jetBlue Unlimited Flights for 30 days $499

August 17, 2010 10:22 PM

jetBlue Unlimited Flights for 30 days $499 (or $699)

jetBlue Unlimited Flights Group - For those of you who bought an unlimited pass from jetBlue and wish to save even more by comparing itineraries and possibly sharing rooms with fellow mefites!

posted by MrBCID (59 comments total)

PepsiJet... aww, this isn't going to work, is it?
posted by pompomtom at 10:23 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

damn. if only I had somewhere to go.
posted by dual_action at 10:24 PM on August 17, 2010

*grabs two beers, opens hatch, jumps into the inflatable emergency slide*
posted by mattdidthat at 10:25 PM on August 17, 2010 [12 favorites]

MrBCID, I have a feeling you're in for a shock pretty soon.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:29 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Roving 30-day meetup?
posted by schmod at 10:31 PM on August 17, 2010

Flying is just an illusion. Don't believe a word of this post.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:32 PM on August 17, 2010

It will be like the MTA in NY soon. This means not really unlimited.
posted by swooz at 10:32 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I always wondered what it would be like to be in a state of constant transit for a whole month. I expect some vaguely entertaining blog to come out of this.
posted by TwelveTwo at 10:32 PM on August 17, 2010

I SAW INCEPTION. I KNOW YOUR GAME.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 10:33 PM on August 17, 2010 [3 favorites]

Does this work with the get-paid-to-take-a-layover thing? I'm thinking of pulling a Carl Weathers and making some bank by not flying to Las Vegas repeatedly.
posted by griphus at 10:37 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Why are we advertising for JetBlue?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:37 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet that cortex did this last year.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:38 PM on August 17, 2010 [5 favorites]

Man if I didn't have classes during that period...
posted by ShawnStruck at 10:42 PM on August 17, 2010

Thanks roll truck roll; your post has officially made this post a non-ad
posted by MrBCID at 10:43 PM on August 17, 2010

needs the deep vein thrombosis tag
posted by bottlebrushtree at 10:45 PM on August 17, 2010 [6 favorites]

I did this last year too and it was great fun. Me and cortex met lots of travelers with blogs covering their month of travel. I wish I could do this again.
posted by mathowie at 10:52 PM on August 17, 2010

Of course you need blue in the brand, you have blue you get there; you get there you get anywhere.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 10:54 PM on August 17, 2010

Did you guys always stay with others or were there times you paid for lodging?
posted by MrBCID at 10:55 PM on August 17, 2010

cd swap - check
grocery bag swap - check
mefite swap!
posted by special-k at 10:59 PM on August 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

Cortex mostly couch surfed with site members. I crashed with friends half the time and used hotels the other half.
posted by mathowie at 11:00 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I stayed with other mefites (or with friends in Boston) every leg of the trip except Baltimore, I think, where me and my brother rented a room at a weird little B&B downtown. I think I had like 16 or 17 stops during the month altogether, including some one-city-a-day roadtripping. The whole thing was blogged reasonably thoroughly at the Meeting Metafilter tumblr that roll truck roll linked.
posted by cortex at 11:00 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

sounds like a recipe for more you shall know our velocity-like travel-logs
posted by dylanjames at 11:00 PM on August 17, 2010

$499 would buy and maintain a sweet bike that would last a whole lot longer than a month. Or it would make for a memorable month-long bike adventure. Flying makes me feel guilty about my role in environmental damage, so I try to avoid it.
posted by aniola at 11:04 PM on August 17, 2010 [4 favorites]

It's got to planned out fairly well ahead of time. Tickets need to be purchased 3 days prior to flight, and I'm guessing flights will fill up fast. A sweet deal.

Southwest also just extended (a couple more days I think) their 50 bucks a flight in that same time period, I guess it's all the kids back in school, all the vacations over, hard to fill those seats, any money for those airlines better than none.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:07 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

$499 would buy and maintain a sweet bike that would last a whole lot longer than a month.

It would buy enough cocaine to last me through half a meetup.

{/}
posted by special-k at 11:12 PM on August 17, 2010 [5 favorites]

Hmm, I can sleep on the plane. Maybe if I combo'd together a bunch of cross country redeyes each night to places I want to go, I could get out of hotel fees. Do they still serve food on Jet Blue, because this almost sounds like a way to game myself a fairly cheap month long vacation.
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:16 PM on August 17, 2010

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/
posted by MrBCID at 11:29 PM on August 17, 2010

Wish Southwest would extend that into September so I could go to PAX.
posted by hellojed at 11:31 PM on August 17, 2010

I thought about bagging it and just heading to Colombia. It's gonna be rainy soon in Portland anyways. Anyone know any jobs in Bogota?
posted by iamck at 11:38 PM on August 17, 2010

Why are we advertising for JetBlue?

