JetBlue makes redemptions easier, more valuable
 

Starting this week (official announcement due tomorrow) the cheapest TrueBlue awards will price at 3,500 points rather than the 5,000 from when the TrueBlue 2 program was introduced.

Also, I've done some data analysis on the value of TrueBlue points and ocme to some interesting conclusions. The average value of a point is up to ~1.4 cents. That's more than it was last time I ran the numbers. International awards (1.48cpp) are a better deal than domestic ones (1.38). And there are some very clear trends suggesting that you should redeem for cheap flights and pay for more expensive ones.

http://blog.wandr.me/wp-content/uplo...nsolidated.png

Finally, if you want to splurge the $599 Mint seats are a SPECTACULAR redemption value (the yellow dot on this chart):
http://blog.wandr.me/wp-content/uplo...mestic-all.png

n.b. - Links go to my blog with more details on the data and analysis. FT rules require disclosure of such.

Wow, that was surprising and awesome. Are they trying to suck up to customers before hitting us with a bag fee?

Nice job! I just redeemed 26,000 points for LAS-BOS which was going for $339. I know it is not the best redemption, but I have been sitting on my points for so long now I have no idea what else to do with them.
But why is Mint spectacular at 1.7 cpp if you can get an international flight at 1.9 cpp?

Mint is consistently at 1.7cpp for the $599 seats. The international flights are not nearly as consistent at the high cpp levels and are often rather lower. The average for them is around 1.45cpp.

A change in favor of consumers? Please tell me I read that wrong.

Those Mint redemptions aren't bad at all. Points of reference:

It's cheaper than an Avios redemption in domestic F for a TCON (75k RT) and about 20k more than an AA redemption in J on the CX JFK-YVR flight (which would be better than Mint, but is precisely one route at an odd time) or a domestic AA F redemption (which would be inferior to Mint).

I know we all look at 2-3cpp as a benchmark for the value we want to get. I certainly shoot for that in traditional programs, but ~1.7cpp is good value for an airline that doesn't make you rely on award space actually being open. You give up a little bit of value but can pretty much select when you want to fly.

I paid 12,500 points for LAX-BOS. Site was selling them for 10,000 points when I got the price drop credit, but that's only for new bookings via the website (the 10k points rate was not in the GDS so the agents could not credit me down to that rate)