JetBlue is giving up on New York LaGuardia – Boston, ending six-times daily service at the end of April.
JetBlue appears to be ending its Boston (BOS) to New York LaGuardia (LGA) route with flights removed from sale after April 29.
JetBlue planned to operate BOS-LGA 6x daily.
Presumably 3x of these slots will move to Porter for their new LGA flights on May 1. pic.twitter.com/Rz2COXUB3D
— Ishrion Aviation (@IshrionA) February 5, 2025
Three years ago, American Airlines retired their ‘shuttle’ product and dropped out of the New York LaGuardia – Boston market in favor of JetBlue. The American Airlines-JetBlue partnership was dismantled by the Biden administration. JetBlue has since gutted their presence in the third leg of the shuttle, Washington’s National airport and cut back significantly at LaGuardia. It appears they’re leasing out slots for cash instead of flying.
JetBlue said they would stop chasing business travelers and focus on leisure. What was once a business travel ‘shuttle’ route is clearly part of that! However this route specifically ties together JetBlue’s home market (New York) and their other primary base (Boston). And it cedes the important route to Delta, their main rival in both. (American Airlines flies New York LaGuardia – Boston 4 times daily with regional jets, Delta offers 15 peak daily departures.)
The American Airlines Shuttle was the descendent of the Eastern Shuttle, which was sold to Donald Trump in 1989 (“Trump Shuttle”). The product was often known for hourly flights with flexible ticketing policies and open seating – and at one point a guarantee of transportation where Eastern would even bring out a new aircraft to accommodate overflow passengers. The Trump Shuttle failed and banks sold it to US Airways, and it became part of American Airlines when those two carriers merged.
Trips between New York and Boston aren’t what they used to be, and JetBlue isn’t as strong in the corporate market in New York or as strong in D.C. as Delta. It doesn’t surprise me that this is outside of their current strategy, but it’s still a shocking route to lose, though one they probably wouldn’t want to operate with an aircraft larger their Embraer E190s.
No big loss–plenty of additional competition on this route already. Besides, for NYC-BOS, take the Acela, for goodness sake. But this is not a great sign for jetBlue. What’s going on over there?
You conveniently ignored Amtrak.
No surprise. This route wouldn’t make sense for the current strategy. I remember the days of hourly USAir flights. Wasn’t uncommon to have 10 people on a flight, particularly mid day or weekends.US had dedicated A320s with all coach seating, beverages and even a snack. Someone how the flight attendants could get a service done on a 30-40 minute flight.
After 9/11 the Shuttle service changed. Remember for a period you couldn’t even stand/get up on the DCA run.
@DesertGhost –Thank you. Gary may have, but I sure didn’t. I love me some choo-choos.
Acela is much worse than it used to be. First Class now provides a microwave TV dinner caliber meal for a $400 ticket and by the way you’re expected to tip $20 per passenger to the attendant. Mercifully there is no tipping expectation on a flight.
@Dick
Even Non Acela is much more comfortable than a ‘first class’ flight to NYC. Amtrak is much more comfortable and faster door to door for Manhattan dwellers and most NJ dwellers. North NJ has AMtrak Penn, Central NJ has Metropark, South NJ can take Philly
Neither the Acela nor the Regional Amtrak is a great option on NY to Boston. It’s a longer journey. Amtrak is unreliable in inclement weather, including heat, as the past summer’s options have shown.
I mean first class from NYC to boston
Problem with Amtrak is, on the Boston end, not everyone from NYC is going to downtown Boston. A lot of people flying up to Logan from NYC are actually going to the suburbs or elsewhere in the region, and getting a rental car downtown isn’t as seamless as at Logan.
@ Gary — Tim must be dead.
@Dick — Had no idea about tipping on Acela (is that expectation only for First?), then again, I’ve only tried Business Class, and have not had their food onboard. 2-2 seating was good enough for me.
@Jon F — With you 100%. And NJ Transit Metro North, LIRR aren’t ‘too bad’ either. It’s nice to not have/need a car in the greater NYC region.
@lavanderialarry — I suppose it’s a coin-flip depending on the conditions. I’ve gotten screwed on flights to LGA/JFK/EWR, too, especially late summer thunderstorms July/August. Not fun.
@DWT — That’s an interesting point as well. I do enjoy how this thread became part train-talk.
This may not be a huge deal from a practical matter, but the symbolism is significant.