Be a roaming hacker this fall: JetBlue offers all-you-can-fly pass for $599

http://www.jetblue.com/deals/all-you-can-jet/

by rufo • 17 years ago

146 79 17 years ago

brk• 17 years ago

I got mine earlier today when I saw this posted on Twitter. I travel a fair bit for work anyway, but I plan to just go to some random cities to work for a day here and there on my pass.

kilowatt• 17 years ago

This is pretty awesome. And tempting. But I wonder how much "international fees and taxes" add up to.

aquateen• 17 years ago

(d) in the case of international travel, government fees and taxes of up to $127.60 each way, and (e) in the case of Puerto Rico travel, a US Departure Tax of $16.10 each way.

ars• 17 years ago

I wonder why they charge a $100 no-show penalty?

Or why they charge you to cancel a booking if it's less than 3 days.

Do they want you in the seat so badly? Wouldn't they get a standby flier if you didn't show?

akd• 17 years ago

Are you serious?

RyanGWU82• 17 years ago

They don't want you taking up seats that you don't use. I think they're expecting their planes to be pretty full during this promotion. If you're not gonna use the seat, they could sell it to a revenue passenger, and earn more. But they can't do that if you're just a no-show.

gojomo• 17 years ago

And also: the number-one complaint about this program is likely to be: "there were never any seats on the routes I wanted". People who book and no-show will unnecessarily multiply these complaints.

telegraph• 17 years ago

For the same reason that all you can eat buffets have small plates.

chrischen• 17 years ago

I just get more plates.

paulgb• 17 years ago

Some also charge for uneaten food, which is a more direct equivalent to the $100 charge.

po• 17 years ago

No they wouldn't. Jet Blue doesn't overbook their flights. If fact, they pay you $1000 if you ever get bumped. See their passenger's bill of rights:

http://www.jetblue.com/p/about/ourcompany/promise/Bill_Of_Ri...

I think it's reasonable for them to ask you to make a three day commitment or pay $100. Think of it as a guaranteed reservation.

look_lookatme• 17 years ago

Man, I was laid off 8 months too early.

phreanix2• 17 years ago

I can imagine a video/photo account of someone making the most of this pass going viral.

endtwist2• 17 years ago

I was just thinking the same thing. Though I'm in school during that period, I'm very tempted to buy one of these and travel every weekend for the month. Perhaps spend one weekend seeing how many cities I can get to in just 48 hours.

Edit: except, I just remembered that jetBlue doesn't serve St. Louis (my "base"). Damn!

paul9290• 17 years ago

Here's where they fly to ... http://www.jetblue.com/wherewejet/

Bermuda and the Bahamas - nice!

invisible• 17 years ago

No International flight's taxes and fees included though, which seem rather high (up to $127 for just one government fee/tax).

breck2• 17 years ago

We looked at some of the international taxes/fees.

Most were between $60-$70. Highest we found were $110.

So it's definitely a great deal if you stay in the U.S. If you go International the math becomes more complex.

Still, one of my roommates booked it and others are considering it.

10ren• 17 years ago

Not global, JetBlue seems to be restricted to the Americas.

eli• 17 years ago

Uh, it's for one month

JetBlue's pretty cheap already. I don't think I'd want to fly multiple times per week even if it were free.

bretthoerner• 17 years ago

You don't have to fly multiple times per week to beat $600 in a month. 4 weeks, 4 distant places you've wanted to visit. Bam, hundreds in savings.

Alex3917• 17 years ago

You'd save money even if the only place you flew was to Bogota and back.

If I had any faith that Jet Blue would actually deliver on this then I'd do it, but I'm guessing they'll run out of seats in like three hours and then have to refund everyone's passes.

kqr2• 17 years ago

Use it in conjunction with something like:

http://www.airbnb.com/

to find inexpensive places to stay.

Derrek3• 17 years ago

Or find a free place to sleep at http://www.couchsurfing.org. I haven't done this but know folks who have had great experiences with couch surfing.

The OP might also include profiling his hosts as part of his video project. Sort of a Tour of America And It's People... or something like that.

peterwwillis• 17 years ago

I can recommend this too, it's big in places like Portland

rufo• 17 years ago

It would be pretty neat to be part of a roaming band of hackers traveling around the country visiting different cities.

