by Tracy Bee

Created on: February 02, 2009

Recently, old airlines have begun re-branding themselves as discount carriers and a multitude of new airlines have appeared. Following Europe's lead, America has realized that flying locally should be a cheap and affordable option for everyone. JetBlue is one of these airlines, making great flights available to the masses.

If you haven't yet heard about JetBlue, you likely will soon. It offers great value flights to a few sun destinations, such as the Bahamas, as well as throughout the US. While it is not as heavily advertised as larger, more established domestic airlines such as Delta or American Airlines, this discount airline has been steadily gaining popularity among US travelers. Jetblue Airways (www.jetblueairways.com) has only been operating for 10 years but consistently tops customer satisfaction surveys. In June 2008, J.D. Powers and Associated rated JetBlue "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Low Cost Carriers in North America." Conde Nast Traveler magazine's Readers' Choice Awards has also rated it the "#1 US domestic airline" for the past six years. Its positive customer reviews have carried it through the industry's uncertainty following 9/11. With one of the greatest market capitalizations in the industry, JetBlue has also continued to thrive even as others in the industry have begun to feel recession's strains.

To compare JetBlue's fare offerings to those offered by other airlines, I performed an Expedia search and compared the results to Jetblue's fares. Midweek, April (ie, shoulder season) flights were searched on each website. All stated fares include taxes and all of the searched flights depart from Seattle to three popular domestic destinations - San Diego, New York and Miami. The arrival airport was also compared, as it is usually best to fly into a city's major airport. Major airports have better transportation infrastructure for commuting onwards or into the city. Only when the savings are substantial is it advisable to fly to an out-of-the way airport.

Expedia's fare results were the following: Seattle to San Diego was $280-330; Seattle to Miami was $290-510; and Seattle to New York was $320-400. Expedia's flights all arrived at each city's major airport.

Meanwhile, a midweek, April flight search yielded the following results for JetBlue flights: Seattle to San Diego for $219.20, to West Palm Beach (its closest destination to Miami) for $530.40 and to New York's JFK airport for $259.20. After looking around the site deals, I discovered that the majority of Jetblue's best deals are under $300. By searching for fares on Jetblue's website, you can find unadvertised fare specials. Most budget airlines have frequent, even weekly specials that you can only discover by going to the website. JetBlue's website also allows access to tools, such as fare calendars, to help find the best available fares and specials. Expedia's searches offer less search flexibility.

Overall, compared to Expedia's results, JetBlue's flights were roughly $100 cheaper than Expedia's major airline results. Unlike most budget airlines, Jetblue's flights also usually arrive at major airports. Another advantage is that JetBlue offers a competitive frequent flyer reward program, called TrueBlue, which does not require the collector to carry its card. However, points must be redeemed quickly as they expire within a year, making them harder to accumulate and truly suitable for frequent fliers only.

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