Dear Jetblue....Are you insane???

[shoppie]

I've been watching airfare for our August trip. I have our flight there booked but not coming home. When I logged on today, Jetblue showed my direct flight was gone... meaning it was sold out and now the return flights are $800+ each...

I just logged on and pretended to change my outbound flight seats... the airplane is half empty!!!!!!!

Really Jetblue????? This is just wrong!!!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm confused. You have a one way/outbound flight booked that now can't be booked, but half the seats on that flight are unassigned (not necessarily empty)? And you don't yet have your return flight booked but the fare is now much higher than it was it you'd booked sooner?

 

[greenclan67]

My guess is they are loading new flights for release date coming up. Not sure when it will be but I would think soon. If you go on to check later u will probably see the prices back down.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

All you know is the seats aren't selected. you have no way of knowing the plane is "half empty"

And no, Jet Blue isn't insane. They probably have a much better idea of supply and demand for that route then you or I . They probably know that the other airlines are filling up and that they can get what they want or they are waiting on business travelers to pay the price because they don't book months in advance. The closer you get the riskier the game of Russian roulette you are playing.

 

[asmit4]

August and no tickets yet? THAT is insane. Flights right now are crazy- if you don't book early you will pay the price.

 

[shoppie]

Interesting.... JetBlue just brought my flight back and now the prices are back to where they were yesterday... Seems like a system glitch.. Btw I travel ALOT for work. The best time to buy is between 30-60 days... Just saying...not insane at all

 

[dmband]

Interesting.... JetBlue just brought my flight back and now the prices are back to where they were yesterday... Seems like a system glitch.. Btw I travel ALOT for work. The best time to buy is between 30-60 days... Just saying...not insane at all

Not here, the best is the week they extent the schedule
At least for large parties like me, 6 plus
In fact it's often cheaper to place two orders in smaller groups then one large order
There are many times flights are sold out way before 60 days out here

 

[wilkeliza]

Interesting.... JetBlue just brought my flight back and now the prices are back to where they were yesterday... Seems like a system glitch.. Btw I travel ALOT for work. The best time to buy is between 30-60 days... Just saying...not insane at all

I haven't found that to be the case for me. It could be because I live in a travel destination and am flying to a travel destination but I find in the 30-60 day window (and less than 30) we can easily end up paying 300-500 for one way.

 

[DebbieB]

Interesting.... JetBlue just brought my flight back and now the prices are back to where they were yesterday... Seems like a system glitch.. Btw I travel ALOT for work. The best time to buy is between 30-60 days... Just saying...not insane at all

That might be true in general but I don't think it is for Orlando, especially for popular flights.

 

[floridacrazy]

Hi everyone. I booked my tickets on Jetblue from NY to MCO back in February. I paid 1100.00 r/t for 4 people. The price I would be spending if I waited until yesterday to book would be 2200.00 - 1,000 more. We leave out of LaGuardia on Friday.

I never wait in hopes of the price going down. For all of our summer vacations to Orlando I have always found Jetblue to be the cheapest. Out of all the flights I have taken I think I had a delay of 2 hours once or twice.

Before I posted on this site I checked the fares for the same flights that I have booked and the flight isn't listed any more. I guess it's completely sold out. When I booked, and even yesterday when I checked the fares, there were 4 flights leaving NY going to MCO and right now there is only one evening flight available. They still have 4 flights available on the day I return, but the prices are more than double. Even the return flight at 6:30 in the morning is over $300 one way.

To the OP, you should try and book your return flights as soon as possible because the fares seem to be going up every day.

From the prices of the fares, I guess more people are traveling. When I tried to book Bonnet Creek back in February I couldn't even get a 2-bedroom for some of my dates. I had to settle for a 1-bedroom. Last year I booked Bonnet Creek in April and I was able to get a 2-bedroom for 2 weeks without a problem.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Interesting.... JetBlue just brought my flight back and now the prices are back to where they were yesterday... Seems like a system glitch.. Btw I travel ALOT for work. The best time to buy is between 30-60 days... Just saying...not insane at all

We have flown 7 times with Jetblue. Flights 8 and 9 are also already booked (flights to be taken later this summer). 6 of those flights 7 have been during the month of August (as are the two upcoming). All of those flights were to or from NY state (Syracuse and Buffalo).

At 30-60 days out, those flight prices have ballooned from what we paid months and months ahead of time. The best price for Jetblue, in all of our experiences, is to book on the day the flights for that time period are released.

We paid $400 return for this year's August flights, non-stop both ways, from SYR to MCO. A few weeks ago, those same flights were up to $850 return. They have since declined a bit to between $525 and $600 round trip. But still far more than we paid back in early November.

 

[sam_gordon]

Interesting.... JetBlue just brought my flight back and now the prices are back to where they were yesterday... Seems like a system glitch.. Btw I travel ALOT for work. The best time to buy is between 30-60 days... Just saying...not insane at all

I'm curious. Do you check prices as soon as the flights are released and continue checking until 30-60 days out? If you don't, how do you know the 30-60 days are the best prices?

 

[jerseygal]

I understand your anger...I had the SAME problem with United when 8-9 months before a trip from NJ to Honolulu I was watching the fares.. I watched and knew the seating chart by heart...Anyway, it shot up at about 7 months almost to the day we were traveling, with no change in people who purchased seats...PS...We weren't traveling in the busy summer season, like June-Aug, but instead May.. Anyway, I e mailed customer service at United with my comments...never a return e mail or phone call.. Lucky, for us 1 day opened up in May, which was the LOWEST fare in May,June-Aug and we were able to grab it!

As for as Jet Blue, my advice is when you see a low fare GRAB IT! Jet Blue has a policy if you catch a lower fare after booking, you receive a credit toward a future flight...Nice thing is that it is transferable to whoever you want to give the credit to, doesn't have to be the ticketed passenger...
Only thing is, that the traveler needs to watch the fares and contact Jet Blue if the fare decreases...IMO, a "fair" policy..Also, like the fact that Jet Blue offers 1 FREE CHECKED bag, UNLIKE UNITED!

GOOD LUCK BOOKING!

 

[bas71873]

I just want JB to hurry up and release April 2015 so I can book!!!!! I have credit that is burning a hole in my pocket and I just want to check the flights off my to do list for our cruise

 

[Ress76]

I generally book JB within a week or two of the schedule coming out, if possible. I agree with others that the fares tend to be lowest when they are first released.

I can't speak for the other posters, but I do continue to check my fares at least weekly right up until I fly. I fly JB enough that it's worth it for me to take a credit to my account if the fares do dip, but in the last 2-3 years, it's happened on less than half my flights.

Ress

 

[Aliceacc]

I booked our flights in January, for a total of $1220 for my family of 5. I checked Kayak.com every day for about 2 months. The day the tickets dropped by $50 a ticket, I bought the flights. The next day, they were back up to the old price.

I just looked: the exact same flights come to a total of $2750.

(I had hoped to switch from LaGuardia to JFK for out outbound flight-- there's a strong possiblity of a rail road strike, and the drive to JFK would be so much easier in traffic. But changing the flights would cost me $100 a ticket. Nope, there won't be $500 worth of traffic, even if there is a strike. )

So, for us at least, booking early works best.

 

[TJA]

We are fairly new to JetBlue but have flown with them for our last 3 trips to Disney (all within the last year). All 3 times, our flights have drastically decreased at about the 30/45 day mark. Of course, I realize that means our particular flight needed to fill seats, but it also means I check diligently for lower fares right up until our trip.