Buy On Board Posting as Gate Charges
 

Has anyone else had their JetBlue buy-on-board charges post to their JetBlue credit card account as "Gate Retail" and this fail to be treated as an on board purchase eligible for the 50% rebate? I have had two charges recently post that way, and Barclays (of course - customer service is not something they care about) has said they are not responsible for JetBlue's mistaken categorization. I am not sure what the next steps are to resolve this.

Just got back from two flights. Bought items on board and both have posted as "JET BLUE GATE RETAIL" and also not seeing any 50% rebate. I haven't contacted anyone yet. Did you ever have any luck getting it changed? Of course I said no when asked if I needed a receipt...

My charge posted on 17 Feb with the same coding. I contacted Barclays and the agent was clueless. I sent an e-mail to JetBlue today with the transaction details and will see what they say.

I emailed JetBlue customer service and initially they said they would post the points that were missing. I replied that that was nice but this was a much larger problem - that they were not meeting the terms of their credit card.. The customer service agent replied that she has forwarded my message and an image of the credit card statement to (well, she did not tell me) and asked me to wait seven days, which have passed. I am going to follow up now.

My issue was resolved. They gave me a flight credit and manually posted the bonus points. I replied back to the person who fixed mine to let her know that it is not just me so hopefully they can fix the coding issue so that others won't face the same problem.

Don't worry about not having a receipt: the credit or debit card statement will be enough. Please let JetBlue know.

I just got another email from JetBlue.

I emailed JetBlue and Barclay. JetBlue responded with the following:


Thank you for contacting JetBlue. When you use your JetBlue Card during a flight, the full charge is collected initially and your discount is applied after the transaction posts to your account. Cardmembers qualify for a 50 percent discount on cocktails, food and other eligible purchases. Duty-free purchases do not qualify.

Savings will appear as a statement credit four to six weeks after the transaction posts to your account. If you do not see the adjustment on your statement within that time, please contact Barclay MasterCard directly at 1-866-928-3104.

We apologize for the inoperable TV's on your last two flights home. If you did not receive your $15 credit for these flights, please let us know and we will be happy to apply the credits to your Travel Bank accounts.

Christopher, thank you for choosing JetBlue for your travel needs. We appreciate you as a JetBlue customer! It will be our pleasure to welcome you onboard with us again in the near future.

Sincerely,

Nan
JetBlue Customer Commitment
Crewmember 86263

Barclay responded with an almost identical response below. Basically both are saying wait 4-6 weeks. Funny though the ones that posted properly as on board purchases, the credit shows up almost immediately in the my statement...


Thank you for contacting us regarding your JetBlue Plus Card. We can certainly address your inquiry regarding the 50% in-flight purchase discount benefit on your account and apologize for any confusion.

We can confirm your account will receive a 50% statement credit on eligible in-flight purchases made with this credit card. Eligible purchases include the inflight purchase of cocktails, beer, wine, meals and JetBlue movies (not Fly-Fi) on JetBlue-operated flights. Savings does not apply to any other inflight purchases, such as wireless internet access.

Please keep in mind this credit will post to your account in 4 to 6 weeks after the original purchase posted. In the event you do not see the credit post within this timeframe, please feel free to contact us through this Secure Message Center and we will be happy to forward a case to our Rewards team for further resolution.

You can monitor your account for these credits online by clicking the 'Activity & Statements' drop-down menu and then selecting the 'Transactions' option. From there, while under 'Posted transactions,' you are able to filter the time frame by using the drop-down menu and choosing 'Since last statement.’ We hope you find this information helpful.

We would like to take a moment to thank you for choosing us to service your credit card needs and hope you have a wonderful day! If you have any other questions or concerns, please reply to this message.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

So basically, JetBlue is pawning this issue off on Barclays, and Barclays is responding with the typical "we don't care" form letter as expected.

Now, here's the big question. Is the 50% discount benefit advertised by JetBlue, Barclay, or both?

If it's advertised by JetBlue, a DOT complaint might be needed to get the attention of someone who might actually know what's going on and how to fix it. Emphasize the fact that JetBlue is advertising this benefit, yet they are not properly coding the charge (which would be the fault of JetBlue's IT) which means they are not providing a published benefit. It probably won't lead to any sort of enforcement action, but at least it will get the attention of someone who can notify the right people at JetBlue to get this fixed, rather than playing "Crewmember roulette" where your complaint will most likely not get to where it needs to go.

If it's advertised by Barclays, then a complaint to the CFPB might be appropriate as you are not receiving a published benefit of your credit card agreement. The complaint would go to someone higher up at Barclays who may be able to light a fire under JetBlue to get this fixed, rather than a low level peon who's job is to copy and paste semi-relevant form letters.

I'd suggest waiting the 4-6 weeks to make sure that you are doing your part to follow the rules, then contact both again, and if there's no resolution, complain to the appropriate regulatory body (or bodies if both apply)

Sounds like typical CSR response, answer a question not asked. :(

I'm sure if you wait the requested 4-6 weeks before they might actually look into the issue they may come back and say it's too late. I find often it is necessary to spell out the issue very clearly and to only bring up ONE issue at a time, otherwise they will cherry pick the one they want to address and ignore the more difficult one(s).

Time to start a folder with all correspondence making sure to note date/time/name of people involved.

Good luck.

Jet Blue is advertising this benefit. They advertised it on my last flight on board when hawking the CC applications, saying "Every flight will be like Happy Hour with half off on board purchases!"

Bought a drink last week, will check in to see if the rebate was applied.

My meal box from two weeks ago posted as gate charges as well, and no credit was issued. Going to wait the 6 weeks cited above, and then I, too, will start launching complaints ... :)

I had a slightly different experience this last Sunday. I bought a snack box on board with my JetBlue Plus card via Apple Pay. Everything on board appeared to work fine. About two days later, my iPhone chimed with an alert, and it was a Decline for the purchase. Free snack box! Woo!

Well it coded properly for me, immediately as posted...