So, Did I Book Too Early??

[CT Disney]

Yesterday JetBlue released their fares through the summer. We booked BDL (Hartford / Springfield) to MCO for July 31 - August 8. Price was $125 per person per way...total came to $999 for the four of us.

I have never booked airfare this early. And, I've only flown JetBlue once (but really liked them )

Does JetBlue come out with their best fares right off the bat? Or, would I have been better to wait until the trip was a little closer?

Hope we made the right decision!

 

[CarolAnnB]

I have found when booking during for a busy travel period, they are usually lowest when they first come out. I booked BOS to MCO yesterday at noon for July 5 - 13 for $282 RT. Just checked now and same flights are $370 RT! Now I should just stop looking.

 

[pooch]

I have never paid more than $99 each way, non-stop BDL-MCO on SWA. But I agree with the previous poster. If you're booked and the tickets can't be changed without fee, stop looking. It'll only make you crazy. $125 out of Hartford is a decent price.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

OP, definitely DON'T stop looking at flight prices. Should your fare decrease in price, call Jetblue and they will give you a credit for the difference towards a future flight. I have done it myself and its VERY easy .

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, definitely DON'T stop looking at flight prices. Should your fare decrease in price, call Jetblue and they will give you a credit for the difference towards a future flight. I have done it myself and its VERY easy .

Good point. Know your airline! If you've booked with JB, SW, or Alaska (maybe AT?), keep checking! If you've booked with another airline that doesn't give fee-free credit, stop checking.

 

[CT Disney]

So, I know that if my price drops JetBlue will give me a credit. But, I don't know the rules. Do you have to use that credit within a certain timeframe? And, do you have to fly by the end of that timeframe, or just purchase tickets?

 

[Eighty8Keys]

So, I know that if my price drops JetBlue will give me a credit. But, I don't know the rules. Do you have to use that credit within a certain timeframe? And, do you have to fly by the end of that timeframe, or just purchase tickets?

I called JetBlue each time I noticed the fares decreased for our September Disneyland trip, a total of four times. The credit was placed in my JetBlue travel bank along with an expiration date of one year from the date I requested the credit. I'm guessing that I just need to purchase my ticket prior to the expiration date, not necessarily fly by then. At least I'm hoping that's the case, otherwise I'll probably end up losing the credit since we don't have another trip planned until 2015.

 

[Aliceacc]

We'll be in Disney at the end of July, early August.

I've been looking at Jetblue's fares all day.

I normally book between Christmas and New Years, and I'm always happy with the fare I get. We'll see how long it takes me to pull the trigger.

IN 2012 I paid $1303 for the 5 of us round trip. That's my target number.

Hmmmm. I just checked. If I'm willing to fly out of LaGuardia and back to JFK, I can book at $1219.. that's $84 cheaper than in 2012.

I think I'll wait until at least tomorrow-- they say the cheapest time to book is Tuesday/ Wednesday. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[ancestry]

I don't think you booked too early. In my experience the initial price usually is the lowest for Jet Blue. I lucked out and got round trip for five people from New England for $1089 (including taxes and fees) in May on Southwest yesterday. Probably won't get much cheaper than that.

As someone else mentioned, you can monitor the prices and get a credit if the airfare drops.

 

[PrincesCJM]

If you are content in paying that price, then it wasn't too early.

 

[francie57]

I just booked our return air from Disney for Aug. with JB to BDL and paid $125 and was happy with that. I was hoping to book the flight to MCO but I don't like the time for the morning nonstop. I will wait on that to see what time the SW flight is when they open their window for the timeframe.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I booked my flights to LAX (DL trip) way early too. We leave on President's day Monday, return the following Sunday. Because it is Feb, I wanted non-stops (no layovers in Chicago, Denver, Cleveland in February for me with snow delay possibilities).

We are taking EWR (Newark NJ) to LAX. I paid About $149 each way, not fantastic, but it works for me, and since it is on United, I am not really looking at the fares (well, I did sneak a look and they are up over $100 RT).

