BLAH... what is up with the Jetblue August prices???

[KelleyGirl]

I have been watching for my August flights for about 1.5/2 months and they started high and have fluctuated a bit, but are now at their highest! Just yesterday I booked one way and today that same flight is $50 more! Glad I got in when I did, but I'm still holding out for the flight home, and getting scared

First, I'm probably a bit OCD and have never booked one-way before, so that makes me uncomfortable. Second, I have no clue where this price for the flight home will go. I thought summer should be cheaper??!!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I thought summer should be cheaper??!!

Airlines cut prices to sell seats. There is a big demand for seats for summer vacation travel. It is not cheaper than off season travel.

 

[ThisMomLuvsDisney]

I completely understand! I have watched the Jetblue prices from/to the northeast go up out of site for the last few months I finally did the same as you and booked a Jetblue one-way flight down for what I thought was an OK price and thought I'd wait it out for booking a return flight, but the return flights have skyrocketed!! So............I bit the bullet and bought our flight home on Air Tran for less than half the price of the Jetblue prices offered. I was sad to not be with Jetblue for our return home, but figured that even if they offer a 50% sale at some point it would still cost more than the Air Tran deal I found.

It was my first time booking "one-ways" as well and it was very scary waiting to book our return and now, even though we are not Jetblue both ways, I am relieved to have the return flights booked

Good luck!!!

 

[njmomtoone]

I have been watching for my August flights for about 1.5/2 months and they started high and have fluctuated a bit, but are now at their highest! Just yesterday I booked one way and today that same flight is $50 more! Glad I got in when I did, but I'm still holding out for the flight home, and getting scared

First, I'm probably a bit OCD and have never booked one-way before, so that makes me uncomfortable. Second, I have no clue where this price for the flight home will go. I thought summer should be cheaper??!!

We are flying Newark to Tampa on 8/18. We purchased them in January for $279 they are now up to $498. They kept going up in price and haven't come down.

 

[nmrgrl55]

As much as I wanted to book with jetBlue their prices were crazy out of Portland, ME so I am driving 2 hours to Manchester and flying SW

 

[pigletto]

We haven't booked August flights yet
I want to drive, but our car is too small for 5 of us on a 20 hour trip. The cost of a rental would be as high as flights.
So.. I am holding out to see what SW offers in June if/when there is an anniversary sale. Or I'll book some flights with connections out of Rochester (2.5 hours further for us) for around 1500 for the 5 of us.
Jetblue is the highest for our dates out of Buffalo or Rochester so they aren't even in the running. They are twice as much as anyone else. It's looking like it will be Delta, United, Airtran or Southwest.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We booked our August flights (out of Syracuse) with Jetblue in mid January. Paid $289 pp return. Flights are direct both directions and pricing includes taxes and fees.

Same flights today are $644 pp. That's a 230% increase over what we paid.

DS told me the other day that he might want to bring a friend along for the week. I might have considered it if flight costs have been reasonable, but there's no way I can ask another parent to cough up $650 in airfare alone.

I love JetBlue and I love flying out of the Syracuse airport, but at those prices, there won't be many more trips for us for a while.

 

[francie57]

There was just a story about this on our local news today. Most airlines have cut way back on the number of flights they have so there aren't as many seat available and they said the demand for summer flights is up so there aren't the bargains out there. They also said that because the airlines have cut back so much there will be definite problems if your flight is cancelled due to weather since there won't be many available seats to change you to. Thankfully we booked our June and Aug. airfare early. Flying SW both ways in Aug. and it was originally $250/person but the price went down after we booked to $200/person so we got the credits. In June we are flying JetBlue down and SW back. We got the JetBlue for $100/person and with the credit the SW return was $70/person. I am really happy with our prices since last year we flew Delta and it was $179/person so we didn't make out to bad this year. We have never flown SW or JetBlue since we always went non-stop on Delta but they have done away with all non-stops in our area. Thankfully SW and JetBlue had great non-stop times for our trips.

 

[clanmcculloch]

If you're looking to book your return flight for just before school starts then I can pretty much guarantee that prices won't go down. I think the majority MA and NH both go back around the same time; around the 27th or 28th (one of my kids starts the 27th and the other starts the 28th). Everybody is trying to stretch every last minute that they can out of their summer vacations. Those flights are only going to continue to go up in price, not come down.

