,200 when the day before it was $958 and prior to that it was $698.

RejoyceoverDisney · May 4, 2015

kj2mom said:
As soon you see something you can live with. I am flying out of PVD and checked prices daily, sometimes several times, comparing Boston, Worcester, Providence and Hartford. I missed the boat and ended up paying hundreds more than I would have if I booked right away. Don't wait if you find something reasonable! We ended up paying just under $1,200 when the day before it was $958 and prior to that it was $698.

Agree. I had seen the roundtrip flights $50 less than I ended up paying but the same day I booked they went up $30 later after I booked. PHEW!
A friend got her flights right as they came out and her round trip is under $200 out of PVD.
Decide what you can live with for prices and book them when you see that price or lower.

kj2mom · May 4, 2015

I have been afraid to look after purchasing, I just don't want to know!

KEVD · May 5, 2015

Thanks. I'll start looking as soon as the booking window opens for the week we are going. The only challenge is, although do do know which week we're going, we're holding out for a DVC through an RCI exchange (long shot but possible). So we need to be flexible on our check-in day... Fri, Sat or Sun. I'm thinking I might just book a Fri flight there and a Sun flight back (if I find a good rate). That way, we're covered. We can always pick up a night or two at a DTD or MCO hotel if we need to fill in any gaps.

I remember when I booked the flights for our last trip, I saw a decent rate in the early AM. Since the flights were at non desirable times, I wanted to contact my wife at work to run it past her. By the time I went to book a few hours later the price had gone up by about $50 pp each way. Wasn't happy.

hpriamson · May 5, 2015

I've done flights out of Logan on Jet Blue during the New England school spring break in 2013 and 2015. I check Providence & Manchester NH prices as well. My experience has been the prices for that time period fluctuate a bit for the first few weeks, then go nowhere but up. They never, ever drop below what they were those first two weeks, and they never, ever are anywhere near the off-peak prices. So my suggestion is to buy them as soon as they come out, or shortly afterwards. Don't even think they'll drop to the $100 that they'd be for the rest of April.

lost*in*cyberspace · May 5, 2015

KEVD said:
......

I remember when I booked the flights for our last trip, I saw a decent rate in the early AM. Since the flights were at non desirable times, I wanted to contact my wife at work to run it past her. By the time I went to book a few hours later the price had gone up by about $50 pp each way. Wasn't happy.

In the future, keep in mind that you can cancel a booking within 24 hours without penalty. So buy the cheap tickets, then cancel if your wife disapproves.

RejoyceoverDisney · May 5, 2015

lost*in*cyberspace said:
In the future, keep in mind that you can cancel a booking within 24 hours without penalty. So buy the cheap tickets, then cancel if your wife disapproves.

Really? No penalty? I didn't see that when trying to read the fine print.

LOL this wife (me) would find it hard to disapprove if DH booked flights to go on vacation. I'm sure there is some circumstance but I can't think of it today. :confused3

momtwoboys · May 5, 2015

Last year jetblue released flights for april vacation on july 13th and we booked in minutes, for the fri before vacation coming back the sat after. Prices never went down only up. We will be doing april again for 2016 and be reasy to book the minute they are releases!

KEVD · May 5, 2015

HA HA, @RejoiceoverDisney. It was more of a "second opinion" I was looking for. The airfare rate was really good but the flight times were really bad... leaving late (7:30p) on our check in day and early (8a) on our check-out day. So I figured I'd get DW's opinion. After discussion we ended up going with the cheap flights at bad times. Saved a bundle

KEVD · May 5, 2015

momtwoboys said:
Last year jetblue released flights for april vacation on july 13th and we booked in minutes, for the fri before vacation coming back the sat after. Prices never went down only up. We will be doing april again for 2016 and be reasy to book the minute they are releases!

Thanks! I'll be certain to be ready to book as soon as the window opens. Dumb question... Can I assume we have to wait until the booking window is open for both the leaving and return flight before you can book?

momtwoboys · May 5, 2015

My dates were included in the extension we flew april 17 and came back 25th... so I am sure you will be able to book both in one shot! Also you could book the flight down and if for some reason the return isnt included in the release just wait and then book the return then. We have done that before booked 2 one ways. We even one year booked jetblue down and southwest home!

RejoyceoverDisney · May 5, 2015

KEVD said:
HA HA, @RejoiceoverDisney. It was more of a "second opinion" I was looking for. The airfare rate was really good but the flight times were really bad... leaving late (7:30p) on our check in day and early (8a) on our check-out day. So I figured I'd get DW's opinion. After discussion we ended up going with the cheap flights at bad times. Saved a bundle

And ya! You laugh but I would have been ok on that too. I personally would not have that my first choice but to save money and have him actually surprise me with a vacation.....I'd make it work.
But since it's not a surprise trip.....ya nice you got her opinion and it all worked out. LOL I might have added a couple days to the trip to make up for pain and suffering of those flight times though. LOL

KEVD said:
Thanks! I'll be certain to be ready to book as soon as the window opens. Dumb question... Can I assume we have to wait until the booking window is open for both the leaving and return flight before you can book?

You can if you don't want to come home. LOL Seriously someone else said, if the roundtrip purchase doesn't work you can always book the great deal flight down and have some playing room to what day/time and airline you come home on. The only snag is the keeping track of the flights infor in multiple documents. OH hmmm and I guess if you buy travel insurance. I wonder if that might be more expensive since it's two separate flights instead of a round trip?

kandb · May 6, 2015

The best rates we got was booking the morning the flights came out. Never cheaper then then.

KEVD · May 8, 2015

Looking through my records I found that we booked the flights for our April 2015 trip on July 16th last year. We flew out April 18th and our return flight was April 25th... school vacay week in MA, RI and ME. It was $270 pp round trip for nonstop flights. Granted our flight times sucked but that price was pretty good given the fact is was school vacay for a few states in our region. We live in Central MA and flew out of Hartford, which is about an hour and 15 min away. I remember the flights out of Boston and Providence were a lot more expensive.

momtwoboys · May 9, 2015

last july 2014 jetblue extended on July 13th! that was what I marked in my calendar so we booked on the day of the extension... year before that it was July 10th!

McGreezy · May 9, 2015

We booked out of PVD for this coming October, and the price was consistantly at around $1300-$1400 for the four of us round trip non stop. The evening before I was going to book it dropped down to around $1100, and by the morning I went on to book it had dropped down to $965 for the 4 of us and we scored awesome flight times to boot!! I looked yesterday and the exact same flight is now up to almost $1700!!!! Don't wait, you'll most likely regret it. Watch daily, or even more often if you sit by a computer at work and can do so.

Rosebud123 · May 9, 2015

In my experience (flying out of Boston on JetBlue 3x over April vacation) you have to book them the minute they come out to get the lowest price! And for those dates, I really doubt they'll have a fare sale.

Best timeframe to book JetBlue

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