New Flights from NYC to Boston Are Cheaper Than a Train Ticket

Mport and Boston Logan starting Oct. 31, with fares starting as low as $49 one way—a price that not just beatore good news for travelers: JetBlue says it will offer nonstop flights between New York’s LaGuardia Airs Amtrak on the route, but in some cases, even the car. The airline will fly six round-trips daily on weekdays with flights spaced evenly throughout the day; the first departing at 6:30 a.m. and the last departure at 7:30 pm. Reduced service will operate on weekends, with two roundtrips on Saturdays and three on Sundays.

To make way for these new flights at congested (and unpopular) LaGuardia, JetBlue is shifting some of its current flights over to Newark, following the FAA’s recent decision to boost competition at the New Jersey hub by relaxing slot controls. The airline will also add multiple daily flights to Fort Lauderdale and four other Florida cities out of Newark on October 30, JetBlue said.

Given that JetBlue is taking on some formidable incumbents—mainly, the two Northeast Corridor air shuttles now run by Delta and American, which took over US Airways Shuttle last year following the carrier’s merger—the moves are sure to give rivals some pause. At present, both lines offer hourly flights from New York to Boston as well as to Washington Reagan National, a schedule that draws largely a business clientele, including plenty of boldface names, who pay some of the highest fares in the country on a per-mile basis. A recent check of New York-Boston shuttle fares turned up round-trip fares of more than $700. Compare that to the fare on a typical Acela express train between the two cities, which costs between $174-$261 each way, and price discrepancies—especially in the wake of this JetBlue news—are apparent.

In recent years, air shuttles have lost some ground to Amtrak’s express Acela service in the market, not just because of the high air fares but also due to the added hassle of flying and going through security, post-9/11. But still, the convenience of these short hops, around 45 minutes flying time to each city’s airport, hasn’t totally lost its cachet—which dates back to the days when the Eastern Air Lines shuttle ruled the route in the 1960s and '70s. Then, passengers could waltz up to the gate without a reservation minutes before takeoff and, of course, no one demanded to see a photo ID. Eastern also guaranteed a seat to anyone who showed up on time, even if it meant rolling out an extra plane, a custom that continued under successive shuttle owners, including, briefly, Donald Trump—who bought the operation in 1988 and, in typical fashion, slapped his name on the planes and tarted them up with faux marble sinks and other trademark flourishes throughout. (The Trump Shuttle tanked in 1991 and was ultimately taken over by US Airways.)

Naturally, JetBlue’s incursion into this arena is more modest than The Donald’s grandiose vision: at one point, the billionaire boasted he’d make his eponymous line “the greatest airline in the world.” JetBlue will operate the service using 100-seat Embraer regional jets, and hasn’t said anything about flying to Washington-National, at least yet.

Source- http://goo.gl/jOS8KT