Why does JetBlue keep changing the times of our flights?

[goofy0626]

I booked our flights from Providence to Orlando back in Feb. for this August. In March I noticed they changed the times of our flights by a difference of 2 hours both going down and coming back. They did eventually send an email for me to confirm the change. Yesterday I noticed it was changed once again. Ugh. I hope this is the last time, as this is making havoc with our plans. We have flown Southwest many times and have never experienced this. This is the 1st time using JetBlue. Is this a normal thing with JetBlue?

 

[DebbieB]

I booked our flights from Providence to Orlando back in Feb. for this August. In March I noticed they changed the times of our flights by a difference of 2 hours both going down and coming back. They did eventually send an email for me to confirm the change. Yesterday I noticed it was changed once again. Ugh. I hope this is the last time, as this is making havoc with our plans. We have flown Southwest many times and have never experienced this. This is the 1st time using JetBlue. Is this a normal thing with JetBlue?

Southwest is about the only airline that doesn't change schedules, partly because they don't schedule flights far in advance the way the others do.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It's pretty normal for airlines to make schedule changes. Usually if the change is significant (depends on the airline), you can make a free change to another flight or get a ticket refund.

 

[tinka-belle]

It's one of the drawbacks of booking flights early. Most airlines do have schedule changes every few months but are cooperative in re-assigning your flights if the new schedule does not work or issuing a refund if the change is a major one.

No, it's not a Jet Blue thing......

 

[goofy4tink]

I always count on JB changing my flight times at least once for each trip...and they never disappoint!!! They usually don't change by a lot, maybe a few minutes.
But, I think that if you book very early, as soon as they open their window which it looks like you did, you do run the risk of them changing times. They don't want to fly with half full planes, so they will consolidate flights. And there could be a reason at the other end...perhaps they needed a plane somewhere else, so had to change your flight time in order to make that possible.

 

[julluvsdisney]

this makes me nervous! we have a flight booked for june 1st out of providence at 825am and we have half a day planned in Disney. The plan is only half full right now. The next flight out is at 6pm that's a huge difference! if they consolidate will the make it a later flight for us and an earlier flight for them?

 

[DebbieB]

this makes me nervous! we have a flight booked for june 1st out of providence at 825am and we have half a day planned in Disney. The plan is only half full right now. The next flight out is at 6pm that's a huge difference! if they consolidate will the make it a later flight for us and an earlier flight for them?

They don't typically "consolidate" if the plane is not full, many people book last minute. The plane has a scheduled daily route. Schedule changes typically change the route for the entire day, everyday. Not just 1 flight. You are about 6 weeks out, chances are it will not change.

 

[julluvsdisney]

They don't typically "consolidate" if the plane is not full, many people book last minute. The plane has a scheduled daily route. Schedule changes typically change the route for the entire day, everyday. Not just 1 flight. You are about 6 weeks out, chances are it will not change.

Best news I've heard all day! Thank you! I'd hate to be bumped!

 

[Jimsig]

That plane has to go somewhere after and logistically it really messes them up when they get a plane out of order.

 

[goofy0626]

I also noticed that they changed our seats on the flight in August from Providence. The plane is not even close to being half full yet. The size of the plane also changed. It used to be 6 seats in each row, now it's 4 seats per row. For the heck of it I checked the price compared to when we booked back in Feb. and it's jumped $500. I then compared it to Southwest and they are $500 cheaper than what JetBlue is at now. I would think most people will go with the best price. I too am starting to worry that the flight will get cancelled altogether and really ruin our plans. There are only 2 flights a day from Providence to Orlando.

 

[Jimsig]

I also noticed that they changed our seats on the flight in August from Providence. The plane is not even close to being half full yet. The size of the plane also changed. It used to be 6 seats in each row, now it's 4 seats per row.

