JetBlue Airways today confirmed that it plans to discontinue its conventions program on June 1, claiming little return on investment in the program and little evidence that it brought incremental business.
JetBlue in 2008 launched the Conventions and Associations program as an extension of its CompanyBlue Meetings offering. Through the Conventions and Associations program, attendee gained discounts for air travel to a convention destination, regardless of origin city, that they could redeem by entering a special code at the point of sale. Similar to the CompanyBlue Meetings program, JetBlue also gave planners free travel certificates for every 40 passengers booked and a dedicated support desk.
"We are discontinuing our convention program effective June 1 because we have seen little ROI in terms of convention discounts driving incremental sales," a spokesperson said today. "Schedule appears to be the main driver for convention attendees and we already offer very competitive fares and schedules to some of the common convention destinations such as Las Vegas and Florida."
Though it is not moving forward with the conventions program, JetBlue said it remains committed to its CompanyBlue Meetings program, which it launched in 2007 with discounts, benefits and restrictions comparable to programs offered by legacy competitors
(BTNonline, April 2, 2007).