Because it's relevant to Americans.
posted by pompomtom at 12:06 AM on August 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Sleeping in Airports rates airports based on user comments, not just on their sleepability but on general user experience. Somehow, I've flown through four of the ten worst and none of the ten best.

Their absolute worst airport: Paris Charles de Gaulle?? Really? I connected through terminals 4 and 5 (IIRC; that was five years ago) and found it to be clean and modern, not at all like the festering waste bucket described on the website. Also, LAX and JFK are not that bad either.

Worst airport experience: missing my flight out of the temporary, open air airport set up for Hajj pilgrims and having to spend the night on their concrete benches. Someone on the website above complained about LAX's food choices... in Jeddah there were only a handful of carts selling the exact same plate of chicken and rice. That was it. There may have been shops selling Qurans and other religious books (I can't remember) but I do remember there was exactly nothing else to do than that. The permanent airport in Jeddah also sucks. The food is really, very bad. They halfheartedly attempt to recreate Mexican and other types of food and fail miserably. In the bookstore there was a book detailing the Zionist power structure behind major events in the world, its front cover emblazoned with a star of David with a large red circle with a slash through it.
posted by malapropist at 12:06 AM on August 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

I wish I could do this again.

Have they even told you why you're on the no-fly list?
posted by pracowity at 12:20 AM on August 18, 2010

Did anyone else immediately click on the OP's profile to check regdate and postcount?
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:45 AM on August 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

Sleeping in Airports rates airports

#1 Singapore Changi

Surprised they allow it.
posted by ryanrs at 1:13 AM on August 18, 2010

Even though it's a bit pepsiJetBlue, I like the post because I'm somewhat considering this and like seeing the wisdom of the hive mind pontificate on best practices, potential cost pitfalls, alternatives, etc.

It'd be great to take a month off and just roll with it... I'm wondering how cheaply you could do it. With couchsurfing and public transit, it probably wouldn't be that bad...
posted by disillusioned at 1:40 AM on August 18, 2010

Sleeping in Airports rates airports

Singapore Changi: YES. I slept on one of their recliners (with built-in alarm clocks!) in the dimmed sleeping area, and the whole experience was awesome. It was annoying (but necessary, I understand) when the armed National Service boys made their rounds at some ridiculous small hour of the morning, checking everyone's passports and tickets.
posted by Xere at 1:56 AM on August 18, 2010

I purchased this, and will be using it throughout September to organizae/attend screenings of GET LAMP, and, as a bonus, celebrate my 40th birthday month in style.
posted by jscott at 2:34 AM on August 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

I presume they've covered themselves in the terms and conditions, but how many of these passes would a rival airline have to buy to then fill up all the JetBlue flights with bogus bookings, forcing potential customers to fly with other airlines?
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 4:21 AM on August 18, 2010

looks like a good post to me
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:26 AM on August 18, 2010

posted by brevator at 5:43 AM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Argh. Stupid iPod.
I meant to post-

Flying Cheap
posted by brevator at 5:50 AM on August 18, 2010

how many of these passes would a rival airline have to buy to then fill up all the JetBlue flights with bogus bookings, forcing potential customers to fly with other airlines?

That would be a terrible strategy for a competitor. The best outcome for jetBlue is if someone buys this pass and then doesn't use it. Remember, you still have to make reservations a few days in advance, so once that deadline passes for a given flight, jetBlue can sell your seat to someone else. Airlines are also allowed to overbook by a certain amount, so it wouldn't even constrain the apparent supply of seats very much. The net result of that strategy would be a large cash infusion for jetBlue and that's about it.
posted by jedicus at 6:18 AM on August 18, 2010

The whole thing was blogged reasonably thoroughly at the Meeting Metafilter tumblr that roll truck roll linked.

[pines away for more video-blogging]
posted by desuetude at 6:23 AM on August 18, 2010

I hope this means I can also now follow threads about J-Punk and agnosticism on FatWallet.
posted by hell toupee at 6:27 AM on August 18, 2010

Although this does look to be a great deal for exhibitionists who are into TSA workers and speed dating...
posted by hell toupee at 6:30 AM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Cortex mostly couch surfed with site members...

The last time I opened our spare room to a couch surfing stranger via a friend of a friend, he hammered at our back door three hours late (he couldn't locate the front door) exactly like a cartoon drunk.

Not only was there a bottle of (opened) whiskey in his jacket pocket, but his tie knot was jammed under one ear, he'd sat on his gift bunch of supermarket flowers (so all the stems were half snapped & dangling down) and he was grimly hanging on to an open briefcase from which his underwear was trailing. Also, underneath his gaping shirt he wore a T-shirt with an obscene banana motif and the slogan "peel me".

