JetBlue Sells Month of Flights to Caribbean for $599 to Fill Seats

JetBlue Airways Corp., working to keep planes full after the peak US summer travel season ends, has offered a $599 travel pass that lets passengers take unlimited flights for a month.

The program covers all 56 JetBlue cities, including those in the Caribbean, and runs from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8 with no blackout dates, the New York-based carrier said Wednesday in a statement. JetBlue’s network includes the US and leisure destinations in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean.

JetBlue’s promotion is a seasonal variation of the AAirpass sold by AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, the world’s second- biggest carrier. The AAirpass provides 25,000 miles of travel to be flown within a year for $11,250, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline.

US leisure travel typically declines after the Labor Day holiday in September, and the largest domestic airlines plan to respond to this year’s dropoff by trimming flights and jobs.

JetBlue’s traffic, as measured in miles flown by paying passengers, fell 4.6 percent through July as the recession caused businesses to curb travel spending. Over the same period, the airline’s planes flew 1.4 percentage points less full than a year earlier.

Tickets on the All-You-Can-Jet pass must be booked at least three days in advance of each flight, and there is a $100 penalty if the trip is later canceled, JetBlue said. American’s AAirpass doesn’t have blackout dates and doesn’t require advance booking as long as there are seats available on the flight, according to Smith, the spokesman.