I’m sure many of you were hoping to see a post today on Republic winning the auction for Frontier thanks to labor thwarting the Southwest bid, but I didn’t have enough time to do the research last night to write a post. I’ll have more next week either here or on BNET.
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Every so often an airline comes out with a great promotion that catches people’s attention. It’s easy to put out a fare sale, and those don’t usually get much attention, but JetBlue has put out something that’s certainly eye-catching this week. It’s the all-you-can-fly pass. One month, $599 (plus international taxes and fees), and you can fly anywhere you want in the JetBlue system.
First, I have to say that this isn’t exactly a JetBlue invention. Others have tried it in the past (some in the very distant past), and there are other types of passes like this that still exist today. Most notably in the last decade has been Air Canada’s plethora of pass products, but JetBlue’s effort here is still a great one. For $599 plus international taxes and fees, you can fly anywhere JetBlue flies between September 8 and October 8.
Want to fly every single day? Go right ahead. As long as you can afford the taxes, you’re welcome to do it. You might expect that there would be a bunch of restrictions here, and you’d be . . . wrong. If there is a seat to sell, it’s all yours. The only real restrictions are that you need to make your bookings and changes at least three days before departure. Any changes within three days (or no-shows), and you have to pay $100. That’s a deal. And you get 35 TrueBlue points so you’re a third of the way to a free ticket.
Why the heck is JetBlue putting out such a rich offer? September 8 is the day after Labor Day, and that’s when traffic tanks. Kids are back in school, there are no more holidays in September, and it’s too early for kids to be pulled out of school again for a vacation. For an airline with a huge leisure focus like JetBlue, this is an awful time of year. It’s particularly bad in Florida and the Caribbean where it’s peak hurricane season. Those are JetBlue’s bread-and-butter markets.
So they figure that they can get some people on airplanes with this move. It fits with their brand, and it will get them great press. It already has. Anyone want to take bets on how many blogs pop up with people documenting their 30 days of travel?
I like this move a lot, because it’s creative and it’s simple. Great stuff.
[Updated 8/14 @ 849a to reflect that only international taxes and fees are charge – domestic ones are included]