But maybe that's just my restless side showing. :-)

alaskamiller2• 17 years ago

San Jose -> San Diego, 2 Days

San Diego -> Las Vegas, 2 Days

Las Vegas -> Denver, 2 Days

Denver -> Salt Lake City, 2 Days

Salt Lake City -> Portland, 2 Days

Portland -> Chicago, 3 Days

Chicago -> Pittsburgh, 2 Days

Pittsburgh -> Boston, 2 Days

Boston -> New York City, 3 Days

New York City -> Washington DC, 2 Days

Wash DC -> Tampa, 2 Days

Tampa -> Aruba, 2 Days

Aruba -> Houston, 2 Days

Houston -> San Jose, 2 Days

14 airports. 30 days. I'm still double checking all the connections but I think this probably the max you can hit within the promotion. I originally wanted to do the international parts like Aruba, PR, San Jose, Cancun but that's just not workable or it'll has to be a trip in itself.

Considering the extra costs needed for traveling outside of the airport, food, and living expenses, I'm going to be spending at least $3k ($599 pass + $200 taxes/fees + $1000 food + $1000 beds + rental car/cabbing/bussing?) for everything.

Concept wise, I'm also drawing a blank, I need a hot geek girl/onair personality to come along. I can Ustream all the airports but no one will sponsor/pay for it--certainly not JetBlue since they know 1000 people will consider it, a dozen will go through with it, and all the social media marketing will be valued at zero. At best you can tape yourself going to all the airports and talk about them (review the architecture, shops, food, services, etc.) but that's boring after awhile. Time-lapsing and condensing the footage into a 5 minutes Where In the World is Matt video, maybe, but that's marginally novel and I think will only be a moderate (YouTube: 500k? Vimeo: 100k?) viral hit. How do I monetize on viral videos?

I don't have access to a pre-existing support system so it makes it that much harder, whoever has access to a film/production crew or video podcast already can certainly this take this and run a big play. Who has connects? Let's talk, I'm willing to help.

In my mind I think this is the greatest modern American road trip you can get but in the BACK of my mind where logic resides I think this is the worst idea ever. Argh... bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea...

Edit: This would allow for THE best geocache or turfwar game. EVER. Or an web-based Amazing Race knockoff. Argh, I need to start a production company.

PS. How fast will I end up on the terrorist watch list after this?

tortilla• 17 years ago

Do it. Get some sponsorships? Like that company t-shirt wearing guy.

wallflower• 17 years ago

Do it. Love your itinerary.

Obligations and responsibilities aside, you'll regret not doing it. The cost may exceed your budget but the payoff in experential value may be well worth it. Even if you don't tax yourself by trying to produce a viral video. And, I'm going to make the presumption you have an itch to be a filmmaker.

As for the viral video, think along the lines of "Where the hell is Matt?" - e.g. do something common in each different city - like go visit all the Indian buffets in the local area and get everyone there to do a Bollywood dance number. Or visit all the local coffee shops and interview their owners. Or interview people about how the economy has affected them. Or interview the people of a certain type of scene in each city. Or visit people in senior centers and ask them about the one most important thing in life they've learned/their signature story. Or whatever. Something that sincerely interests you. If you're passionate about startups, connect with the startup scene in each city. It depends on what your lifelong interests are. Watch/listen to "This American Life" for inspiration.

Visiting fourteen different cities in 30 days. Wow. You could get a lot of raw footage for a documentary festival entry. Or even stock footage.

auston• 17 years ago

That's what I'm trying to get together (for the film aspect, interviewing younger people)

kragen2• 17 years ago

Getting to and from airports is an expensive PITA, but if you take part in Hospitality Club or CouchSurfing, you may be able to get some help with that. Which also would cut your lodging expenses. If you have a bike in a shippable box, that could help a lot. (Although it's almost certain to get lost or destroyed by the end of your trip.)

If you have a place to cook (Camping stove? but you can't take that on an airplane with fuel. Maybe the penny stove?) you can eat very cheaply.

smakz• 17 years ago

> How do I monetize on viral videos?

Not directly, but if the videos catch on it's promotion as a media personality (travel oriented) at the very least. If you have camera personality and want to take that route it's a great chance at some exposure.

phreanix2• 17 years ago

Off the top of my head and given enough leadtime:

1. Partners and concept: I know states/cities have pretty active tourism boards who you could tie up with to see the best of the destination in as little time as possible.

2. Costs part 1, bed and board: An idea already aired here is a tie-in to couchsurfing or airbnb. Its a perfect way to give them the visibility while snagging free/cheap stays at each stop. I'm sure couchsurfing could use the good press after that rape thing that made it on the news.

