JetBlue’s Rewards Program To Get Fall Facelift

Written on 07/31/2009 by Andrew Hickey in Travel

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More Award Flights. More points. More to love.

That is what JetBlue is touting with the announcement of an all new TrueBlue program that debuts this fall. Some of the improved features include:

Earn points for every dollar you spend on eligible travel, rather than for the length of the flight you buy.
No blackout dates.
Your points will never expire.
Bonus points the more you jet.
One-way award flights starting at just 5,000 points.
Six points for every dollar spent when you purchase a flight through JetBlue.com. Make that eight points if you use an American Express card.
If you currently have points, JetBlue is promising that they are still valid and can be used towards award flights.
More benefits and features to follow later this year.
Plus, if you book a JetBlue flight by September 23, for travel between August 17 and September 23, you will qualify for triple award points.
For more information about the all new TrueBlue, check out JetBlue.com.

I am a big fan of JetBlue’s TrueBlue rewards program and have been enrolled in it since day one. I even have a JetBlue AMEX that helps me get more award flights faster. Just another example of the low-cost carriers making the big guys look out of date and less customer friendly.

DJD

I am a TrueBlue member and have had the TrueBlue AMEX card since 2007. I actually like the current (old) program. 100 points = 1 round trip between any destinations they fly, which can be used as two separate one way trips. For me it worked out well as I am usually booking travel between from coast to coast. A few things that concern me about the new program: 1. eventhough you can convert “new” points to “old” points, my AMEX activity will no longer extend the expiration of the “old” points so now they can expire if I don’t earn enough or book a trip in 12 months (why not convert “old” point to “new” points, unless you want to see them expire), 2. the fees have increase from only $5.00 each way for the Sept 11 Security Fee to the $5.00 each way plus $9.00 Passenger Facility Charge each way plus $3.60 Tax per segment for domestic flights (Puerto Rico & international is a much more).

My annual fee on the AMEX card is due next month, so I emailed JetBlue to share my concerns and get more information. They replied that, 1. “old” points can not be converted to “new” points and will remain in the existing account until the expiration date, 2. they haven’t received final verification that the Passenger Facility Fee will apply to Award flights in the new program, 3. they are unable to tell me the point required on a specific flight until the program launches and 4. the program will be of much greater benefit to their most loyal customers.