JetBlue is bringing back their Go Pack promotion for travel this fall, allowing customers to purchase 10-packs of tickets at a fixed price with nearly unlimited flexibility in booking. There will be no unlimited travel option but the price point for the Go Packs is rather competitive, especially for a business traveler where the destination cities are consistent but the specific flights or dates may change from week to week or day to day. There are 7 packs available in the current offering, on sale through September 6th or until supplies run out. Travel on the packs is valid between September 12th and December 19th, with Thanksgiving Week blacked out.
Passengers can book last seat inventory up to 90 minutes prior to scheduled departure. The bookings are non-refundable except for the government-mandated 24-hour window for travel outside of 7 days. Go Pack codes can be given to any passenger, allowing a business to buy the 10 segments and split them amongst several employees. Only the customer who purchases the pack will earn TrueBlue points; individual passengers will not.
Here are the packs available this time around (I made up the names; the cities are real though):
Transcon Traveler
Boston/New York City to Los Angeles/San Francisco – $2499 + $7/flight
West Coast Commuter
Long Beach to San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Seattle, Portland and Las Vegas – $999 + $7/flight
Big Apple Regional
JFK to Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Burlington, Portland and Pittsburgh – $1,099 + $7/flight
North East Corridor
Boston to Newark, JFK, Dulles, BWI and National; JFK to Dulles – $1,199 + $7/flight
Caribbean Hopper
San Juan to St. Maarten, Santo Domingo, St. Thomas and St. Croix – $699 + up to $69/flight
Iron City Worker
Pittsburgh to Boston or JFK – $899 + $7/flight
Boston Business
Boston to Raleigh/Durham, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago, Charlotte and Richmond – $1,099 + $7/flight
The booking flexibility and fixed price point make these packs generally a great deal for business travelers. For individuals the value is rather less significant, but it isn’t completely horrible.
Related Posts:
- JetBlue offers up another GoPack
- JetBlue introduces bulk ticket "Go Packs" for intra-California travel
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Looking at the transcon package, $250/flight isn’t great during the fall. If you need the flexibility and this will get you out of purchasing a few $400+ tickets, it would be worthwhile, but for those who can plan ahead, this is not a great deal.
The shorter haul packages look like better deals ($100 per flight).
As someone who bought the Gopack last time (when it was $700), I would think twice about buying it again during the winter. I wasted my last two Gopack flights because our flight got cancelled and they could not rebook us until the next night (we cancelled our weekend trip). The gopack expired 4 days later. Only after an hour on the phone were we able to get even $50 per unused ticket (which was less than each pass cost). If we had purchased tickets normally, we would have gotten a full refund automatically. Also, if you use the Gopack you are not eligible for the compensation that Jetblue usually gives when a flight has a long delay for reasons within their control. I also suspect that you are on the bottom of the list for rebooking when your flight is cancelled since unlike every other revenue passenger on the flight, if you end up not getting rebooked, they still get to keep your money.
So the pass is a good deal for those who need last minute flights, but from experience I would say make sure that you are going to be saving several hundred dollars from buying this. The downsides involved with these tickets have a cost that I certainly didn’t think about when I bought the Gopack last time.
The BOS DC/NY option is not a deal. $250 a flight in the Fall? The promo offered over the summer was way cheaper. Jetblue that’s kinda lame to even be advertising this. Even with the added convenience of last minute bookings, Dan makes some good arguments above about the drawbacks of the go pack.
Boo on this promo.