katestine: (geek)
[personal profile] katestine
This is me geeking aloud bc I *heart* pricing. You have been warned.

So you might've noticed that I fly JetBlue a lot. Earlier this year, I racked up two one-way frequent flier tickets AND got credits related to my bad travel karma. The trick is, I'm having a hard time deciding what the value of a ff tix is.

See, on most airlines, a ff roundtrip ticket in the US is worth about $250, based on the credit card schemes and the points required to accumulate them, so if the plane ticket costs substantially more than that, I start checking about using miles. By the same calculation, JetBlue roundtrip tix are worth about $200, presumably bc they have a more limited set of flights. So, if I'm looking at a $150 ticket (each way), I should use the ff ticket. Except that the ff ticket is usable by anyone I like whereas the credit is only usable by me, which is occasionally a useful distinction. I think that Gresham's Law suggests I use the credits, esp since it's nice to have the ff tix as a backstop if in my last minute planning, the price jumps.

I suppose someday I could start planning my trips more than a few weeks in advance. naw.

Also, I got to use the words "distinction" and "precision" today, which makes me very happy.

Edit: Strictly speaking, there's a further discount factor on JetBlue's tickets in that they expire in a year (instead of the more typical rolling 3-years of other airlines). However, I travel to their destinations sufficiently frequently that this shouldn't be a concern - I've penciled in two more trips, possibly 4, before the end of the year. Egads, just typing that makes me dread the packing/unpacking.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-12 02:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jofish22.livejournal.com
The old rule of thumb, which still isn't bad, is 0.02c/mile. That's making the assumption that a 25,000 mile tix is going to set you back $500, so let's say you're flying BUR-JFK-SYR return or vice versa, then that's currently about $630, so it makes sense to use your FF. But if you're doing your math off a $300 tix, it may not make as much sense to use the FFs.

Then again, it depends how likely you are to use those tix to fly to the left coast, rather than down to DC or whatever.

flyertalk.com is the site for people who pay even more attention to this kinda junk than me. They're sometimes worth searching, particularly for specific questions.

And I once got a friend taking an airline pricing class as part of her masters at GW to send me the slides for the more important lessons of the semester. I double heart your pricing, yo!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-12 03:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katestine.livejournal.com
Ooh, that's the website I was thinking of. Thanks!

With these last minute JetBlue tickets, interestingly, it costs about as much to go to Florida as to, say, Denver, which muddies the question for me.

And I once got a friend taking an airline pricing class as part of her masters at GW to send me the slides for the more important lessons of the semester. I double heart your pricing, yo!

That's so sweet. There was an IAP class on the topic that was just fantastic.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-12 03:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katestine.livejournal.com
Interestingly, according to the 2c rule, I shouldn't use the ff ticket until the price goes to $200 one way, which matches my intuition.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-12 03:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jofish22.livejournal.com
Yeah, exactly. Do the tickets expire soon enough for that to be an issue?

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-12 03:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katestine.livejournal.com
I've about 9mo before they expire, it just seems unlikely that I'll come across a ticket that costs >$200 one way.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-13 03:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jofish22.livejournal.com
by the way, those trueblue passes aren't transferable, are they? cos i'd take them off your hands for, what, $400? a bit more? if they are. and you'd be aiding the cause of me having sweet lovin', 'n' all.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-13 01:22 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I don't know if they are transferable, but I used one of them to get somebody else in town for sweet lovin', so this might be doable. The other two catches are that [livejournal.com profile] fischstick was right - I couldn't use them for my next trip - and I only have one (i.e. a one-way) left. That being said, if you're interested in giving it a go, we might be able to figure something out.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-12 07:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fischstick.livejournal.com
Just be careful if you're planning on using the TrueBlue passes last minute. When you cash in a TrueBlue pass you have to go through a separate section of the web-site and the availability of tickets is *somewhat* limited. At least if you wait until the last minute.

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