Thursday, March 20, 2008
Jet Blue's Dirty Little Secret
The airline known for free TV and Blue potato chips has a dirty little secret. For smart travelers, it's capped its most expensive flights for $250 each way. You just have to know how to look, and be a part of their frequent flyer program.
JetBlue has a pretty average to poor frequent flyer program. TrueBlue doesn't let you keep any points earned longer than 12 months after you've earned them. Unless you have their American Express card, in which case, they don't expire at all. It's a great way to limit award availability on their flights.
The benefit to the program is that earning free flights isn't too difficult. Four roundtrip coast to coast flights and a short one way flight and you've got a free round trip ticket. For someone who flies a moderate amount, awards are acheivable. But this month, they just got more achievable.
Early this March, JetBlue quietly rolled out the chance to purchase points. At least for now, the pricing is reasonable. $50 gets you 10 points, and their website doesn't seem to indicate a limit in points to purchase. This means for $500, you can buy a round trip ticket anywhere that JetBlue flies. Although this won't be cheaper than most JetBlue tickets that are currently available, it can save you quite a bit on some routes.
For example: booking a ticket from JFK to Las Vegas April 4 to April 6 would cost you as much as $648.50 round trip, or 100 JetBlue points. Which you can buy for $500. Obviously, some caveats apply. Before you spend money on points, make sure you can get the flights you want with points... and don't expect this deal to last too long. Generally, these kind of frequent flier "enhancements" are there to primarily benefit the company. When the airline notices lots of 100 point purchases, bets are that limits on point purchases will suddenly materialize.
Cranky Flier has some great info on the other JetBlue news of the week, paying extra for extra legroom.
JetBlue has a pretty average to poor frequent flyer program. TrueBlue doesn't let you keep any points earned longer than 12 months after you've earned them. Unless you have their American Express card, in which case, they don't expire at all. It's a great way to limit award availability on their flights.
The benefit to the program is that earning free flights isn't too difficult. Four roundtrip coast to coast flights and a short one way flight and you've got a free round trip ticket. For someone who flies a moderate amount, awards are acheivable. But this month, they just got more achievable.
Early this March, JetBlue quietly rolled out the chance to purchase points. At least for now, the pricing is reasonable. $50 gets you 10 points, and their website doesn't seem to indicate a limit in points to purchase. This means for $500, you can buy a round trip ticket anywhere that JetBlue flies. Although this won't be cheaper than most JetBlue tickets that are currently available, it can save you quite a bit on some routes.
For example: booking a ticket from JFK to Las Vegas April 4 to April 6 would cost you as much as $648.50 round trip, or 100 JetBlue points. Which you can buy for $500. Obviously, some caveats apply. Before you spend money on points, make sure you can get the flights you want with points... and don't expect this deal to last too long. Generally, these kind of frequent flier "enhancements" are there to primarily benefit the company. When the airline notices lots of 100 point purchases, bets are that limits on point purchases will suddenly materialize.
Cranky Flier has some great info on the other JetBlue news of the week, paying extra for extra legroom.
Labels: frequent flier miles, jet blue, travel, trueblue
Roger, 3:51 PM
