For $599, JetBlue recently offered unlimited flights for 30 days, with not a lot of fine print. (Basically you couldn’t just show up at the airport — flights would have to be booked 3 days in advance.)
Are “season-passes” the next big thing in air travel? Ski areas, theme parks, and museums have already figured this out to be both a money-maker and a customer-satisfier. Why not airlines?
I applaud JetBlue for doing something innovative in a pretty un-innovative industry. I’m sure these airlines have all kinds of accountants and actuaries running the profit-and-loss numbers on every flight, maybe even on every customer. They wouldn’t have run this deal if it wasn’t going to make money.
For the airlines, the incremental cost of flying one additional passenger is almost nothing –up to 100% capacity. I imagine there are plenty of flights each day on every carrier with empty seats, seats that could potentially be filled by “all-you-can-jet” passholders. The airline also has the advantage of collecting the cash upfront, with the associated costs being postponed until the actual flights take place. The only potential downside is when they overbook a flight and have to compensate “bumped” passengers. But again, I’m sure they have smart people who have calculated the cost of this risk, and priced it into the pass. (And customers still have to book 72 hrs in advance. If a flight is already sold out, they’re out of luck.)
It’s a win for customers too: you only buy it if you think you’ll get your money’s worth.
The sale is over but it will be really interesting to see if they bring back a similar offer in the future, and what other airlines jump on board.
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