Jetblue or Southwest???

[rioannidis]

Hello. I am at the booking a flight stage in my planning from BUF to MCO. Both JetBlue and Southwest have direct flights, round trip. Jet blue works out to be about $280 more for a family of 4. The flight times are slightly better, both airlines have free checked luggage. I am just wondering if JetBlue is worth the extra $$$. Should be noted that JetBlue allows you to choose an assigned seat and Southwest does boarding by "groups"

Any opinions would be AWESOME!

 

[flynnibus]

Hello. I am at the booking a flight stage in my planning from BUF to MCO. Both JetBlue and Southwest have direct flights, round trip. Jet blue works out to be about $280 more for a family of 4. The flight times are slightly better, both airlines have free checked luggage. I am just wondering if JetBlue is worth the extra $$$. Should be noted that JetBlue allows you to choose an assigned seat and Southwest does boarding by "groups"

Any opinions would be AWESOME!

I like Jetblue... one only tolerates Southwest. Jetblue has directTV at your seat too $70/person is not insignificant. I guess it's about your piece of mind.. do you want to 'play the game' with SW.. or just fly an airplane (jetblue)

 

[rioannidis]

Thank you for replying flynnibus. We decided to book with Jetblue and have done so. The peace of mind of pre-assigned seats (and added bonus of tv's for my two kids) was worth the extra money.

 

[dreamfinder]

Southwest does have free live tv over WiFi on their WiFi enabled flights at the current time. With young kids (like under 4 I think?) you would be able to board between A&B groups, which means you still board before ~66% of the passengers. I don't have a problem with SW, it lets them turn their planes over faster, and saves me money. Alternatively, with that much of a price difference you could pay the early bird check in fee, essentially guarantee an A boarding group, and still save enough money to pay for a few TS meals.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Thank you for replying flynnibus. We decided to book with Jetblue and have done so. The peace of mind of pre-assigned seats (and added bonus of tv's for my two kids) was worth the extra money.

Next time remember that if you book an Airtran flight through Southwest, you will still get free bags and you will have assigned seating. And the price will be lower. You'll have fewer fly times, but if you're ever on Southwest's Web site and you see one operated by Airtran that works for you, go ahead and click it.

Beyond that, no Southwest flight would separate you from your kids. I have seen them ground a plane until someone lets a kid sit with their parent. And the boarding group that you'd be in even if you didn't do Early Bird check in (guarenteed A boarding group for an extra fee) always has plenty of seating.

 

[Mukta]

I prefer jetblue. The seats are larger, there is a tv at each seat, snacks are unlimited etc. For a long flight, that little but of extra comfort goes a long way.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Thank you for replying flynnibus. We decided to book with Jetblue and have done so. The peace of mind of pre-assigned seats (and added bonus of tv's for my two kids) was worth the extra money.

Just be sure to log in to the website (if you're a TrueBlue member -- if you're not, join!) and check your reservation details at least once per week. I LOOOOVE JetBlue and they're my favorite airline to fly (we, too, choose them over Southwest so we can be assured that our family will be seated together), but in the past, I've had frequent issues with them changing the times of our flights or even the aircraft model (meaning our seats were randomly reassigned, too!), without sending me any kind of notification whatsoever. If they change a departure/arrival time by more than 30 minutes, be aware that you can call and change to a different, more convenient flight (if such exists and has available seats) without paying the flight change penalty -- which would otherwise be something like $75 or $100 per ticket.

The monetary penalty for voluntarily changing flights is, for me, the only area in which JetBlue loses to Southwest (which doesn't charge you at all to change your reservation). And although the poster above hasn't seen any kids separated from parents on a Southwest flight, it does happen. Rarely, but often enough to be the subject of several angry blog posts easily located through Google...

 

[RMichael21]

For your family, it may be better to book Jet Blue. The seats are larger and there are TVs to keep yourself occupied. It's definitely worth the extra money!

 

[TamaraQT]

I wish Jet Blue had nonstop flights out of PHL. Currently they fly from PHL to BOS then to MCO. I hope that changes one day. I think I would enjoy flying JetBlue.

 

[disney4life2008]

I love southwest. I am a larger person and I fit comfy in their seats and have always been in one of the first borading groups.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

Hello. I am at the booking a flight stage in my planning from BUF to MCO. Both JetBlue and Southwest have direct flights, round trip. Jet blue works out to be about $280 more for a family of 4. The flight times are slightly better, both airlines have free checked luggage. I am just wondering if JetBlue is worth the extra $$$. Should be noted that JetBlue allows you to choose an assigned seat and Southwest does boarding by "groups"

Any opinions would be AWESOME!

