Here’s some unexpected positive news about airline travel: JetBlue’s offer of All-You-Can Jet pass for $599 is worth a month’s unlimited flying. Good news, most agree.
Customers of the well-publicized offer can buy unlimited flying between any of the airline’s 56 international and domestic destinations between Sept. 8 and Oct. 8. The pass has to be bought by Aug. 21.
It provides “pass holders…access to every available seat on every available seat on every flight with no blackout seats,” the airline says.
Some fine print applies: JetBlue says "each flight must be booked no later than 11:59 pm MDT 3 days prior to the flight’s scheduled departure."
Pass holders can make changes to previous pass reservations for free if done more than three days in advance. However, JetBlue says "changes or cancellations made less than three days before departure will be subject to JetBlue’s $100 change/cancel fee.
There are other stipulations.
Is this a good deal?
ABC News notes that two round trips between New York JFK and San Francisco alone could cover the cost of the pass, based on fares currently available.
But travelers flying on routes where JetBlue fares are typically cheap – routes with fares at $99 or less each way, for example – would have to make as many as a half-dozen one-way trips to recoup the cost of the pass, airline analyst Ray Neidl tells ABC.
Also, he adds, "there are not a lot of people who can travel that much" in a one-month period.
He concludes:
"It’s students or retirees."
by David Wilkening
