So many seats left on our JetBlue flight ... chance of cancellation ?

[pooh2001]

We are flying our of Newburg on JetBlue for Easter break 2010. I just checked our seat assignments. Only 12 seats have been assigned on our flights.

Do you think JetBlue will cancel our flights ?
I know our flights are about 4 1/2 months away, but I thought the flight would fill up since it is a holiday - school vacation time.

Should I check the JetBlue site every month for lower prices and then ask for a credit ? We paid over $2000 for the flight to WDW - family of 4. I figured the cost was because of the economy, fuel costs, whatever.

Do you think the prices will drop to entice others to fly on my flights ?

I do hope others join our flights - or I will think the flights may not make it to WDW and land elsewhere (if you get my nervous point).


Please advise.
Thank you and have a great holiday season

[kaytieeldr]

Prices may drop and yes, you will be able to call and request credit. Two pieces of advice: first, JetBlue has been known to change its credit policy on occasion (sometimes it's free, sometimes there's a cost involved); which brings me to point two that the actual transaction requires a CSR to cancel your existing reservation and rebook you at the lower fare - so you want to reconfirm your seat selection before getting off the phone, and yes it does need to be done by a live person.

Can't say for your flights, but last December when I flew from Las Vegas to Boston, the flight was exactly 1/3 full.

[pooh2001]

Thank you so much - even a 1/2 flight full will be great - more seats - maybe better service - less luggage mix-ups.

I hope if we do get a Jet Blue credit - it will last longer than a year. Not sure if we can travel anywhere with the economy right now. It took us 3 years to save for our up coming WDW vacation.

Again thank you !

[DAKDino1998]

Originally Posted by pooh2001

We are flying our of Newburg on JetBlue for Easter break 2010. I just checked our seat assignments. Only 12 seats have been assigned on our flights.

Do you think JetBlue will cancel our flights ?

Well, JetBlue only flies one flight to and one flight from MCO out of Stewart. So they basically have to fly down in order to have a plane to fly people back. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Enjoy the relative quiet that a less than full plane and flying out of Stewart gets you!

[pooh2001]

Thanks so much !

You guys are the best on these boards !

[Lewisc]

Jet Blue isn't likely to cancel your specific flight. PP is correct JB needs you plane to bring passengers back. Jet Blue could decide to stop service between Stewart and MCO.

[DebbieB]

I was on a flight earlier this year from Frankfurt Germany to Pune India with only about 8 people on it! But the return flight was almost full (a coworker was on it). It was Lufthansa so it was based in Germany, they had to fly the plane there to pickup the return.

[n2mm]

Originally Posted by pooh2001

We are flying our of Newburg on JetBlue for Easter break 2010. I just checked our seat assignments. Only 12 seats have been assigned on our flights.

Do you think JetBlue will cancel our flights ?
I know our flights are about 4 1/2 months away, but I thought the flight would fill up since it is a holiday - school vacation time.

Should I check the JetBlue site every month for lower prices and then ask for a credit ? We paid over $2000 for the flight to WDW - family of 4. I figured the cost was because of the economy, fuel costs, whatever.

Do you think the prices will drop to entice others to fly on my flights ?

I do hope others join our flights - or I will think the flights may not make it to WDW and land elsewhere (if you get my nervous point).


Please advise.
Thank you and have a great holiday season

They do cancel flights. Last month we were booked on the MCO-Dulles 6:00PM flight, but it got cancelled and we were rebooked on the 1:30PM flight. Both non-stop. They didn't tell me why, but it seems they consoliated both flights into one as the flight was full. They were very good at keeping me informed. I was in WDW and my daughter was house-sitting and they called a dozen times while I was gone. As for the credit, so far, I've been lucky and have gotten the credit when the price goes down. As mentioned you do have to talk to a rep to do it and you do have to make sure they reassign your seats back to you. I think it's too early to know how well the flight will sell out. I've yet to even think about buying my April airfare yet. I did get my March one on SW and glad I did as the fares have continued to rise ever since.

[DebbieB]

Originally Posted by n2mm

They do cancel flights. Last month we were booked on the MCO-Dulles 6:00PM flight, but it got cancelled and we were rebooked on the 1:30PM flight. Both non-stop. They didn't tell me why, but it seems they consoliated both flights into one as the flight was full. They were very good at keeping me informed. I was in WDW and my daughter was house-sitting and they called a dozen times while I was gone. As for the credit, so far, I've been lucky and have gotten the credit when the price goes down. As mentioned you do have to talk to a rep to do it and you do have to make sure they reassign your seats back to you. I think it's too early to know how well the flight will sell out. I've yet to even think about buying my April airfare yet. I did get my March one on SW and glad I did as the fares have continued to rise ever since.

They usually do this when they revise their entire schedule, not just for 1 day.

[n2mm]

Originally Posted by DebbieB

They usually do this when they revise their entire schedule, not just for 1 day.

But it was ONE day. Only Saturday had it's schedule changed. The same flights were still available on Friday and Sunday. I thought it was strange, but happily I WANTED to be on the 1:30PM flight, but the 6:00PM flight was cheaper so I booked it. It worked out good for me.

[rflorek]

Originally Posted by pooh2001

I hope if we do get a Jet Blue credit - it will last longer than a year.

The credits are only good for 1 year.

By the way, they can only give you the credit if there are enough available seats for your entire party at the lower price. If there are only 3 seats available at the lower price, and you have 4 seats under your original reservation, they cannot give you the credit.

[DebbieB]

Originally Posted by n2mm

But it was ONE day. Only Saturday had it's schedule changed. The same flights were still available on Friday and Sunday. I thought it was strange, but happily I WANTED to be on the 1:30PM flight, but the 6:00PM flight was cheaper so I booked it. It worked out good for me.

Every Saturday or just the one you flew on? They frequently cut Saturdays because there isn't much business travel. My point was they don't usually cancel one specific flight on one day just because not enough seats were filled. If they do that, the plane will be out of position for the next flight. Usually flights cancelled in advance are part of a schedule adjustment, not because that particular fight was not full that one day.

[bavaria]

Repeat after me....

The seat map is not an indicator of passenger loads.

4.5 months is far outside the normal booking window for most people to book flights.

(Yes, I realise that it is a holiday, but not everyone has that holiday, people are holding off booking this year, etc)

And JetBlue appears to have started to be using a different pricing strategy instead of the money losing one of selling all the cheap fares first and raising prices later. That model doesn't really make much sense and hasn't been very successful for US carriers in the past few years.

[bavaria]

Originally Posted by DebbieB

I was on a flight earlier this year from Frankfurt Germany to Pune India with only about 8 people on it! .

And that is rare for LH flights to/from India; every single time I have been on one to/from BOM or DEL they are packed completely full. This year LH has been tinkering a lot with India routes and schedules because the economy means fewer business trips to India for some westerners, more Indians returning home from foreign jobs due to lack of work, and less Indians travelling to visit relatives outside the country.

[DebbieB]

Originally Posted by bavaria

And that is rare for LH flights to/from India; every single time I have been on one to/from BOM or DEL they are packed completely full. This year LH has been tinkering a lot with India routes and schedules because the economy means fewer business trips to India for some westerners, more Indians returning home from foreign jobs due to lack of work, and less Indians travelling to visit relatives outside the country.

This was an all business class jet, about 48 seats total, a modified Airbus 319. We flew it because it took us directly into Pune rather than having to go through BOM or DEL. Pune is about 100 miles east of BOM, the airport is very small (didn't even have metal detectors, they did manual wanding!). On the way home, it was at least half full.