garyclark

Newbie here. Moving to Boston. Will be making 25-30 flights per year. Heard JetBlue has great service there.

But I'm only interested in redeeming points for international flights.

I assume I can use my points for American international flights. Is this true? If so, does anyone have experience with this?

Also interested in people's opinions on the JetBlue AmEx to gain points.

Thanks for any advice.

Ambraciot

It can't be done, Jetblue does not have any transatlantic flights and their points are not redeemable on any airlines that do. The TrueBlue program also offers a horrible return on discount coach fares compared to traditional mileage based programs. Jetblue has a lot of nonstops out of Boston, but very little else to offer a frequent flyer.

There are a handful of Jetblue flights out of Boston where you can earn AA miles instead of TrueBlue points, but it's a huge hassle and generally not worth it.

sbm12

You cannot redeem TrueBlue points for any flights other than JetBlue flights right now. So that's not going to help you so much if your desired international destinations aren't ones that JetBlue serves.

The reciprocal earning bit is OK but not great and definitely not as thorough as it could be.

If you're going to let the FF program drive your travel habits and international redemption is a requirement then TrueBlue/JetBlue is a bad choice for you.

garyclark

Thanks for the advice.

krpjr

Just avoid flying jetblue, the time it takes to build up points in their reward program is insane, regardless of your 25-30 flights. If you fly 25-30 flights on Delta or UA, I'm sure you'll be able to redeem for an international trip or 2 whereas on Jetblue you'll likely only rack up enough points to fly BOS-LAX one time !

Jetblue = Caveat Emptor !

sfozrhfco

Next year partner airline rewards will be offered...so you will have to wait a few more months...

JCK75

It's not really that bad. If you do five BOS-LAX roundtrips within a year, at $350 pop, you'll earn about 24,000 points, which is worth about $336 at $0.14/point.

(350 X 6 X 5 = 10500 + 500 + 1000 + 2000 bonus points for hitting 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000 points + 10,000 "go long bonus")

With the dollar-based earning, you obviously do a lot better if you buy expensive tickets.

sfozrhfco

Plus you can always use your points as there are no blackouts and capacity controls. The amount of points you spend is in direct correlation to the price of the ticket. If there is a sale for paid tickets, award tickets are in effect on sale too which gives a big advantage over the legacy carriers where you may or may not be able to redeem an award on any given flight. In addition, you have to pay fees for baggage, close in bookings, etc. on the legacies so your "free" ticket is not so free.

sbm12

Until there are any details regarding which partners will be eligible and what the rates are going to be I'm not holding my breath. :-:

JCK75

The other HUGE advantage of JetBlue is the ability get credit after purchase for any drop in price without having to pay a change fee.

For me, this makes up for any deficiencies in the FF program, as this has saved me an incredible amount of money. With the ability to track fares using Yapta, this requires almost no effort on my part.

This has saved me hundreds and hundreds of dollars over the past year, and really should be factored into any comparison with the legacy airline programs, all of which now require a $150 change fee to take advantage of a price drop on discounted fares.

I'm pretty sure that, even if the corporate travel agent buys your tickets for you, the credits go the flyer, not the purchaser.

Ambraciot

Just in case you didn't know each and every feature you mention is true for AA if you have any kind of elite status. If you fly more than a few times a year the only advantages non legacy carriers have over the legacies are route and fare related.

However legacy carriers can have substantial advantages over non legacies, often while maintaining comparable fares. On AA the miles I earn buying discount coach fares (which are then upgraded for free to first class) are often more than would be required to book award tickets on the same set of flights in coach. However, since award tickets don't get upgraded this is rarely done. While I have not bothered with the TrueBlue system for years, I would be astonished if the value of the award flights was even 1/3 that of the paid flights.

sbm12

Not really. Particularly on the sale side of things. When the fares are cheap the award prices are similarly so. To an extent much greater than what the legacies offer as discounts on awards, if they ever do offer such.

bosnyc

I wouldn't be sure about that...

Ambraciot

All AA elites and I believe elites on at least one of the other main legacies can use their miles to purchase any domestic coach ticket, with the mile cost determined by the current sale fare. However these tickets are not as good a deal as other mileage award options can be.

adambisi

For the OP....

To what destinations are your 25-30 flights going to be? You can earn AA miles on these JetBlue flights listed here: http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...es/jetBlue.jsp

Where do you want to go internationally? EU, Asia, South America, Africa, Australia? Europe/South America AA/one world is your best bet. Anywhere else: UA/CO.

Do you want to gain elite status and all its perks with a legacy carrier? 25-30 roundtrips will get you there pretty easily. You cannot earn elite points on JetBlue flights via AA however.


I personally prefer to fly JetBlue domestically from Boston but internationally Post-Merger UA/CO and Star Alliance may be your best bet for getting what you want. I'd get a OnePass frequent flier account and stick to CO/UA/US/AC/LH etc...

Also, I'd stick to a legacy carrier's credit card for earning miles. 65000 points can get you 1-2 relatively expensive flights to the Caribbean on JetBlue but 65000 OnePass miles is getting me a roundtrip from Boston to Bali with an option for a 2-day stopover in Bangkok, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, or Beijing.