Jet Blue lovers - Price variation question

[MrsMinease]

Hi Everyone! It looks like we'll be flying Jet Blue (BUF - MCO) for our September trip, and the prices are currently sitting at $145 pp, each way. I know there will be some fluctuation in price over the next few months, and I'm wondering if anyone has tips on when to score the best deal with them? We're fine with being patient and waiting for price drops, and we're also pretty flexible on our departure and return dates as we'll be spending time in FL before and after our cruise, but can move that time around however we like.

Please share your booking tips for Jet Blue, and if you want to share your best prices you've found, that would be awesome too!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Alderbrook]

have they posted their september schedule yet? Last I checked it was only up to Sept 4 but their website isn't working right now so maybe they're updating it now?

 

[mjf]

I'm not exactly a Jet Blue expert having never actually flown with them yet. But I do have an upcoming flight in March booked with Jet Blue.

All I can tell you is that I've been watching the prices on our flights since I made the booking in August and all I've seen is steadily increasing prices.

If I were you, I'd book now and keep watching the prices. If they go down, I believe you can request a credit for the difference which you can use on your next Jet Blue flight.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm not exactly a Jet Blue expert having never actually flown with them yet. But I do have an upcoming flight in March booked with Jet Blue.

All I can tell you is that I've been watching the prices on our flights since I made the booking in August and all I've seen is steadily increasing prices.

If I were you, I'd book now and keep watching the prices. If they go down, I believe you can request a credit for the difference which you can use on your next Jet Blue flight.

We have found the same thing.

We booked our New Year flights (to SYR-MCO on Dec 31 and MCO-SYR on Jan 7) on August 5th. From that point onward, prices only went higher.....never lower.

For our next trip (August 26th to September 2) we bought our return tickets last month. Again, prices have increased since we booked.

I knew Southwest would credit you the difference if prices decreased, but I didn't know that Jetblue extended this courtesy as well. Guess I will have to keep re-checking, just in case.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

My experience with JetBlue .. is to book when they first come out ....

 

[webworm]

Hi Everyone! It looks like we'll be flying Jet Blue (BUF - MCO) for our September trip, and the prices are currently sitting at $145 pp, each way. I know there will be some fluctuation in price over the next few months, and I'm wondering if anyone has tips on when to score the best deal with them? We're fine with being patient and waiting for price drops, and we're also pretty flexible on our departure and return dates as we'll be spending time in FL before and after our cruise, but can move that time around however we like.

Please share your booking tips for Jet Blue, and if you want to share your best prices you've found, that would be awesome too!

Thanks in advance!

It's still too early since they have not released flights for Sep but I would check Allegiant and DirectAir from Niagara Falls. $145 each way or $300 rt is pretty steep I would say. If you want to book now I see nonstop return flights with AirTran from Rochester in September for $209 inc taxes. Take carry on luggage and no extra baggage fees.

 

[momlee4]

Jetblue has released dates to Oct 27th! I just booked this morning.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

It's still too early since they have not released flights for Sep but I would check Allegiant and DirectAir from Niagara Falls. $145 each way or $300 rt is pretty steep I would say. If you want to book now I see nonstop return flights with AirTran from Rochester in September for $209 inc taxes. Take carry on luggage and no extra baggage fees.

JetBlue is tough to compare to DirectAir, though, as you will want to keep in mind that DirectAir charges $15 per person, per direction for advance seat selection AND $30 per person, per direction for the first checked bag. With JetBlue, both of these perks are free of charge. Assuming these are important to the OP, that can add another $45 each way/$90 round trip per person to the DirectAir total (which may otherwise appear to be a better deal).

DirectAir also charges for snacks. Tea and coffee are $1 each, snacks and bottled water and juices and softdrinks are all $2 each. JetBlue offers unlimited snacks for free (lol, my son can eat his way through another $15 each direction without batting an eyelash ).

There are also TV's on every seat on JetBlue. I am guessing there are not on DirectAir.

Here's a list of all of DirectAir's fees to help in the OP's price comparison:

http://www.visitdirectair.com/optional/

Perhaps none of the included extras are a deal-breaker, but its worth ensuring you know what you will be "giving up" for the cost savings elsewhere.

To the OP .... have you checked prices out of Syracuse as well? Not sure where exactly you are located in Ontario, but I know our flights from Syracuse have been cheaper both in Dec/Jan and for this August out of Syracuse over Buffalo (we checked both as we are within a reasonable distance to both airports). If its driveable for you, it might be worth a look.

 

[MrsMinease]

Thanks for the replies so far! The extra costs with ohter airlines is a great point to keep in mind, and at the end of the day, we're saving about $450 over flying out of Pearson, so I'm happy even at the current price. The timing of the flights is also much more convenient than Southwest.

Any other input?