(He was a British journalist. Stayed for 3 days.)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 6:56 AM on August 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

A Canadian pilot (I think?) did this with Air Canada in 2005... The Great Canadian Mileage Run 2005 (link goes to the start of his trip). He was aiming to get 1 million miles in 60ish days, and if I'm not mistaken, he actually achieved that.
posted by antifuse at 7:05 AM on August 18, 2010

[pines away for more video-blogging]

Yes, yes. Presumably I will have time to do this while not traveling around like a crazy person.
posted by cortex at 7:12 AM on August 18, 2010

I wonder what the ?intcmp=HPHero1Eng_AYCJ2010 in the URL means. It doesn't seem to be necessary to view the page. Some sort of marketing tracking or affiliate code? Looks like JetBlue has used similar codes on other marketing efforts they've spread virally through the Internet.
posted by grouse at 7:42 AM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hmm if it helps I went to jetblue.com then clicked the front page ad about it then I copied the link ...
posted by MrBCID at 7:45 AM on August 18, 2010

Metafilter: the Best of the RedFlagDeals.
posted by clvrmnky at 7:49 AM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'd rather have a lifetime unlimited AAirpass. Of course, if I had had the scratch to buy one when it was last offered, I'd have been one rich child.. I seem to recall the pricing was somewhere in the low six figures. There's at least one person on FlyerTalk who bought one for their kid. Lucky to be that kid, I suppose. If the kid ever ends up destitute, he or he can just fly back and forth across the Atlantic and get free meals and overnight accomodation, if they time their flights correctly.
posted by wierdo at 8:01 AM on August 18, 2010

I know someone with the lifetime AAirpass which he purchased in the 70 or 80s. Not sure what the limitations on the new AAirpasses are, but his is basically unlimited and doesn't even require pre-booking. He gets all the frequent flyer perks too. My jealousy is huge.

Too bad September is fully booked for me. Otherwise, I'd totally do this.
posted by 26.2 at 8:36 AM on August 18, 2010

Has anyone tried this with a job? I figure I can take 4 weekends off in a row, but that puts me into the more expensive pass and it seems bit silly to use an unlimited pass for only 4 trips.
posted by smackfu at 9:05 AM on August 18, 2010

brevator: "Flying Cheap"

This is a great documentary that everyone should watch, but its about the regional carriers affiliated with the non-budget (read: not JetBlue) airlines, which fly people mainly from tiny airports to hubs.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:06 AM on August 18, 2010

Sun Country airlines has a similar deal going. Just in case you don't like JetBlue.

If I had some time off built up, it would be a fun thing to do - but I wonder how many flights I'd need to take in the 37 day window before it would be cheaper than just paying per flight?
posted by caution live frogs at 10:49 AM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

26.2 wrote: "I know someone with the lifetime AAirpass which he purchased in the 70 or 80s. Not sure what the limitations on the new AAirpasses are, but his is basically unlimited and doesn't even require pre-booking. He gets all the frequent flyer perks too. My jealousy is huge."

The regular AAirpass is rarely a good deal. I know a guy who has one because it's cheaper than buying the last minute tickets he'd otherwise have to buy, but it's nothing like the lifetime AAirpasses (unlimited or mileage based).

I had forgotten that they had offered a deal back in Christmas '04 through Neiman Marcus. "Only" 3 million bucks that time around. It did at least come with the companion option for no extra charge. As late as 1988 you could get 55 thousand miles a year for you and a companion for a mere $300k.

The original 1981 price was "only" $150000 or so.
posted by wierdo at 12:46 PM on August 18, 2010

Air Canada offered somthing like this a couple of years ago; something like $1200 for two months of anywhere-in-Canada and US travel (Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, on AC metal), plus two free flight credits for the post-Easter-pre-Summer period. As it happened, I needed to fly for some conferences both during the two months and also during the credit period; it was at least $1500-2000 for the flights at the time. I don't think it would have been worth it otherwise, but since I needed to pay for the flights anyways, it was a nobrainer.

And it was awesome. I had a last-minute weekend jaunt to Boston (4000 miles, 24 hours in town -- the customs guys looked quizzical on my return), then did the conferences, a visit with a friend in Ottawa, plus 4 day weekends in NYC and San Francisco. The bonus flight (sadly canceled due to hospitalization) would have been to St. John's, then the ridiculous Gander-Orlando trip.

Total of 23,730 miles. (The circumference of the earth is 24,901.)

For AC, it was book up to 3 hours before. There's nothing as cool as packing your bag, then looking to see today's and tomorrow's forecast before you book your flight.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:07 PM on August 18, 2010

Total of 23,730 miles. (The circumference of the earth is 24,901.)

Bah... Small potatoes, compared to the guy I posted about above
posted by antifuse at 1:12 PM on August 19, 2010