What is JetBlue doing?!?!?!

[Disney Ron]

Yesterday when JB's fares were extended to 1/09/08 we booked our flights from BOS to MCO 12/8-12/15 for $114 down and $99 return. Just 4 hours later our flights to MCO had gone up to $119. By last night our return flight had also gone to $119! I just went to check the flights and our flight to MCO is now $159 with the return now up to $139!!! Never having flown JB before why so many changes in fares in so short a time period?

Thank god I booked our flights right when they were posted.

 

[Bichon Barb]

My theory is that the price goes up as the tickets are sold. Probably lots of people waiting for those flights to be released and booked.

I could be wrong though. LOL.

 

[bradk]

their fares are pretty volatile. there's a good chance prices may go down again. i can't tell you what goes on behind the scenes, but there are multiple pricing levels. i can only guess tickets are sold, flights are canceled or changed, etc., and all that impacts the pricing.

 

[rosiep]

I love JB and use them often to fly btw NY and Oregon, however these last few weeks their prices have been over the top expensive and when I inquired why the woman said the more filled the flight is the more expensive the tickets get!! I don't know if that's a reliable explaination because I was looking at flights months out and they're all more money than I've ever seen before.

 

[Detailor]

Jet Blue's practice is to offer a limited number of lower cost seats on flights when the schedule is extended. I think that Bichon Barb's conjecture is pretty close to how they manage the process.

Dick Taylor

 

[Simbee3]

I love JB and use them often to fly btw NY and Oregon, however these last few weeks their prices have been over the top expensive and when I inquired why the woman said the more filled the flight is the more expensive the tickets get!! I don't know if that's a reliable explaination because I was looking at flights months out and they're all more money than I've ever seen before.

I was told the very same thing last year by Jetblue's customer service. I was so worried as I am now becuase the price to fly out was so expensive. Low and behold the next morning the price dropped dramatically and I was able to get a fare that I could live with. Lets hope that happens this year.

 

[JESW]

I am trying to book for November. This morning the price was up from yesterday - but this afternoon it was down from this morning - I have no idea when to book!

Jill

 

[goofy4tink]

Boston to MCO early Dec....yesterday morning= $309, last night= $119, now= $114..may want to book now....I'm so confused!!!!

 

[Disney Ron]

Jet Blue's practice is to offer a limited number of lower cost seats on flights when the schedule is extended. I think that Bichon Barb's conjecture is pretty close to how they manage the process.

Dick Taylor

Dick, I counted the seats booked on my flight to MCO late last night when the fares were $119 they are now $159 and the same number of seats are still booked. So why would the price increase when noone else has booked? In fact our flight is pretty empty and if these prices don't come down I fear it will stay that way.

 

[CarolA]

It's supply and demand. Most airlines release fairly few seats at the "bottom feeder" rates. As they are sold the price climbs....

How did you count the seats? If you used the seat map, it is probably wrong. I have a flight to London next week. Seat map shows EVERY seat full. However, I have a tool that shows me the seats left at every fare class. LOTS of seats left. Plane is not close to oversold. I have seen it work the other way too. LOTS of seats on the seat map, plane is actually oversold.

(And what JetBlue is doing is trying to make enough money to stay in business. That means that fares need to go UP as fuel prices go UP!)

 

[FayeW]

I am trying to book for November. This morning the price was up from yesterday - but this afternoon it was down from this morning - I have no idea when to book!

Jill

If you are booking for November you can wait and book late Aug or early Sept. They will drop down to about $59, usually 6-8 weeks before the flight. We flew last year on Nov 30th, and I think the price dropped around the 1st of Oct. I called in and got a credit for the price reduction. About 2 weeks later, the return flight dropped, so I called a second time. Now I have $200 in credit.

 

[Bichon Barb]

For those of you who live in or around big cities, lucky you! In markets like Syracuse, we really don't have the choices like Boston, New York or Buffalo. The only direct to MCO and back that we have is one per day with JB. If you see that flight for $99 each way off season, you grab it! If you see it for $149 each way during holidays or school breaks, you grab it!

If you wait until December to book for February break, you are going to be pay $400 pp round trip.

 

[RayRing]

I book Jet Blue for the same dates as Disney Ron.
Non-Stop - Boston to Orlando
12/08/07 down
12/15/07 back

I checked Jet Blue in the morning, and they had not extended the dates yet.

Just by chance, I checked a second time a little later and saw that they had extended the dates.

I brought up what our flights would cost, and it showed 99 each way.

I called and talk with my DW, to ask if she wanted to try Jet Blue out of Boston (we normally fly SouthWest out of Providence, RI). She said we could try out Jet Blue, Book the flights, and get that worry off our plate. I clicked to continue on the Jet Blue web site, and it said that those flights or rates were no longer available (I think Disney Ron got them). I ended up with 119 down and back, for a total of 1,035 for the four of us.

I feel that 250 Round Trip is about average, for what we have paid the last couple trips down to WDW. Non-Stop flights, and good flight times. Now with Jet Blue, we will have assigned seats, which will make my DW happy.

 

[michboro]

It's supply and demand. Most airlines release fairly few seats at the "bottom feeder" rates. As they are sold the price climbs....

How did you count the seats? If you used the seat map, it is probably wrong. I have a flight to London next week. Seat map shows EVERY seat full. However, I have a tool that shows me the seats left at every fare class. LOTS of seats left. Plane is not close to oversold. I have seen it work the other way too. LOTS of seats on the seat map, plane is actually oversold.

(And what JetBlue is doing is trying to make enough money to stay in business. That means that fares need to go UP as fuel prices go UP!)

How do you check the seat mat to see what seats are available?

 

[DisneyForLife]

How do you check the seat mat to see what seats are available?

The only way I have been able to see the seat map is after I have booked and I pick out which seat I want. I don't think you can see them otherwise.

As far as the tool a previous poster mentioned I don't know what that is but I wish I had it.

 

[CarolA]

The tool I have is the KVS Availabilty tool. You have to pay for it. If you go to www.flyertalk.com and search on thier forums you will get the info for the links (I only have it on my home machine and am currently on my work machine) For an occasional flier I am not sure it's worth the cost. (I am not sure it's worth the cost for me since I am flying less, when my subscription runs out I will probably not renew.) It does not tell you the fare prices or do any predictions on that. Just tells you how many seats at each code left. Sometimes that's helpful, sometimes not.

 

[Detailor]

Dick, I counted the seats booked on my flight to MCO late last night when the fares were $119 they are now $159 and the same number of seats are still booked. So why would the price increase when noone else has booked? In fact our flight is pretty empty and if these prices don't come down I fear it will stay that way.

Yes, that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. The airlines collect a lot of historical data regarding demand and pricing tolerance that they feed into algorithms that generate pricing at any given point in time. You'll find a seemingly arbitrary nature in pricing that create the increases and decreases that are being described in this thread. Sometimes pricing for a particular flight can be affected by pricing for other flights starting and ending at the same locations during any particular day.
In your situation, the seats that you purchased may have been the last available seats at the price that you paid and the $159 just may be their next price level that they've set for the flight. Generally, the airline has only a couple of options if the flight doesn't fill up - either drop the price or cancel the flight.

Dick Taylor