Written by: Sharon Keating, Director, Director of Customer Success & Program Delivery at Datalex

In partnership with Datalex, JetBlue successfully rolled out a new basic economy option with lower-price points for customers who are seeking attractive fare options. In addition, JetBlue updated options for customers seeking more benefits such as priority boarding, additional legroom among other things. JetBlue termed this offering Fare Options 2.0.

JetBlue Airways | Facts and Figures

Born at JFK in 1999, JetBlue is now a global, award-winning travel company. JetBlue’s Mission statement is: “to inspire humanity both on the ground and on air.

Business Challenge

JetBlue launched their first Fare Options offering in conjunction with Datalex in 2015. Since that launch, demand for air travel has grown significantly in the US market with customers becoming increasingly price-savvy. This has resulted in a competitive landscape for the US carriers who seek to provide value to the customer without compromising service excellence.

As a result of JetBlue’s own insights on consumer behaviour and in response to competitors, JetBlue looked at re-modelling their Fare Offerings. Their goal was to introduce a new lower fare offerings with options for all travellers but with the same award-winning customer experience.

Solution

Datalex worked very closely with JetBlue to understand their business needs and how we could leverage our platform to achieve the desired result. Our omni-channel design approach ensured consistency across all direct channels including web, mobile and NDC.

Our platform enabled us to remodel the Fare Families to support 3 new Fare Families – Blue Basic, Blue and Blue Extra. This is in addition to their Mint and Blue Plus options which are available in select markets.

In addition to a UI and Shopping re-design, Datalex provided JetBlue with the ability to offer additional revenue-generating ancillaries - a new seat ancillary product (paid preferred core seat) and pre-paid bags. JetBlue can configure these ancillary offerings and associated prices using the Datalex platform in adherence with their merchandising strategy.

A critical element of any airline e-commerce offering is the ability for customers to self-service. Customers can manage their bookings and additional ancillaries via the Manage Your Booking section of the website or mobile application.

Datalex’ platform flexibility and close working partnership allowed JetBlue to implement these changes in an efficient manner and meet the timelines set-out at the beginning of the program.

Results

Fare Options 2.0 was successfully launched in November 2019 in line with market expectations. The new Fare Family options allows JetBlue to compete in the basic fare offering whilst also appealing to travellers who prefer more benefits.

JetBlue had stated that it expected the new Fare Options to generate $150 million in 2020. On Jan 23rd on the Q4 2019, Robin Hayes (CEO, JetBlue) stated that it was performing as expected.

“We are broadening the appeal of each fare tier so that there is truly something for everyone. Our new low fare will be anything but basic, designed to help customers save while still offering the full JetBlue experience. This will attract ultra-low-fare seekers to JetBlue, where we can take better care of them than other airlines do.”

Joanna Geraghty
JetBlue President and Chief Operating Officer