Flying SFO-FLL - question on Virgin vs JetBlue

[chees]

We are flying to FLL on Friday night, November 5, taking the redeye to get an early start on our vacation as our ship does not leave until Sunday. We are returning on Sunday, November 14.

 

* Both Virgin and JetBlue are currently the same price ($357pp)

* These are only two nonstop carriers on this routing (I like that in wintertime because of weather issues)

* Virgin charges $25 per bag

* JetBlue has first bag free and $30 for second bag

* Both have comparable outbound times, but JetBlue leaves FLL at 5:30pm for SFO and Virgin does not leave until 8pm

 

2 Questions:

1 -- Do either airlines have a history of sales or price drops (as we are still five+ months out)?

2 -- If no history of sales, any reason to fly Virgin instead of JetBlue (which has cheaper luggage fees and an earlier return time)? My husband LOVES Virgin, but...

 

Bottom line, do the experts on this board recommend I purchase a tix now or wait to see if the price drops.

 

Thanks!

Tina

[6rugrats]

To me, a very, very good fare from the west to east coast is one that's around $200, so your prices aren't bad. I don't know the best time to purchase.

[hdawson]

AirTran. My line of choice.

[6rugrats]

I looked at Air Tran, and found pretty good fares, but then noticed the return flight was at 6:00 a.m. If you chose the next return on OP's date, it left at night and the price was close to the flights she found.

[dalitos]

I don't think fares will go down much, maybe about 30 each way? Not sure I will risk it, although usually I am one to wait a bit and monitor prices for at least a few weeks.

I would go with JetBlue if I were you, just because of the free 1st bag and the return time. I really like both airlines though.

[Globaliser]

2 -- If no history of sales, any reason to fly Virgin instead of JetBlue (which has cheaper luggage fees and an earlier return time)? My husband LOVES Virgin, but...

Yes, I can think of one good reason to fly Virgin: Your husband loves it, and presumably loves it enough to pay a little extra money to fly Virgin.

 

The question is: Does he love it enough for it to be worth $25 extra each (in the baggage fee) and a couple of hours' extra waiting at FLL on the way back?

 

(Airline) life isn't all about picking the cheapest. It should be about picking the best value.

[toberman]

Last year friends flew JetBlue SFO-FLL, and Virgin back. No need to take the same airline both ways.

[red4u2]

We are flying to FLL on Friday night, November 5, taking the redeye to get an early start on our vacation as our ship does not leave until Sunday. We are returning on Sunday, November 14.

 

* Both Virgin and JetBlue are currently the same price ($357pp)

* These are only two nonstop carriers on this routing (I like that in wintertime because of weather issues)

* Virgin charges $25 per bag

* JetBlue has first bag free and $30 for second bag

* Both have comparable outbound times, but JetBlue leaves FLL at 5:30pm for SFO and Virgin does not leave until 8pm

 

2 Questions:

1 -- Do either airlines have a history of sales or price drops (as we are still five+ months out)?

2 -- If no history of sales, any reason to fly Virgin instead of JetBlue (which has cheaper luggage fees and an earlier return time)? My husband LOVES Virgin, but...

 

Bottom line, do the experts on this board recommend I purchase a tix now or wait to see if the price drops.

 

Thanks!

Tina

 

Hi Tina, i dont have an answer for your question but i was wondering are you on the Ruby?

[grandmato4]

None of us have a crystal ball as to if prices will go up or down. I'm not familiar with that route so no knowledge on what prices you should be looking for. Virgin's not an option for us but Jet blue is our preferred airline on the route we do fly most often always preferring their non-stop flight on our route. Anything is possible but I wouldn't expect their current rate for the nonstop to go down. I just took a look at a lot of weeks between June and Dec for your route on JetBlue and while I know I could have missed something your current fare is the lowest I saw any Fri/Sun. JetBlue sure does seem to like that $168 fare for that route;) Personally I'd take a look at Virgin and if I saw the same thing I'd make a decision on which airline and book now, but that's just MHO.:) Again, I'm not familiar with Vigin but for Jetblue no need to book round trip so if the same is true for Virgin book them outgoing to make your DH happy and JetBlue returning and save yourself the luggage fee coming home with the better flight time. Good Luck in what ever you decide to do !