A transcontinental fare war has erupted at Los Angeles International Airport, where JetBlue Airways on Wednesday began offering a $105 one-way price to Boston and New York.
With taxes and fees, a Southern California traveler will be able to fly nonstop to the East Coast for as little as $231 round trip this summer. It's the lowest such price the industry has seen in recent memory for high-demand summer travel.
"I haven't seen anything like this in years," said Tom Parsons, chief executive of online travel guide Bestfares.com. "I've been telling people they need to be careful booking flights for June and July this early, but if you are finding $231 fares coast to coast, you don't want to wait."
Similar summer flights on American Airlines and United Airlines were averaging about $400 round trip before the fare war ignited Wednesday.
JetBlue's deal, timed to the launch of its new service at LAX on June 17, came as rival low-fare carrier Virgin America was gearing up to start its LAX-to-Boston service next week with offers of $149 one way.
Virgin America quickly matched JetBlue's $105 one-way offers Wednesday. United and American, which also offer nonstop flights to Boston and New York from LAX, are likely to drop their fares in response, analysts said.
Travelers were delighted at the news.
"That's fantastic," said Bob Covington, a Mid-Wilshire resident who flies out of LAX 25 to 30 times a year because of his job as an event technology manager for photo agency Getty Images. Like other frequent business travelers, Covington has been asked by his company to find the cheapest fare possible. "In this environment, anything you can do to cut costs and remain efficient is welcomed."
A fare war has been a typical outcome since Virgin America began flying in 2007, first for flights along the West Coast from LAX to San Francisco and Seattle and now to the East Coast.
Last week the airline ignited a fare war after it announced that it would begin flights between Orange County's John Wayne Airport and San Francisco International Airport. Fares between the two cities dipped to $49 one way.
Offering low fares to steal passengers away from other airlines has been costly for Virgin America. In its first financial disclosure, the airline said this week that it lost $275 million in the first 14 months of operation.
But the airline's top executive, David Cush, said in an interview that the airline could post its first quarterly profit this year.
