Originally Posted by
saltydog
I book 4 roundtrips on Airtran or Southwest with their double points out of Boston I have a free roundtrip, no question. Any destination or day of the week any distance.
I've not done the math but I assume these are their rule-buster level redemptions, right? If not, your assertion is missing a few key details.
Originally Posted by
saltydog
I book 4 on Jetblue with the triple miles, well it DEPENDS on the fair I paid. Then it DEPENDS on where I want to go, and DEPENDS on how many points the flight I want is. Different day is different points.
Correct. Some days might cost less. Imagine if you actually got more value for the points you earned than just one flight that you would get on another airline.
For folks always buying the lowest fare and not flying a ton the JetBlue program isn't a great value. If you're only going to look at routes where there are short-term promos then it could be even worse. Over a longer term perspective the people who spend the most money will be rewarded for that spend. The people who don't, won't. This simple concept should guide your loyalty if the points are that important to you.
I mostly fly on the cheapest fares available and do not have specific routes or dates that I must fly on too often. As such I don't really value the JetBlue points a ton as I know my accrual pace is going to be somewhat slow. I look at them as a bonus that I get along with the quality product in the air. But I also understand that the value proposition of a 6-12% return actually isn't horrendous. I'm not looking for a 20%+ ROI because I know it is not sustainable by an airline.