We love Southwest!!!

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm A-List Preferred on SW and Mosaic on JetBlue so I fly both frequently.

- Southwest has 2 free checked bags, JetBlue has only 1 unless you are Mosaic
- JetBlue charges 100-150 for changes to itinerary unless you are Mosaic
- Southwest you just pay difference in fare which sometimes results in a credit

- Boarding is not bad for either although because of JetBlues bag limits gate checking luggage is much more common on JetBlue.

Bottom line you will be happy with either one of them

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

Just a quick heads up for anyone using JetBlue out of Syracuse in May. My Mom, who booked the flight, got an e-mail today. We were supposed to leave Syracuse at 7:00AM on May 19, but our flight got moved to 8:00AM on the same day. Our return flights are also scheduled for different times.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Just a quick heads up for anyone using JetBlue out of Syracuse in May. My Mom, who booked the flight, got an e-mail today. We were supposed to leave Syracuse at 7:00AM on May 19, but our flight got moved to 8:00AM on the same day. Our return flights are also scheduled for different times.

Thanks! We got the same notification -- SYR-MCO flight on 5/4 moved from 7am to 8am, and MCO-SYR flight on 5/10 moved from something like 8:30pm to 6:59pm. (For once, we were happy with the changes, but I hope we don't see any more. As much as I love JetBlue, I've never had a single flight with them where they didn't change the timetable anywhere from one to three times!)

 

[Weather_Lady]

Beyond that, no Southwest flight would separate you from your kids. I have seen them ground a plane until someone lets a kid sit with their parent. And the boarding group that you'd be in even if you didn't do Early Bird check in (guarenteed A boarding group for an extra fee) always has plenty of seating.

I'm sure it's not a regular occurence, but it does happen that Southwest allows families to be separated. We flew back and forth from Rochester, NY to Baltimore, MD a couple of weeks ago (our first experience on Southwest). We checked in precisely at 24 hours both times, which put us toward the front of the B group on each flight, so we were able to sit together.

On the outbound flight, a family at the end of the C group with two children in the 8-10 range was split up throughout the plane. The parents asked nicely if anyone would move so they could each sit with a child. No one did, and the only assistance offered by the flight attendants was to identify the four remaining [scattered] empty seats for the family and ask them politely to hurry up and be seated. Granted, the children were not toddlers and didn't appear agitated about not sitting with their parents (perhaps that is the big distinction), but it still would have been nice if they could have been accommodated together.

That being said, we very much enjoyed our flight experience on Southwest. The boarding process (and corresponding need to either rearrange your schedule to check in at 24 hours, or else pay an amount roughly equivalent to a fifth ticket for Early Bird check-in) is annoying, and seemed to take far longer than conventional rear-to-front boarding, but the flight itself and the funny/sarcastic flight attendants were just the right combination of efficient and fun.

JetBlue remains my favorite, if only because I can pick our seats ahead of time, and enjoy a nice dose of HGTV or the History Channel as I fly. (The number of "free" checked bags is a non-issue in our analysis, as we travel "carryon only.") They're both good airlines, however, and I'm grateful that they fly out of both of our local airports. It's always good to have choices.

 

[maelstrom98]

I love Southwest, but I think it's partly because our first experience with them was probably the best possible experience you could have for your first time flying with them. The flight crew was amazing. The safety spiel they did was informative, but hilarious, which was really comforting since a lot of my family members were first time flyers at the time. They kept going on about how the flight attendants were going to walk up and down to aisles to make sure our bags were properly stowed, and that our shoes matched our outfits. Little things like that. Obviously it depends on the crew you get, though. We had a group of 10 and all managed to sit together easily, but we also checked in early and were part of the A group because of that.

 

[WWWD]

One of the flight attendants told us once "remember when flying Southwest, A boarding group gets to sit Anywhere, B is the Back of the plane, and C is the Center seat". I will always avoid group C.

 

[Sandy Carroll]

My problem with comparing is that jet blues lowest fare is non refundable...not easy if you need to change. Southwest change policy is much easier and cheaper. So you can't compare the lowest fares from both. When I compare the southwest lowest fare and include early bird checking vs jet blues refundable fare the best fare is always southwest. But I still continue to compare when booking because you never know. But make sure you are comparing the same thing. It's also important to take baggage into consideration. I do t like to worry about packing light, so it matters for us.

 

[BigTxEars]

I have flown SW a lot over the years. It's no frills but reliable and efficient. We are flying Air Trans to Atlanta, then SW from there to Orlando this year, just SW on the way home.

Never flown Jet Blue so I can not comment.