If you're flying earlier in the month then there is still a chance of some flights coming down, though I would think that only the lowest priced flights will drop any lower than their current price. Families try to travel when kids are out of school. Summer is peak travel time. I'm not sure why you thought summer would be cheaper. Maybe cheaper than Christmas week but that's about it.

 

[Tonyspad]

I played the waiting game with JetBlue and booked our departure only for our cruise . We are sailing in June, so I was sweating it a bit. Was able to grab our seats for half the price I was seeing for the past two months. I am now watching the return-- it has dropped but I think it will drop more next week.

 

[KelleyGirl]

I'm not sure why you thought summer would be cheaper. Maybe cheaper than Christmas week but that's about it.

We've traveled this time of year many times and this is the highest we have seen - as in almost double what I paid last year, and oil/gas prices this year are less than other years.

My point was just that there are some crazy fluctuations going on - as in a $50 increase in cost in less than 24 hours, and crazy fluctuations day to day comparing the dates and prices.

 

[webworm]

We haven't booked August flights yet
I want to drive, but our car is too small for 5 of us on a 20 hour trip. The cost of a rental would be as high as flights.
So.. I am holding out to see what SW offers in June if/when there is an anniversary sale. Or I'll book some flights with connections out of Rochester (2.5 hours further for us) for around 1500 for the 5 of us.
Jetblue is the highest for our dates out of Buffalo or Rochester so they aren't even in the running. They are twice as much as anyone else. It's looking like it will be Delta, United, Airtran or Southwest.

You might want to check Allegiant from Niagara Falls flying into Sanford or St.Petes Clearwater and drive across to Orlando.

 

[pigletto]

You might want to check Allegiant from Niagara Falls flying into Sanford or St.Petes Clearwater and drive across to Orlando.

I did.. and on opening day they were really really good! And I was tempted. By the time I went back to book they are now as high as the others because they go up in price the more they sell. My own fault.
I am pretty confident we'll find something reasonable, even if it means connections and longer time spent travelling.

I agree with you completely Kellygirl, we always travel this particular week we are looking at and it is WAY higher than ever before. More than double. And before anyone cries oil and gas prices... that was also the excuse last year and the year before and it's never been this high in our experience.

In fact, in this area you can count on just about any winter month being higher than summer to get out of the snow. Not this year.
I have confidence they will come down some again.
Make sure to check on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and check often as they sometimes only dip for a few hours.

 

[TJA]

I know how you feel.....I was obsessively checking for August airfare and I finally changed my city -- I'm now driving an extra 1-1/2 hrs to a different airport but the price was WAY lower, huge difference. Buffalo is my normal airport and was outrageous, like almost $400 each way, plus only one nonstop flight each way, so not much to choose from. So I looked at Pittsburgh and it was 114 each way, so I snagged it. I still check each day, several times per day, because I'll switch to Buffalo if it ever goes down.

 

[DebbieB]

We've traveled this time of year many times and this is the highest we have seen - as in almost double what I paid last year, and oil/gas prices this year are less than other years.

My point was just that there are some crazy fluctuations going on - as in a $50 increase in cost in less than 24 hours, and crazy fluctuations day to day comparing the dates and prices.

The gas prices are starting to come down but it's been about the highest I've ever seen it (around $4.00/gal).

I know how you feel.....I was obsessively checking for August airfare and I finally changed my city -- I'm now driving an extra 1-1/2 hrs to a different airport but the price was WAY lower, huge difference. Buffalo is my normal airport and was outrageous, like almost $400 each way, plus only one nonstop flight each way, so not much to choose from. So I looked at Pittsburgh and it was 114 each way, so I snagged it. I still check each day, several times per day, because I'll switch to Buffalo if it ever goes down.

Which airline from PIT? Southwest? I've been looking for October and they are around $400 RT.

 

[funcinderella]

I booked my jetblue flight from newark to orlando in January; my travel dates are July 9 - July 18. We paid $265 round trip, our flights are 5:20 pm and 9 pm ish. I subscribe to a site that emails you when the price drops and it has not dropped once since then. It's fluctauted a bit up and down but never has dropped to my original booking price. I think they are only going up!

 

[jakeybake]

I have been doing the JetBlue August airfare shuffle as well. I broke down and switched my dates from Sun-Sat to Wed-Tue and it dropped my airfare price by $500 for the 4 of us. I am now paying $1,150 for 4 RT/non stop flights from Boston. 6:30 am down and 8:55 pm back.

It was worth it to change my dates given the decrease in price.

Jay