sfozrhfco

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/jetb...agreement.html

For travel on 1 May 2018 or later, you can now purchase JetSuiteX tickets through the jetBlue website. A new code-sharing agreement also is in effect. Nice to see that partnership getting closer. More options now from the Bay Area to/from Southern California and Las Vegas.

tphuang

official release
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...300634194.html

I guess we will find out more tomorrow on the earnings call, but seems like a good addition to TrueBlue program. I'm hoping they will start adding flights in New York in the next couple of years.

sbm12

SJC-BUR shows on the calendar but sold out every day I've tried.

ETA: BUR-LAS works on 15 June. Fares from $208 to $358 one way.

sfozrhfco

Looks like SJC-BUR is uploaded now. They did the Oakland flights first. Does anybody know if these get full TrueBlue points including Mosaic bonus if booked as a code-share or still the same 150/250 points with no credit towards Mosaic?

sbm12

I've reached out to CorpComm for answers on that specific issue. It is not clear that ever the 150/250 would count for a booking via the JetBlue site.

sbm12

Finally (mostly) confirmed the points situation. Earning will be based on fare class, not dollar spend. No redemptions available and it doesn't seem likely that will change in the near future. I'm disappointed in both of those data points.

tphuang

in that case, this seems to be just a way of giving more visibility to JetSuitex product. Maybe this is their way of assuring ALPA they are not getting a regional affiliate.

sfozrhfco

I don't think that JetSuiteX would be useful as a regional affiliate anyway--especially in its current form--given that the operations are from terminals that are not easily reached from the main passenger terminals. They are after O/D traffic and becoming more relevant to people who take B6 on transcons but also travel locally and want a decent product. It will be interesting to see how this partnership meshes with the draw down of LGB. Intra-California has been a blood bath for all the carriers so may be best to promote a unique product for people wishing to avoid the LAX mess.

tphuang

I have long promoted that they should move more of their stuff to Burbank, while would make the combination of B6/JetSuiteX more appealing to people in the LAX/BUR area. But they really need to make it more easy to earn miles, gain status and reward redemption with JetSuitex in order for this to happen.

sbm12

TrueBlue integration is the last thing on a long list that needs to happen for the service to be more useful to passengers. We all love points here but the bulk of passengers really just don't care.

sfozrhfco

I don't think that is actually the case. JetSuiteX's main selling point is convenience. At this point it would be confusing for the average traveler to equate B6/JetSuiteX. At BUR, there is no possibility for connecting travel. The private air section is nowhere near the main terminal. At OAK, JetSuiteX is at a terminal across from the Hilton Oakland Airport which is only really accessible by Uber/Lyft to get back to the airport or to BART. This gives them flexibility to offer flights for events like Coachella which JetSuiteX does very well while providing quick and easy O/D service to Concord/LAS/OAK/SJC without having to deal with the main terminals. The service is good and it is nice to have the plane arrive and leave 5 minutes later. More visibility for the service is needed much more than extra TrueBlue points right now. Eventually it may make sense when they have many more planes but not right now.

sbm12

They could offer connections from B6 to JetSuiteX with plane-side pickup as a really nice perk but that's a logistical mess and ton of work to develop. Going the other direction won't work at all because of the TSA bits.

mikesyr18

I just finished reading an article from the Points Guy about this news. Seems as if you can't use JetBlue points to book this type of flight... At least not at this time anyways.

I agree with you, though. Hopefully JetBlue will extensively expand routes with this aircraft in mind.

sbm12

Not "seems" but 100% confirmed explicitly that it is not an option. And, while the company says it is looking for opportunities to grow the partnership, I would not expect it to be a useful TrueBlue partner in the coming year or more.

mikesyr18

Nevertheless, it's still something interesting to look forward to in the future. I could imagine the points value being pretty poor (more points for cheaper flights) if these flights end up being in "high demand." I could see point redemption averaging 0.4-0.7 cpp, but that's just a guess and my imagination rambling again.