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Originally Posted by Nal0whs
Read the fine print. There is well over $100 in taxes not included in the price of a one-way ticket. The only thing that would save Jet Blue in the Dominican market is getting a better time to fly into Las Americas and keep advertising for Santiago. Dominicans WILL spread the word about the ALL LEATHER SEATS and COMFORTABLE AND NICE LOOKING planes. They will even trust it more if Jet Blue makes it clear that they are A REAL AMERICAN AIRLINE. Dominicans only trust the inventors of the airplanes (ie. Americans) when it comes to flying 30,000 feet up in the air for 3 hours!!
I wonder why Jet Blue did not try to go for Puerto Plata (lots of potential there) and Punta Cana (with largest tourist industry in the Caribbean and fastest growing still, this is just a gold mine in the making!!)
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On AA.com, when they offer the NetSavers rates, AA never quotes the actual cost. They only advertise the cost of the flight, less taxes. For instance, when AA offers a NetSaver for JFK-SDQ at $199, they are not including the approx. $109 in taxes for the roundtrip. The actual cost is approx. $309, after taxes. I see nothing wrong with JetBlue doing the same. Travelers should come to expect it. Generally, only websites like Travelocity, Orbitz, and Expedia include taxes in their quotes.
I'm looking forward to an alternative to American and Continental, from a price and schedule perspective as well as service provided. I know that this market can be a bit different, but the service of the airline should not be compromised because of such. I just noticed a few things that I'm guessing would not be acceptable on other flights to other destinations. Maybe competition here will cause them to step their service standards up.
I agree that POP and Punta Cana are destinations for JetBlue and others to expand into. Maybe the idea is to test the performance of SDQ and STI initially, then expand from there.
Now hopefully, the price wars heat up a bit here. So far, other than during the initial announcements, and the initial start dates of service, nothing just yet. Maybe after AA's 2nd quarter results are posted and analyzed (approx. July/August), and they realize that there June numbers are down approx. 10-20% due to people flying on other carriers, we will see them lower rates to entice people to fly with them, in turn causing their competitors to match. Just an assumption.