Jet Blue - Sneaks!

[boomhauer]

I was planning on flying SW out of Providence in July, but I figured I'd check Jet Blue's fares out of Boston. Had a perfect flight listed, leaving at 6:30AM for $74 per person. I called my wife and asked if she wanted to go with that. She said yes, so I went back on to book 5 minutes later. Cost went up from $74 to $139.

Poor Jet Blue. Something terrible must have happened to them in the last 20 minutes that would constitute a $65 increase per person each way in airfare.

 

[safetymom]

Not all seats are priced at the low price. When those seats sell out they have other seats for sale.

 

[boomhauer]

Not all seats are priced at the low price. When those seats sell out they have other seats for sale.

Yeah - I'm aware of that.

I find it VERY hard to believe they sold all those seats on that one exact flight on that exact day, in 5 minutes.

 

[jim and meesie]

The cost of flights has actually increased while I was in the process of booking tickets. There are only so many tickets at each price level per flight. They can't afford to book the whole plane at the super discounted prices. Basically on Jet Blue it seems to be fairer than most, first come first served, no different than if you were standing in line and the person ahead of you got the last cheap flight. Not sneaky at all, of all airlines I find them (and Southwest) to be the most above board. If you go to their website they will tell you what the cheapest fair available is for the flight you want when you are booking it.

 

[boomhauer]

What I don't get is - If there are only "so many tickets available at the discounted price", why is it, 2 weeks from now, there will be MORE of those tickets available?

Does the cost to operate that specific flight change all of a sudden?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Nope, but two weeks from now they may realize they're not selling seats on that flight at the rate they projected, and a discounted seat with a passenger in it brings in more money that an empty seat for which they're charging a higher price.

eta: Wait a minute - did you say July? AFK to see how far out JetBlue is selling tickets now...

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Ticket brokers may snap up the cheap tickets for resale. If those seats remain unsold, they may be released back to the airline, who may choose, at the late date and time, to do a "fire sale" on the seats to get some $$ for them rather than allow them to fly empty. All about supply and demand.

 

[Lewisc]

Actually something good happened to Jet Blue. Another passenger bought the 2 remaining seats at the low fare.

You can book another flight or hope that yield management sees the need to release more seats at the lower fare buckets.

I made a last minute trip to WDW this December, SW DING fare was around $100. My wife and I had been talking about going down to see the Christmas stuff, I couldn't get her on the phone so I booked it. Worse case scenario I'd cancel and have a credit with SW.

Poor Jet Blue. Something terrible must have happened to them in the last 20 minutes that would constitute a $65 increase per person each way in airfare.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I find it VERY hard to believe they sold all those seats on that one exact flight on that exact day, in 5 minutes.

Not unusual at all.

 

[jim and meesie]

What I don't get is - If there are only "so many tickets available at the discounted price", why is it, 2 weeks from now, there will be MORE of those tickets available?

Does the cost to operate that specific flight change all of a sudden?

The cost to operate the flight doesn't change but if seats remain unsold that's $0 revenue so at some point they decide it's better to get something for the seat (even at a loss) rather than nothing at all (a way bigger loss) if it were to remain empty. Actually if those discounted fares suddenly appear two weeks from now and are available for your flight I believe you can get a credit from JetBlue for the difference. I've never done it so I don't know exactly how it works but I have heard of others doing it. I think that's pretty good business, not the least bit sneaky!!!

 

[boomhauer]

I guess I'm in the minority here. Where I work, when we ever get caught doing something like that, the dead get raised from the customer complaints. And when I get complaints like that when a pricing issue happens - It embarasses me.

 

[jim and meesie]

I guess I'm in the minority here. Where I work, when we ever get caught doing something like that, the dead get raised from the customer complaints. And when I get complaints like that when a pricing issue happens - It embarasses me.

Still don't get what to complain about. Only so many seats available at a cheap price, you missed out on the cheap price so you have to pay a higher price.

Don't you ever go to stores at Christmas time where they have an item on sale and the person in front of you buys the last one, no more cheap ones left (until after Christmas) so you have to buy one that is more expensive if you still want the product.

If you think this is bad business you don't get out much!!!

 

[boomhauer]

Still don't get what to complain about. Only so many seats available at a cheap price, you missed out on the cheap price so you have to pay a higher price.

Don't you ever go to stores at Christmas time where they have an item on sale and the person in front of you buys the last one, no more cheap ones left (until after Christmas) so you have to buy one that is more expensive if you still want the product.

If you think this is bad business you don't get out much!!!

OK, OK - So, what you're saying is, you wouldn't get upset if you went to Wal Mart today, saw a CD for $10, went to the ATM, came back 15 minutes later, and the same CD was $15?

I understand that there are only so many cheap seats available. I've been flying long enough to understand that. But your analogy would be like comparing a coach seat to a first class seat. There's absolutely no difference from one seat to another on a Jet Blue plane.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Bottom line -- airline pricing is volitile. Get used to it changing in the blink of an eye or you'll spend the rest of your life in frustration.

 

[yogibigdog]

I had the opposite happen to me. Booked flights last November for trip this Feb. I check the prices yesterday and the price had gone done by $30.00 each ticket. Called Jet Blue and got a $90.00 credit for my next trip. That also happened to me when I went to Florida in Dec. Had bought 8 tickets @ 69.00 each. Price than dropped to $ 39.00. Got a credit of $30.00 for all eight tickets.

 

[Crankyshank]

That's why it's good to check with the wife before you start checking airfare
It took 2 months of constant checking for me to find reasonable airfare to FLL this March. I found $67 each way on SW and the fare literally lasted 10min before it was switched to unavailable.

 

[boomhauer]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not concerned in the least. I'll probably end up going with Southwest anyways. And Jet Blue's fares aren't that bad. I was sort of half kidding when I started this thread.

However, alot of us (myself included) accept alot of pricing schemes from airlines that we would NEVER accept from any other business.

Imagine finding out your neghibor was paying $50 less a month on cable, for the exact same service, simply because they called first....

 

[Tigger_Magic]

However, alot of us (myself included) accept alot of pricing schemes from airlines that we would NEVER accept from any other business.

Imagine finding out your neghibor was paying $50 less a month on cable, for the exact same service, simply because they called first....

Airlines have operated like this ever since they were deregulated. The only way to get what you desire would be to implement fare regulation again. I doubt that most people would want that.

 

[BuckNaked]

OK, OK - So, what you're saying is, you wouldn't get upset if you went to Wal Mart today, saw a CD for $10, went to the ATM, came back 15 minutes later, and the same CD was $15?

Not a valid comparison at all.

A valid comparison would be that you're in Wal-Mart and you see that there are 20 identical CDs...15 priced at $15 and 5 priced at $10. You walk over to housewares to ask your wife if she wants one of the CDs, and when you come back, all of the $10 ones are gone.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd snatch up the $10 CD and be done with it.

 

[Crankyshank]

Not a valid comparison at all.

A valid comparison would be that you're in Wal-Mart and you see that there are 20 identical CDs...15 priced at $15 and 5 priced at $10. You walk over to housewares to ask your wife if she wants one of the CDs, and when you come back, all of the $10 ones are gone.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd snatch up the $10 CD and be done with it.

Or if you knew you were going to be checking out the cd selection to have asked your wife before you went to the electronics dept if she was interested in a cd.