JetBlue recently announced that they will stop blocking middle seats after 12/1. That followed Southwest’s announcement that they will sell flights to capacity starting in December.
From 12/2-1/7 Jetblue says that they will sell flights up to 85% of capacity and will not block middle seats. From 1/8 and on they will sell flights to capacity.
JetBlue emailed me that thanks to an industry sponsored study, they will be releasing the blocks on middle seats for several of my upcoming flights.
They write that I have the option of buying as many additional seats as I’d like to remain empty around me.
They also write that I can fill out this form by 11/27 to receive a full refund to my original form of payment for any flights booked on or before 11/13.
As planes fill up once again, the era of empty middle seats is coming to an end. I suppose that was to be expected as holding empty seats begins to cost airlines real money.
Will you pay for an extra seat to remain empty next to you?
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28 Comments On "JetBlue Offering Free Refunds Due To Change In Middle Seat Blocking Policy"
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What good does 85% capacity do?
Some lucky passengers?
Doesn’t one receive free cancellation anyway? What benefit does the full refund do?
They offer free changes, not free refunds.
i wouldnt pay for an extra seat. but i thought they are offering free cancellation and changes anyways until february,so why does the free refund for this make any difference?
They offer free changes, not free refunds.
they say No change and cancel fees for all new bookings made before 2/28/21 so that means you can cancel and get refund anyways.
No, it does not. If you cancel you get a future flight credit that expires in 12 months.
This exception allows for a refund.
i hear, but if booked with points the points are fully refunded and its not a expiring travel credit no?
True, but the taxes would go back to expiring travel credit in that case.
Any airline still offering empty middle seats?
Delta and Alaska through 1/6.
Any chance of them extending as cases rise?
Doubt it unless passenger numbers go down.
If I used the Amex airline credit for a ticket and get this refund instead of travel bank certificate. Think the Amex credit will reverse also?
No.
These days, it will. They recently started clawing back credits when the underlying charge is reversed. There was a post about it on DoC, some people had clawbacks even from over 1 year ago.
Interesting, I haven’t had clawbacks for mine. YMMV I suppose. Was it on accounts closed or downgraded?
It was on both active and closed accounts, and they went back over a year. On closed accounts, people got bills mailed. The DoC post and comments explain it well. It was crazy because in cases where the clawback was delayed until after the calendar year was over, people didnt have the opportunity to use it legitimately at all, which is wildly unfair (and I think even legally unfair that can subject them to a lawsuit), especially since there are very legitimate reasons for there to be a refund by the airline- like the issue of this post. It’s fine to reverse the credit but it has to be immediate so it can be reused. Not everyone got clawed back, I didnt either so its YMMV. But either way, it is definitely NOT a safe way to use the credit going forward.
Dan, can you give us a link to the JetBlue page that takes you to this form (not just the link for form itself). I’m curious what JetBlue has to say about the form (conditions, etc).
Tomorrow, I have a jetblue flight with an extra ticket. I would like to cancel that ticket once I do 24 hr. check-in online, but before it gets scanned at the gate.
Nope, it’s from my email.
I highly doubt it would work for trips before December as middle seats are still blocked.
I just cancelled my r/t JFK-FLL-JFK 12/6-12/10, refund was placed in my travel bank. If I submit the form you posted will the refund be moved from the travel bank to my Discover Card?
Probably too late, but worth a shot.
i have not got such an email do you think i qualify for this? i called jet blue and they would only give me a credit….
It’s not clear that they are still blocking middle seats even now. My daughter is booked on a JetBlue flight next week. She got this email:
We’ll continue to limit the number of customers on our flights and will only sell up to 70% of our available seats through December 1, 2020. While some middle seats are blocked, many will be available and you may be seated next to another customer.
By the way, Delta is selling 80% of seats on flights with 3-2 seating. Only one seat in each row of 5 is a middle seat.
Did anyone use this link and get a refund? How long should it take. I’d like to cancel and book on a different airline but I want to make sure I’ll get the refund.
Dan, any idea how long it takes for the cancellation to be removed from their system? My booked flight went down in price, so I cancelled for a refund, however the flight is still showing up on my account. Any new booking for that time is getting automatically cancelled (presumably due to a duplicate).
I used the link and they cancelled my tickets, still haven’t seen my refund though. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks Dan