Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | B | Business Travel News

JetBlue eyes discounts, service offerings that blur LCC lines.

Article Excerpt
JetBlue is exploring a more flexible stance toward corporate discounting, refundable tickets and preferred seating for high-yield and last-minute bookers, CEO David Neeleman said last month.

The explorations are designed to make JetBlue even more attractive to the corporate market, following its move last year to relist in all the major global distribution systems, buyers and industry watchers noted. Meanwhile, the moves--including a new corporate meetings product (see story, page 16)--indicate a further blurring of the lines between legacy airlines and so-called low-cost carriers, at least domestically, while highlighting divergent approaches toward the corporate market among carriers in the latter category.

Like many low-cost carriers, JetBlue has earned a reputation among corporate travel managers for offering non-negotiable fares. Neeleman, however, told an audience of corporate travel buyers during an Association of Corporate Travel Executives lunch in New York that this is not a hard-and-fast rule at JetBlue. "I've never been a Me guy that much," he said. "To the extent that someone walked in and said, 'I got 100 people a day going here. If you give them this fare, I'll give you them all.' I'll say, 'All right, let's take a look at it.' I think we...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!