Originally Posted by ijgordon (Post 13737118)

Well, let me turn that around and ask, why should you be rewarded for being a customer who does not want to pay top dollar to fly?

Originally Posted by ijgordon (Post 13737118)

Well, let me turn that around and ask, why should you be rewarded for being a customer who does not want to pay top dollar to fly?

Originally Posted by nerd (Post 13737711)

Well, you have status on CO and AA.

Both will give me the same points for a $300 transcon as they will for a $600 one, right?

Originally Posted by sbm12 (Post 13738729)

But more on the $1000 one. @:-)

Every loyalty program out there in the USA and most around the world reward the higher spend with more benefits/points/credits. TB2 is not at all unique in this approach.

Originally Posted by billymach4 (Post 13764997)

Also where has True Blue gal been? She posted a handful of times then fell of the map? :mad:

Originally Posted by HandSolo (Post 13679796)

Before I explain this, a brief background on me: I have loved JetBlue from day one and have been a regular flyer of the Airline for the better part of 8 years. I fly them on average 14 times a year, that is 14 roundtrips or 28 legs a year. I fly for business mostly with some personal mixed in and I frequent California, Las Vegas, Florida, Phoenix & Denver regularly but have also gone to several Caribbean destinations with the airline. I know every snack by name and brand I've been loyal. I also bought the All You Can Jet Ticket last year. In short, when they fly the route I am taking, I always fly on "the Blue" making me a pretty idyllic customer who spends a lot of money each year on the airline.

I am also new to Flyertalk, registered today at the suggestion of a friend who is a employee in the industry.

When JetBlue started really growing and got a new CEO, I noticed the changes like any frequent traveler would: higher average fares (I remember back when JetBlue was usually the cheapest option), charging for extra leg room, refundable tickets, aggressive route expansion, degraded quality of inflight service, etc. I was fine with it and recognized that JetBlue was going from being "special" to just becoming another airline. I chalked it up to a necessary business move and continued to fly the airline as much as ever. With the recent change of the True Blue program, I was interested, but skeptical as it seemed like I might benefit, because sometimes fares were astronomical these days on JetBlue and I figured I would reap added value in points.

So here's the rub. The new True Blue Program sucks. And it sucks bad and I'm going to lay it out and I challenge anyone to refute it.

I think its too new for people to really know it yet, but as a frequent flyer on JetBlue, I see it now and its plane (plain) as day that this thing is going to hurt their business because if it is causing ME to change airlines and stop using JetBlue, then it will certainly crush the infrequent user who sees significantly less benefit to flying JetBlue than I do and simply opts for another carrier where the path to a free ticket is easier and more clear cut. I am preparing a spreadsheet because I want to spell out to JetBlue's management team why I am leaving but for now, here is the quick math.

Under the old True Blue program, you got to 100 points and bam, free roundtrip ticket. Long haul flights were worth more points and short haul and JetBlue had a cool little picture that showed you your progress. Brilliant and simple. My trips racked those up and I enjoyed building the inventory of free flights up so I could fly my family for free from time to time. I didn't care that they expired in a year...I used them up!

Forget that the new True Blue program is convoluted, its designed to be. If it wasn't then the value you extract as a regular user would be much more clear and people would throw a fit. Make it unclear and people can't really make an argument to complain. Im not saying they were that devious when putting the program together, but why not just equate the program to dollars or miles, two things we all understand? It's like those point systems on the Xbox and Wii Video Game consoles: $1 equals 800 points? What? It feels like Monopoly Money. TrueBlue is set up the same way. And those "big bonus" additions of huge points? Who cares? The amount of points necessary to book flights is so high and so ridiculous that your GO BIG BONUSES are a joke! They don't matter one bit. They advertise "free flights start at 5000 points. Well, guess what. That is for one way trips from JFK to Syracuse when you are up in the air for 38 minutes. Here is a piece of a personal example of mine:

I have flown JetBlue 8 times since November 1 for 16 individual legs. Destinations include the following locations, all initiated at JFK.
Denver, San Francisco, Long Beach, Salt Lake City, & Las Vegas. Some destinations were flown more than once and there was a Florida trip in there as well. The amount of flying I have done would have alotted me roughly two roundtrip tickets under the previous program when you include their old online booking bonuses and the point value long haul of flights. So how many points do I have now? 29,000 because of some Go Big bonuses including some worth 4,000 points. Sounds great, but let me show you some random checks of point values for a handful of destinations to illustrate what a joke the new system is. You do the same thing and see what you come up with.

Based on Checks I did Today: Random Dates Selected
New York to San Diego: Average Points for Roundtrip Needed 32,000!
New York to Salt Lake City: Average Points for Roundtrip Needed 28,000
How about Denver? That is closer! 26,000
And Syracuse? I checked it and its 6,300 points to go there, each way! For a total of 12,600 points. I guess I could fly the Mrs. to Syracuse.

So I don't have enough yet for San Diego, but I can get to Denver or Salt Lake if I am really flexible with the dates. Yes, you have to be crazy flexible too because they have many one way flights that are 23,000+. Sure you can use the new points anytime but who is going to get 50,000+ points anytime soon if it took me 6 months to get to 30 and I LIVE on those planes!

By my calculations, the program offers flyers 40% to 50% less of what the old True Blue system did. I understand some degradation given the need to compete, but this is enough of a punch in the gut that I am signing off of JetBlue after my currently booked flights are taken. I am actively looking for the best alternative airline. It might mean going to Delta. Might be someone else. I don't look forward to making the change but I need to so that I can ensure the most benefit from my frequent travel.

Bottom line is I'm out. See ya later TrueBlue and JetBlue I will miss you. I will also miss T5. Has been a great place to arrive early before a flight. I don't want to go to Delta, but they do have inflight Wifi now which is pretty good and at least their reward program is clear.

Originally Posted by HandSolo (Post 13679796)

I don't want to go to Delta, but they do have inflight Wifi now which is pretty good and at least their reward program is clear.

Originally Posted by ijgordon (Post 13737118)

Well, let me turn that around and ask, why should you be rewarded for being a customer who does not want to pay top dollar to fly?

Originally Posted by dieuwer2 (Post 13687779)

Redeemable points are worth about $0.01. Since you get 6 points for each dollar spend, your "return" is 6% (even better when factoring bonus points). I think that is excellent.

Originally Posted by JBLU421NYC (Post 13803287)

I am no expert on TB1/2 but I did reap regular benefits from TB1 with flying only 3-4x per year. I have the B6AX card and continue to earn thousands of points a month. I was able to Xfer some of my new points back to old in order to earn truepasses earlier this year (which I already used). So far the TB2 program, as many of you are suggesting, does favor the business passenger. I am by no means a business passenger, but because I fly in combination with my AX card I have a significant number of points already.
In 2009 I had to make an emergency trip south and booked the flight the day before travel. I had to pay full-fare and had to purchase EML seats because they were the only remaining seats on the a/c. I earned as many points on TB1 as if I had a deeply discounted fare because the program didn't award based on purchase price but on how long the haul was. I didn't complain, because I earned a truepass after completing travel, but it would have been nice to get more points for spending more, especially since you earn 8 points for every dollar you spend on B6 travel with the B6AX card.
I am not really sure which program I like better yet, I do spend more on travel now that I am going to School in Seattle, WA (For my ATC CTI!!). It seems that the new program seems to be pretty rewarding for me so far since I already have enough points to get a r/t back home to NYC.