This far out an airline could, and in this case has, changed aircraft for operational reasons. They changed from a 150 seat Airbus to a 100 seat Embraer Regional Jet (ERJ). Could be because they feel that flight will not fill up and they can use a 150 seat plane elsewhere as you said it is not even half full yet. It's more economical to run the ERJ in general, but also better for them to run a plane with say 95 out of 100 seats full then to run an Airbus with only 95 out of 150 seats full. By changing this far out they can also readjust equipment and manpower schedules well in advance. I also believe they need 1 cabin crew member to each 50 passengers, so by switching to a smaller aircraft they need one less crew member. Pilots also have to be qualified on the types of aircraft they run so they need to know what they are running in advance. They can't just necessarily have a pilot show up and give him the keys to his aircraft for the day. It's probably easier to adjust like that on JetBlue as they only use 2 different type of aircraft (depending on agreements they have with the pilots), but much more difficult on say Delta or American where they use many different type of aircraft.

 

[monorailsilver]

I think my return for August has changed twice so far.

My flight out changed from leaving at 7am to 8am ish out of Hartford so while I am not thrilled that I will lose that hour or so I am happy to get to sleep in.

My flight home was originally scheduled for around 5 and then I think it changed to about 6:30 and now after 7.

There are only 2 flights both ways, one in the am and one in the pm.

 

[dwfanatic]

I think my return for August has changed twice so far.

My flight out changed from leaving at 7am to 8am ish out of Hartford so while I am not thrilled that I will lose that hour or so I am happy to get to sleep in.

My flight home was originally scheduled for around 5 and then I think it changed to about 6:30 and now after 7.

There are only 2 flights both ways, one in the am and one in the pm.
Today 08:35 AM

Glad I saw this Monorailsilver- now I need to change the return on our rental car !

 

[Alli76]

I think my return for August has changed twice so far.

My flight out changed from leaving at 7am to 8am ish out of Hartford so while I am not thrilled that I will lose that hour or so I am happy to get to sleep in.

My flight home was originally scheduled for around 5 and then I think it changed to about 6:30 and now after 7.

There are only 2 flights both ways, one in the am and one in the pm.

I think that I would be ok with that. Taking a jet blue flight out of Newburgh next weekend. We originally booked in sept for a 7:30 am flight. It is now 6:30 am and we live over an hour away. It is the only flight to orlando that day, so no changing for us. Going to be an early morning! Our flight home changed from 11am to 6pm. Happens every time I book early with jet blue!

 

[monorailsilver]

I think my return for August has changed twice so far.

My flight out changed from leaving at 7am to 8am ish out of Hartford so while I am not thrilled that I will lose that hour or so I am happy to get to sleep in.

My flight home was originally scheduled for around 5 and then I think it changed to about 6:30 and now after 7.

There are only 2 flights both ways, one in the am and one in the pm.
Today 08:35 AM

Glad I saw this Monorailsilver- now I need to change the return on our rental car !

Glad to help! Something made me look again.

 

[sjs314]

I am use to minor time changes but JB threw me for a loop in November when they cancelled my 6:30am flight and put us on one leaving at 10:39am, 4 hours totally messed up our first day plans. I am booked on the 6:30am flight again for this November but I am ready for any changes, our first day will be a resort day not planning on hitting any parks.

 

[goofy0626]

I sure hope JetBlue does not cancel our flight altogether. I'll be worrying about this for the next 4 months. The only other flight out of Providence is late afternoon. If they put us on that flight, we'll loose a whole day of our trip. If that happens, I would rather be put on the flight the night before. I think this will be the first and the last time flying with JetBlue. This is turning out to be very stressful. Think we'll go back with Southwest after this.

 

[Jimsig]

I always count on JB changing my flight times at least once for each trip...and they never disappoint!!! They usually don't change by a lot, maybe a few minutes

When they change by a few min here and there it usually has to do with their on time performance (OTP). I think it's the DOT that keeps those reports and records. If an airport has say 7 planes due for 7am departures you of course have 7 planes pushing back from the gate around 7 getting in line to take off. Push back a few min late and you are now last in line and what should say be 8 min from push back to wheels up now takes 23 min and you have lost 15 min. If that becomes consistant it messes with your OTP. That same airport may not have any 655am departures so by adjusting 5 min early the ground delay is minimized. So airlines will adjust departure and arrival times, by a few min, to keep a better OTP with the feds. By adjusting times they can also pad the sched, but adjust it too much to pad and the feds want to know why.