$125 on comfortable Jet Blue, nonstop? I would book that from NJ to MCO if it was available.

 

[lovesdumbo]

You have 1 year from date of credit to book another flight-you don't need to fly within that year.

I use www.yapta.com to track the price of the flight and they send me an email if the price drops so I can call and get the credits.

 

[CT Disney]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Looks like the price of our flight to MCO has gone up in the last few days, while our return flight has remained at $125. I feel pretty good about the price, and knowing that I can get a JB credit if the price drops.

When I wrote my first post the other day, it was for this reason...

I had booked our tickets as soon as JB released them. The next day I was checking the prices again to make sure they weren't significantly different. Out of curiosity, I clicked on "view seats" to see if anyone else had purchased tickets for those flights. On both of our flights, our seats were the only ones showing as unavailable. So...I thought we were the only dodo birds who were silly enough to jump on the prices right away.

Anyway, we have flown SW in the past and I really don't care for the open seating policy and worrying that I may not get to sit with my family. The last few times we purchased EBCI and were still in the B group. The way I see it, even with a great $99 fare on SW, I'd still purchase EBCI so that would push the price up to $111 anyway, which is pretty close to my $125 JB fare.

I will definitely sign up for the website that the previous poster mentioned that will alert me to a fare decrease. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Aliceacc]

That's exactly why I won't book Southwest. I realize they're sometimes the better deal, but they don't work for us.

I'm going to book any day now; I'm still dithering about which flight to take.

 

[pooch]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Anyway, we have flown SW in the past and I really don't care for the open seating policy and worrying that I may not get to sit with my family. The last few times we purchased EBCI and were still in the B group. The way I see it, even with a great $99 fare on SW, I'd still purchase EBCI so that would push the price up to $111 anyway, which is pretty close to my $125 JB fare.

I will definitely sign up for the website that the previous poster mentioned that will alert me to a fare decrease. Thanks for the tip!

I/we have been very fortunate, have never purchased EBCI (except for DH last year so he could get on early & install DGS's car seat), always check in @ 24 hrs and, even with B's have never had an issue sitting together. Just dumb luck I guess!!

 

[CT Disney]

I/we have been very fortunate, have never purchased EBCI (except for DH last year so he could get on early & install DGS's car seat), always check in @ 24 hrs and, even with B's have never had an issue sitting together. Just dumb luck I guess!!

The thing is...even when we've gotten B boarding passes, we've never been separated either. We've always gotten to sit together. However...

I still get myself all worked up while we are waiting to board because we might get separated. Crazy, I know!

This is especially the case when we are boarding in Orlando and we have a B boarding pass. They usually call family boarding between A and B groups, and I get myself all worked up watching the long line of families getting on. I think my DH is sick of me whispering, "Hey, that kid looks a lot older than 4 years old!" and "Hey, why are they letting the whole family on? I thought it was only one adult per child 4 years or younger?!"

In the end, we all thought that it was best to just go with an airline that will let us pick our seats ahead of time.

 

[Pooh2]

We booked a last minute flight on Jet Blue for the Saturday after Thanksgiving and paid $839 for ONE WAY tickets for two from MCO to BOS! It was killing me but we needed to travel that day. I just checked this afternoon and the price went down by $550/pair of tickets so I called and they put the credit in our Travel Bank. Have not looked at that yet so do not know how long the credits are good for. So we will have to plan another trip to use up our credit!

 

[Mousemom234]

No, I don't think you booked too early. You know when you want to go, and the seats were available. Far better to book now, and be the only one with seats for a few months, than to wait for a fare drop and find the only seats left (if any) are in 4 different sections.

For us, flying out of Boston gives us far more choices, due to the different weeks for our school breaks. Usually for those times, JetBlue from BOS is cheaper than SWA out of either BOS or MHT, and more importantly, not booked to capacity the day flights open - which SWA pretty much was, for the April break.
I prefer JetBlue to SWA, just for the convenience of being able to choose seats. You do get 1 bag for free, and that's all we usually have anyhow.
And, even though there's only 2 of us, we have been separated with a B boarding pass.