3. Costs part 2, hard cash: Part of snagging sponsorship is really about how much media mileage you can offer the client. Your best friend here believe it or not, would be local media. LA for example have quite active local news and if you get at them in advance telling them your story and goal, should be quite willing to give you a little tv time on the morning news. KTLA.com for example in LA always has Gayle Anderson running around the city covering small events, activities, and such. If you can lock down coverage even in a couple of those cities and make sure you're wearing branded gear, I'm sure that'll be worth a couple of grand to a few sponsors.

4. Accessories: Sheesh, use your imagination. Hit up Bestbuy for a Flip Mino or other small video cam, or get at them directly. What better way to show their best features than a monthlong, multi-city slog. I'd contact buy.com, Maybe Apple for a small notebook with extended bat life, the list can go on.

5. Document: Wordpress of course? Googlemaps to track you, ustream/twitter to get geo-located, geekmeets in certain cities, swing by the Jetblue headquarters for a meet&greet, can't go wrong with vegas night life (they could use positive energy), sheesh, wrangle a test drive of the chevy volt if you can lol.

Keep it going guys?

alaskamiller2• 17 years ago

Can't edit my original post but just to update you guys: bought the passes. Going to do something great with this. Thanks guys, stay tuned!

dcurtis2• 17 years ago

And I'm coming along, too!

endtwist2• 17 years ago

I'm glad to see some people going through with it! Do you and dcurtis have a website or an actual plan for this in the works?

rms• 17 years ago

Let me know when you're going to be in Pittsburgh...

andrewhyde2• 17 years ago

Would love to meet up, I'm also doing the pass!

Flemlord• 17 years ago

My favorite travel tip: Buy the $10 Zagat's iPhone app. It's the definitive source for finding good restaurants in every major city. Not necessarily expensive restaurants either--most cities have a few 27/28-rated cheaper local's favorites.

I'll start you off--hit Sushi Ota in San Diego, and Lotus of Siam in Vegas. Both 28-rated and Lotus is the best Thai in the country. Lunch should be less than $20.

dotpavan• 17 years ago

airbnb could get some nice coverage if your stay is done via them at some of the places you visit.. will chk your itenary on the new website.

joshuaxls• 17 years ago

The best way to see the US is to drive it. I do it once a year and recommend it to everyone I know. I find that spending a couple of days driving through plains and desert is like defragging your mind. And when you finally hit a coast, it's a thrilling sense of accomplishment.

I personally couldn't do this. I absolutely hate airports. Good luck.

jrockway• 17 years ago

BTW, it's worth noting that most of the routes you list above are not non-stop flights on JetBlue. You will have to connect for most of those. (JetBlue won't even let me book a flight from Chicago to the west coast, for example.)

baddox• 17 years ago

You could just do it for fun and to see the world. Make a video if you want--500k views is enough to be proud of. I don't see why in the world you want want to, or much less expect to be able to, monetize the trip.

treyp2• 17 years ago

I would definitely suggest replacing Houston with Austin on that list. Houston is pretty culturally devoid, whereas Austin is more of a Portland/Seattle type city.

natrius• 17 years ago

Growing up in the suburbs of Houston left me with the same impression, but now I think the only reason I like Austin so much more is because I live right in the middle of the city. The central parts of Houston don't seem that irredeemable, and Houston has far more of the typical "cultural" attractions (e.g. museums, theaters, etc).

If you're looking for a tech environment, Austin is clearly the better choice. Otherwise, urbanites in both places are similar to each other, as are the suburbanites.

stewiecat• 17 years ago

Document the trip on Everlater (everlater.com). They're a TechStars '09 company. I'm sure they'd love the PR a trip like this could generate.

andrewhyde2• 17 years ago

I'm going to do the deal and track it on everlater.

Derrek3• 17 years ago

There's a local HN meetup group for DC. Send out word for when you'll be in DC and maybe the meetup organizer will setup something.

Plus, you might be able to find a nice couch to crash on.

Derrek3• 17 years ago

PS Here's the link to the HN meetup group in DC: http://www.meetup.com/Hacker-News-NOVA-DC/

ryanwanger2• 17 years ago

So I don't want to burst your bubble (I've got the pass too), but almost zero of those trips are direct. Everything goes thru Boston, NY, or Long Beach...and the west coast stuff is really limited.

For example, Vegas to Denver goes through BOS/NYC, Denver to Salt Lake is the same, etc. etc. etc.

:-(

willhf• 17 years ago

Traveling Salesman Problem Documentary?

