JetBlue announced today that it would allow anyone to fly unlimited from Sept 8, 2009 to Oct 8, 2009 for a flat fee of $599. This All You Can Jet deal, while appealing and fresh, might be a flash in the pan. An average JetBlue ticket from Los Angeles (Long Beach) to Las Vegas each way is $59. Similarly, a flight from San Francisco to New York runs for $139 each way. Both the above fares are non-refundable.

Unless you have a small business, and plan a lot of travel in Sept and early Oct,  and you have a stake in the business where saving every penny matters, this deal might not be for you. During this mad rush, you may not get seats on your preferred flight. You also need to book 3 days in advance, so you cannot just travel spur of the moment. Assuming that an average flight on Jetblue costs $99 each way, you would need to complete 3 round-trip flights just to break even.

So before you rush out and make this impulse buy, price your vacation using JetBlue’s stand-alone prices, and even compare to Southwest Airlines. You might be surprised that this deal is not such a great deal after all.

You truly are free to move about the country. I expect Southwest to come out with something similar soon.

With so many options for online travel, you need all the help you can get to try and eek out a better price for your airfare. Here are some tips to help you get the best airfare.

• Early morning and overnight red-eye flights are typically cheaper. Try to seek out airfare at odd hours to get a better deal.
• Wednesday is usually the cheapest day to fly, but Tuesdays and Saturdays are also relatively cheap. Staying through a weekend also helps lower your cost of airfare.
• No one likes traveling on holidays. To get a good deal, try traveling on days like Thanksgiving Day or even Christmas Day if your plans allow it.
• Be flexible with your dates. When searching for airfares, use the option for flexible days.
  
• Alternative airports can sometimes reduce the price of your airfare dramatically. For example, instead of Los Angeles (LAX), try airports nearby like Long Beach, Ontario or Burbank. While this won’t always work, it does not hurt to try and I have often seen a 5-10% difference in airfare just by selecting this option.

Search for Cheap Summer Fares here!

Happy surfing!

Priceline.com is perhaps one of the best online travel sites out there, pioneering the “Name Your Price” model. While the site offers discounted prices on hotels, airfare, car rentals and vacations much like competitors like Expedia and Orbitz, it distinguishes itself from these competitors by offering this unique “Name Your Price” feature.

The only catch with this feature is that once you specify your criteria, you don’t have control over what you get. For example, in Las Vegas, bidding on a 4 star hotel could land you the Tropicana, which is certainly not in the same category as the Monte Carlo or Treasure Island.

Hotwire is the only other site that comes close to offering something similar to Priceline. They offer deeply discounted prices on airfares and hotels, but don’t reveal the details until you pay.

In both cases, there is a site (well, more of a forum) that allows would-be travellers to inquire about what they might end up with if they were to name their own price on Priceline or if they were to accept a deeply discounted price on Hotwire. This site is betterbidding.com, operated by actual people and having used them myself, I can say with some certainty that they generally get it right.

Update – You can now See Winning Hotel Bids in Top Cities on Priceline.com

Happy bidding!