JetBlue editorial

GLOBE EDITORIAL
JetBlue: Passion for the peripatetic
August 16, 2009

For those who thought the American road trip required a Thelma-and-Louise-style convertible, replete with frayed red leather and rusty tailfins, comes JetBlue’s $599 monthlong travel pass to go anywhere the airline flies from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8, no matter how many places or flights are involved. JetBlue’s airport lounges may lack the romance of writer William Least Heat-Moon’s blue highways, but the airline’s offer should still stimulate the salivary glands of travel-lovers in Boston, where JetBlue has a strong presence, and beyond. It proves that unexpected opportunities can emerge from a recession.

American Airlines has long offered a pass of its own - for 25,000 miles of travel over the span of one year - but that comes at the price of $11,250. On JetBlue, average Americans can easily go more than 25,000 miles on a tiny fraction of the cost, covering dozens of cities in a dash worthy of the last days of a presidential campaign.

But like a presidential campaign, such a frantic trip will have its compensations. Among them is the chance to see all the ways in which the states are alike - Taco Bell, anyone? - and at the same time vastly, breathtakingly different. A month of jet trips isn’t everyone’s idea of a great vacation. But JetBlue deserves credit for coming up with a useful way to take advantage of an expected post-summer lull in business, while - to paraphrase that American dreamer and frequent traveler F. Scott Fitzgerald - offering the peripatetic a deal commensurate with their capacity for wonder.



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