At each stop, interview researchers about their P,NP problems. =D

strick• 17 years ago

I'm assuming you are at twitter.com/alaskamiller I just followed you. Hope you can tweet about your experiences on this trip so I can live vicariously through you.

dzlobin• 17 years ago

I think we should get a HN NYC meet together while you're here. There is a great beer garden in Brooklyn where we can all get together.

jsares• 17 years ago

My buddy has a travel startup http://www.yowtrip.com/ and he might be interested in sponsoring you for a small amount. I sent him a message.

aichcon• 17 years ago

If someone does make a viral video out of this, I'm interested to see how many days will be lost due to delays :)

PostOnce2• 17 years ago

IIRC Amtrak has the same deal but by train for half price.

kragen2• 17 years ago

That's awesome! I had no idea! What's it called?

Edit: the rail pass, naturally. But it's a lot more restricted: "Passes are available in three travel durations and travel segments (15 days/8 segments, 30 days/12 segments and 45 days/18 segments) through out the entire United States. Travel must begin within 180 days of the date the pass purchased." ...and there are some other restrictions.

It also isn't noticeably cheaper: US$389 for the 15-day pass, US$549 for the 30-day pass, and US$749 for the 45-day pass.

PostOnce2• 17 years ago

It was $300 for the month last time I checked. Thanks for the fact-check.

/me updates mental notes

Xichekolas• 17 years ago

Yeah the Amtrak passes suffer from the problem of too much complexity, which makes them risky for the buyer. The restriction to only 4 trips on any given segment is especially killer. Their own example shows that going from DC->NY and back would use up 2 trips, then DC to Philadelphia would count as trips 3 and 4 because it happens to travel the same segment of track for a while as the DC->NY route. That is way too hard for the buyer to figure out on his own.

I wish they still offered the unlimited riding for 30 days passes that they had several years back. Eurail passes are immensely popular, partly because they are easy to understand.

jbr• 17 years ago

I did this alone for my winter break of freshman year of college. To the best of my recollection, my itinerary was Portland -> Vancouver (BC) -> Toronto -> New York -> New Orleans -> Ft Worth -> Joshua Tree -> LA -> SF -> Portland. One month. I arranged to either sleep on the train or crash with friends (knew someone in most of those places). The diner car was pretty expensive, so I generally carried a little food and ate heavy when I hit stopping cities. A significant portion of the 30 days was spent in a train, from what I recall.

Traveling by train has a special extra something; you're with the people you travel with for long enough to actually develop a conversation, but you're with them just short enough that you don't have to worry too much if you don't hit it off. This was great for an introvert like me to practice chatting up strangers with little risk in a safe setting. And you meet a really interesting mix of folks, different from the people I normally find myself talking to. It's particularly fun to feel the gradient of humanity / culture shift as you travel.

I traveled light; just a backpack, a camera, and a laptop (well, and climbing shoes for J-Tree). I was super careful about keeping the tech gear hidden and slept wrapped around my bag when I slept in public spaces (train stations / trains).

One thing about traveling by train: Amtrak is always late, and often by half a day. Make sure people who might be meeting you at connections know this and don't expect it to work like air travel.

Anyway, my thirty days of independent travel was a fantastic experience, and I'd really recommend it to anyone, young or old. You can even comfortably get work done in the passenger cars. Tether to your 3G phone or whatever and you're riding the Rails in style.

randallsquared• 17 years ago

As you note, it's by train. I've done that once on Amtrak. It's just a very long, slow plane ride.

edawerd• 17 years ago

What I was in Boston last summer, I took the train a lot to visit various cities on the east coast. The train turned out to be a really great place to hack because they had power outlets, a cafe, lots of seating space (with tables), and, most importantly, no distractions.

wyclif• 17 years ago

Amtrack now has designated "quiet cars" for people who need to work or read. No ringing allowed, and when I rode recently, plenty of seats with tables and power outlets.

datums• 17 years ago

If planned correctly this could be a pretty awesome roadtrip for 2. Napping at the airport , keeping your luggage at the airport while you discover a new city. Sponsorship would be a great idea.

edw5192• 17 years ago

The quality of this program will be inversely related to its popularity. How quickly will all the seats be gone?

breck2• 17 years ago

One of my roommates just booked it.

danw• 17 years ago

Slightly off-topic, but relevant for roaming hackers: What's the pricing and coverage of 3G mobile broadband dongles like in the US?

ryanwanger2• 17 years ago

I just bought my pass! I've mapped it out already (http://www.everlater.com/ryanwanger/jetblue-all-you-can-jet-...) and I'll be documenting it as I go.

Disclaimer: I work for Everlater. But of course, this is why we built it!

I tagged the description of my trip with #AllYouCanJet so if anyone else does it, I can create a page of trips from others doing the same.

Be a roaming hacker this fall: JetBlue offers all-you-can-fly pass for $599

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