I just got the news that JetBlue has begun offering refundable fares. I’ve heard this was in the works, and am surprised it’s taken this long. I think this has been something that has prevented many business travelers from considering JetBlue for their travel needs.
However, this does make me wonder if JetBlue’s policy of not overbooking its flights may be on the way out? I know it may be hard to see the connection. In the beginning, JetBlue did not offer its product for sale through Global Distribution Systems (GDS’s), and thus had 100% control of its inventory of seats. This makes it easier to justify not overbooking flights. Offering refundable fares (that can easily be changed at the last minute, and possibly lead to more “no shows”) may take JetBlue one step closer to overbooking flights.
We’ll see. I’ve never flown JetBlue, but would certainly like to. They just don’t seem to fly where I need to go yet.