 

[mtmbyck]

I booked our March Jet Blue flights when they were first released in August. Since then they have gone up steadily and are currently a crazy price! Book now or as soon as they release. There are many on these boards that say to wait but I really have never seen a dramatic drop in airfares that an airline wouldn't rebate if you had already booked at a higher price.

 

[disney06]

We have found the same thing.

We booked our New Year flights (to SYR-MCO on Dec 31 and MCO-SYR on Jan 7) on August 5th. From that point onward, prices only went higher.....never lower.

For our next trip (August 26th to September 2) we bought our return tickets last month. Again, prices have increased since we booked.

I knew Southwest would credit you the difference if prices decreased, but I didn't know that Jetblue extended this courtesy as well. Guess I will have to keep re-checking, just in case.

Gina, I am booking flights for around the same dates this December leaving the 27th returning Jan 6th......if you don't mind me asking how much were your flights, just trying to get an idea how much to budget....thanks

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

We are booked on Southwest this year for August because we missed the initial release of dates by Jetblue and their rates were a few hundred more than Southwest by the time we came to book. I agree with the others on here based on my experiences from the past couple of summers. Jetblue just seems to increase in price as time goes by (especially the non-stop flight), so if you want to fly with them and you can live with the current price, book now.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina, I am booking flights for around the same dates this December leaving the 27th returning Jan 6th......if you don't mind me asking how much were your flights, just trying to get an idea how much to budget....thanks

We paid $1000 for three of us, all taxes included, for the New Years trip flights. We booked on August 5th.

Tickets for our next trip were $868 all in, booked in January for August/September.

By the time December rolled around, prices had gone WAY, WAY up! I would say book early!

 

[Binoo]

I am a newbie to search flights for Jetblue or Southwest. I am looking for Dec 15-Dec 31 flight, BUF to MCO and FLL to BUF. I know how to check the releasing date for Southwest but not Jetblue. Can anyone show me how? Thank you.

 

[MrsMinease]

Binoo... when you hit the JetBlue website, the little pop-up calendars on the front page will tell you when they are booking through. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have a defined date for when they'll release the next batch of dates, so you just need to keep checking back.

 

[webworm]

JetBlue is tough to compare to DirectAir, though, as you will want to keep in mind that DirectAir charges $15 per person, per direction for advance seat selection AND $30 per person, per direction for the first checked bag. With JetBlue, both of these perks are free of charge. Assuming these are important to the OP, that can add another $45 each way/$90 round trip per person to the DirectAir total (which may otherwise appear to be a better deal).

DirectAir also charges for snacks. Tea and coffee are $1 each, snacks and bottled water and juices and softdrinks are all $2 each. JetBlue offers unlimited snacks for free (lol, my son can eat his way through another $15 each direction without batting an eyelash ).

There are also TV's on every seat on JetBlue. I am guessing there are not on DirectAir.

Here's a list of all of DirectAir's fees to help in the OP's price comparison:

http://www.visitdirectair.com/optional/

Perhaps none of the included extras are a deal-breaker, but its worth ensuring you know what you will be "giving up" for the cost savings elsewhere.

To the OP .... have you checked prices out of Syracuse as well? Not sure where exactly you are located in Ontario, but I know our flights from Syracuse have been cheaper both in Dec/Jan and for this August out of Syracuse over Buffalo (we checked both as we are within a reasonable distance to both airports). If its driveable for you, it might be worth a look.

It really boils down to what level of service you want for what price. Last March we flew with Allegiant from Youngstown, OH and paid $496 for 4 tickets including taxes. Couldn't beat that for a short flight to florida. We generally take carryon luggage anyhow so no extra fees and had a washer and dryer at our vacation home on the gulf side anyhow. We got seats together no problem at the airport so no seat fees either.

 

[Alderbrook]

We just booked Jetblue for $145 pp for September as well. I've never flown Jetblue but have travelled SW & AT numerous times & I always book as soon as their flights are released & have always found that the prices go up as time goes on unless there's a seat sale for your times & then you might not get the flight you want or times you want, or to be able to all get on the same flight (there are 6 of us travelling together). AT was $145 as well but you have the cost of bags & seat selection so JB was the cheapest this time around for us.

 

[MrsMinease]

We went ahead and booked this morning as well. $868 for 3 people, round trip. The flight times, with Jet Blue fit our plans better than any other airline, and as a result, save us from having an extra night of hotel expense. Even if they do drop, we're ok with is as we got the seats we want, the flight times that worked best for us, and we still save about $400 versus what it would have cost us to fly out of Toronto.

Now the real planning can begin!

 

[MrsMinease]

LOL... I'm sure you DISers can appreciate that it will be soooo hard to stay away from the Jet Blue site to see if the prices drop.

 

[my3kids143]

I just booked our flights for May for our family of 5.
This will be our second visit to Disney. The total cost was $1,180 from Buffalo. I've been watching prices for a week now and just this morning got an email for 20% off travel from May - June. We were going to go in April but with the added discount we decided to go in May.