Dollars vs. FF tickets
Jun. 11th, 2007 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
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)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)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)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-12 03:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-12 03:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-13 03:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-13 01:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-12 07:19 am (UTC)