A question for you guys..Jetblue??

[goofy4tink]

Here's the deal. I just booked a Disney cruise for our 20th anniversary. We want to fly down either April 24 (a Sat) or April 25 (Sunday, first thing in the day). Okay...I go to the JB site and everything is way high...end of the Mass spring vacation week. But, if I go to travelocity, I can get exactly what I need, on JB, for only $99, but...it says seat choice is not available. So...what gives? Have they overbooked and we 'might' get seated on that particular flight??? Any thoughts?

 

[Poohugz81]

We always fly Jetblue whenever we go to Florida. =) I believe the reason why the seats are not available is because its too early for the seat selections. On most airlines you can only choose seats 24 to 48 hrs in advance, when I booked on Travelocity I was assigned seats but was able to change them anyway 24 hrs before the flight. I think you should be safe but if theres a specific seat you want, perhaps you can give JB a call and have them work something out for you

 

[goofy4tink]

I routinely fly JB, but have never had that happen before. I have always been able to choose my seats in the past, no matter when I booked. It's just very curious. I can't figure out why the fare through travelocity is about 1/2 the fare on JB's site.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

...On most airlines you can only choose seats 24 to 48 hrs in advance...

I've never heard of this before, I always select my seat assignments and book usually 3 months out for my personal travel and a few weeks for business.

 

[goofy4tink]

Figured out why there were no seating charts available......the flights were not available at those prices when it came time to buy. Drove me nuts....tried 3 different flights and they all allowed me to get right up to the submit payment page where it then told me the price quoted was no longer available. Talk about bait and switch.

 

[DebbieB]

Figured out why there were no seating charts available......the flights were not available at those prices when it came time to buy. Drove me nuts....tried 3 different flights and they all allowed me to get right up to the submit payment page where it then told me the price quoted was no longer available. Talk about bait and switch.

That always happens to me when I've tried to use the online sites and they were less than the airline direct. I always just book direct.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

On most airlines you can only choose seats 24 to 48 hrs in advance

This is not true for most US airlines.

 

[Darcy03231]

I highly suggest you fly down the day before your cruise is due to leave. We're frequent cruisers and always fly to the port at least the day before. You never know when there is going to be any kind of delay and the last thing you want to do is watch your ship leave and either miss your trip or have to catch up to it at the next port. One trip we had a flight delayed due to a mechanical problem and they had to bring a plane in from somewhere else. We waited in the airport for over 6 hours for it to get there. If we'd been sailing that day we definitely would have missed the ship.

 

[goofy4tink]

Yep, I fly down the day before...much less worry than flying in on sail day. I also like to book a mid-afternoon flight, rather than worry about running around on our last day.
Now...just have to decide whether to stay in Orlando and take the DCL bus the next day (have to find a cheap hotel with shuttle to MCO) or head directly to Cocoa Beach, stay there over night and use a shuttle to the ship in the morning...decisions, decisions.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well, for ONE ticket, I'm coming up with $164 (about $176 with taxes) for flight 435 on the 24th. Departs around 2:56, lands at six-something. I got all the way to the put-in-your-payment-info page, but even for you I'm not going to go further . But it might be a new flight - it appears MOST of the seats are available.

A more cost-effective but less convenient option would be the 1017/159 combo - it leaves Boston at 6:55 PM and you change planes in New York, arriving in Orlando at 12:44 AM. Those tickets are about $145 each. The first flight is on an Embrear (two seats on each side of the aisle) and the second is a 'regular' plane. Pretty much ALL the seats on both planes are available.

 

[dburg30]

Figured out why there were no seating charts available......the flights were not available at those prices when it came time to buy. Drove me nuts....tried 3 different flights and they all allowed me to get right up to the submit payment page where it then told me the price quoted was no longer available. Talk about bait and switch.

That is pretty crappy.. Just tell you up front it's not available.. like maybe showing 'not available' in that spot

 

[DjdBrit]

I am flying with Jetblue April 21st and I have my seats booked, it may just be when you use a 3rd party that you can't book your seats.

I hope you figure this out and have a great trip!

 

[goofy4tink]

I am flying with Jetblue April 21st and I have my seats booked, it may just be when you use a 3rd party that you can't book your seats.

I hope you figure this out and have a great trip!

Nope, it was the fact that the seats, at those low fares, were both sold out...but hey, they could offer me seats on those flights for about twice as much!!! My question: Why bother listing the fares to begin with if you can't book 'em...again, bait and switch.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Nope, it was the fact that the seats, at those low fares, were both sold out...but hey, they could offer me seats on those flights for about twice as much!!! My question: Why bother listing the fares to begin with if you can't book 'em...again, bait and switch.

It can be interpreted as that, but a lot of sites don't update their fares real-time, so fares can be stale.

I can think of minimal reasons to not book directly with any airline, it makes things much easier when it comes to changes and rebookings.

 

[goofy4tink]

It can be interpreted as that, but a lot of sites don't update their fares real-time, so fares can be stale.

I can think of minimal reasons to not book directly with any airline, it makes things much easier when it comes to changes and rebookings.

So true....I seldom, if ever, book outside the airline's site...it was just that those fares looked so good. Lesson learned...won't be doing that again any time soon.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Nope, it was the fact that the seats, at those low fares, were both sold out...but hey, they could offer me seats on those flights for about twice as much!!! My question: Why bother listing the fares to begin with if you can't book 'em...again, bait and switch.

Oh. That's your question. Simple (well, really, not so simple but I've run into this with Orbitz before and finally got an 'explanation): the third party/travel agency sites don't/can't update their information as frequently as the airlines themselves, so may be initially displaying outdated pricing.

Where I got really ticked off was, after I contacted Orbitz to find out why I having a similar experience to yours, that even hours later - even the next day - the unavailable pricing was still coming up!

 

[ToyStory]

Figured out why there were no seating charts available......the flights were not available at those prices when it came time to buy. Drove me nuts....tried 3 different flights and they all allowed me to get right up to the submit payment page where it then told me the price quoted was no longer available. Talk about bait and switch.

I was just going to reply with that explanation. Travelocity did that to me with a Continental flight. I was not happy either.