We are not a travel agent and the information in this article is from the companies, so check with them for the details, restrictions, and fine print. Three carriers--Delta, Jet Blue, and Virgin America have announced summer/fall sales with some really great bargains for Southern California travel. More carriers can be expected to announce fare sales. If you are thinking about a getaway, these prices AND restrictions are worth looking into. The purchase deadlines are soon, so don't wait too long.
For Jet Blue, Long Beach is their Southern California hub. They serve 14 destinations with over 28 daily flights with about 500 employees based in Long Beach. The travel dates are between September 8 and December 16, but forget about getting a bargain to go see Mom for Thanksgiving, which is November 26. Blackout dates are between November 24 and November 30. The travel must be booked by August 5, which is next Wednesday, and it must be booked online at (click here) www.jetblue.com. If you don't book online, it will cost you an additional $15.00, and that's not even close to the only restriction--there are plenty. BE sure to check the fine print.
Here are the fares from Long Beach, according to Jet Blue's release: Austin, TX $99 (a), Boston, MA $139 (a), Chicago, IL $109 (a), Fort Lauderdale, FL $119 (a), Las Vegas, NV $44 (a), New York (JFK) $134 (a), Oakland, CA $39 (a), Portland, OR $84 (a), Sacramento, CA $45 (a), Salt Lake City, UT $55 (a), San Francisco, CA $39 (a), San Jose, CA $29 (a), Seattle, WA $79 (a), Washington, D.C. (Dulles) $129 (a)
(a) There are day-of-the-week restrictions, depending on the city pair. For Long Beach, travel must take place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Saturday. Fares may not be available on all days or on all flights. All fares must be purchased at time of reservation, and are one-way, nonrefundable, and nontransferable. Cancellations and changes can be made prior to scheduled departure for $100 per person. Fares do not include Passenger Facility Charges of up to $9 each way, September 11th Security Fees of up to $5 each way and a Federal Segment Tax of $3.60 per domestic segment. A segment is a takeoff and landing.
Jet Blue offers complimentary in-flight e-mail and instant messaging services on aircraft, dubbed "BetaBlue". On JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way, and an overnight stay is never required. Jet Blue is an all coach airline, but they claim to offer more leg room than the competition. They say their standard leg room is 34 inches, but if that's not enough, you can buy 4 more inches. This extra comfort will set you back $10 for a short flight, $25 for a mid haul trip, and $40 for the transcon. The seats are the same as those with shorter leg room, but the rows are further apart and these seats are generally near the front of the plane.
Jet Blue will not charge you for the first checked bag, but it will cost you $30 for the second. Virgin charges $15 for each bag, so if you have two bags, the cost will be the same. If you have only one bag, you will save $15 on Jet Blue. For information or reservations call 1-800-JET-BLUE (1-800-538-2583),
Like Jet Blue, California based Virgin America has plenty of restrictions and fine print, so read carefully. For Virgin, you have a little longer to buy your tickets, and the travel period starts and ends sooner. Tickets must be purchased by August 11 and Travel must occur between August 18 and November 18. There are no blackout dates. Also, for Virgin, the advance purchase period is only 3 days, compared to 14 for Jet Blue. Virgin uses LAX and does not offer as many destinations, but they do have flights into Orange County.
The prices are similar to Jet Blue, with one very important difference. The company provided information for Jet Blue indicates the fares are the same between any two specific city pares regardless of the direction of travel. This is not true for Virgin America, where the prices are direction specific. For example, for Jet Blue, the fare is $134 either way between Long Beach and JFK. For Virgin, the $139 fare is only quoted from JFK to LAX, not the other direction. We tested this in their reservation system and the East bound fare was much higher, so the round trip will probably cost more on Virgin.
The day of travel is important. The sale fares for Jet Blue apply only to specific days of the week. Presumably, this means there is a higher fare for the other days, but those fares were not quoted. For Virgin, there are different quoted sale fares depending on the day of travel. The differences on Virgin are about $20 for a transcon trip.
Like Jet Blue, if you don't book online at (click here) www.virginamerica.com, it will cost an additional $15.
As this article is being published, Delta Airlines just released some discount fares from Los Angeles and Ontario. Like the others, there are plenty of restrictions. Two of the standouts from Delta are LAX to Sidney Australia, $329 and to Tokyo for $399.
