JetBlue Is Cutting Flights to 3 Major Cities, Starting Now
The airline is halting all service to Havana.
Everyone loves to be able to fly their favorite airline to get to wherever they need to go. Unfortunately, availability can sometimes be limited by your home airport, which destination you're flying to, and your carrier's route map. But even those who have already booked tickets may have to change their itinerary when an airline decides to change its schedule at the last minute. The latest example of this is JetBlue, which is cutting flights to three major cities. Read on to see which airports have already been impacted, and which will soon see cuts.
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JetBlue is cutting flights after announcing it's suspending all service to Havana.
Airline schedule changes can sometimes leave travelers with slightly fewer weekly flight options or limit them to specific seasons. But on Sept. 1, JetBlue announced that it would suspend all service to Cuba in the coming weeks, including tickets already sold to the island, Simple Flying reports.
The move has seen booked flights dropped from the airline's schedule. Direct service between New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and Havana was ended immediately upon the announcement, airline news website Ishiron Aviation posted in a message on X (formerly known as Twitter). Meanwhile, flights from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Havana will end on Sept. 17.
The airline confirmed that any travelers who have already purchased tickets on the affected flights will be fully reimbursed, per Simple Flying.
Best Life reached out to JetBlue about the schedule changes, and we will update this article with their response.
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The move marks a shift away from a historic reopening forged by the airline.
JetBlue's scuttling of service to the Caribbean island signals the end of a seismic change in the travel industry. In 2016, the carrier became the first to operate flights from the U.S. to Cuba in more than 50 years after the two countries began normalizing diplomatic relations.
But what was once hoped to be a historic reopening has struggled to progress much further. Policy shifts and entry restrictions have made it harder to travel between the two countries, including several Cuban residents who have been denied reentry, Simple Flying reports. And lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have also weighed on the airline's ability to fill seats.
"Demand for travel to the island has been significantly affected by changes to the regulatory landscape and restrictions on our customers' ability to enter Cuba," a spokesperson for the airline said in a statement, per CBS News. "We look forward to resuming our service to Havana and continuing to pursue opportunities within Cuba should travel become more accessible in the future."
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JetBlue isn't the only airline pulling its service to Cuba.
JetBlue isn't alone in pulling flights to Cuba from its schedule. In June, United Airlines announced it would be dropping its service between its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Havana as well, Simple Flying reported. The last flights on the route will depart on Oct. 29.
The change will see the last direct flights dropped to the Caribbean city from the New York City area. However, United will still serve the Cuban capital with daily flights from Houston.
Other U.S.-based airlines are still flying to Cuba. In April, Delta resumed its service from Miami International Airport to Havana with two daily flights for the first time since it suspended service in 2020 due to the pandemic. And American Airlines also continues to operate direct flights from Charlotte International Airport and Miami to Havana, according to the carrier's website.
JetBlue recently announced other schedule changes.
These aren't the only recent changes to JetBlue's planned schedule. Last month, the carrier announced it would be paring back flights between New York's LaGuardia Airport and Boston's Logan Airport, Simple Flying reported. The changes will result in 71 dropped departures in each direction when they go into effect in November through at least February.
The carrier also said it would be reducing its flights from LaGuardia Airport to Charleston International Airport and Nashville International Airport, reducing the two daily flights to each city to just one as of Oct. 28. And it will completely end service from the New York airport to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport when it cuts the one daily route on Oct. 29.
However, JetBlue is bulking up its flights in other notable ways. The famously affordable airline launched its latest international route on Aug. 29, kicking off daily service from New York's JFK Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, according to a press release from the carrier. The airline will add daily service to the Dutch city from Boston's Logan International Airport beginning Sept. 20.
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