sbm12

What carrier doesn't serve soft drinks in flight? US was the only major to try that stunt and they backed off when it was clear that others wouldn't match. As for snacks, I can survive 3 hours without eating and for a transcon I will want something more substantive than a couple bags of chips. That means buying my own meal in the terminal, BoB or flying with a carrier that serves meals.

If you are ignoring the FF programs entirely then the product is certainly solid - even better on the A320s with 34" pitch - and there is no reason not to take it, but that assumes that FF points have zero value.
If you fly 10 r/t transcons annually you can pretty much make the middle-tier status on any of the legacy programs. At that point you would be earning enough points for the same buy 3 get 1 free. Or you could redeem those points to go somewhere farther afield or in a premium cabin. If those things don't appeal to you then it doesn't matter, but other programs do have more flexibility and opportunities than TB.

arthur -- flyer wanna be

yes, i agree with you that their ff program is not the best, my whole point was that the underlined product was solid enough for me to ignore their ff program.... not everyone serves arizona ice tea, dunkin donuts cofffee, orange fusion, and kettle chips... all while being able to watch espn/tnn/vh1/cnbc =P

kdinino

It makes sense for me. I fly SAN-BOS maybe 7-8 times a year. I enjoy the Jetblue seating (Im 6 foot 5) , the IFE and attitudes of employees over AA on this route. AA flight times stink on the direct flights. So it makes perfect sense for me. I can cobble together 2 free trips to the East Coast or the Carribean which is fine by me. Im guessing on AA I'd be a low level elite and might be able to earn enough miles in a year to geta coach seat to Europe....depending on the times I want. For me, thats not appealing right now. The program may stink but Ive never had issues getting free flights either.

rnizlek

I really hope they don't go the route of dollars for points, even though that's what it looks like. Right now I fly them once a month or once every other month, usually just BTV-JFK, but occasionally elsewhere. A BTV-JFK flight usually only runs me about $120 - and in a given year, I'm not flying more than $800 or so of JetBlue flights. But in the current program, I'm able to rack up about 1 TB award a year between flying and having the AmEx. I fly almost exclusively for leisure and always book far in advance with relatively good fares, so I just fear that I'll be getting the short end of the stick with TB2.

The other program I'm very active in is Amtrak Guest Rewards, which is a dollar based program and I'm very satisfied with it. However, a lot of that satisfaction comes from three areas: 1) They frequently have promotions allowing me to get double or triple points, 2) They offer two points per dollar, but a minimum of a 100 points per ride (and 90% of my rides are under $50) and 3) Points are handed out based on segments, not on an entire interary. Going to Boston, for instance, takes two trains, so I'm getting 200 points (and usually much more than that with double and triple points).

TB2 would lack all of the above, as I understand it. It really makes me question my loyalty to B6, even though I love their product and am even a former B6 employee. I don't need the best FF program in the world, but I need something that with my level of flying allows me to get rewards with some regularity (once every year or two). My primary problem is that I mostly fly short hops on B6 and redeem my awards for long flights (last one was to SXM). I guess my other concern is that there wouldn't be a flat level at which I could redeem an award, regardless of distance, so it would become very difficult to get awards for lengthy flights.

I just don't see a lot of alternatives as far as carriers out of BTV that suit my needs (flying BTV-NYC). I'm not a fan of US Airways product, nor Delta's, really. I do very much like CO, but their prices into EWR are usually much more than B6/Delta/US and it's a less convenient airport for me.

I'm just focused on snagging another trueBlue award before the changeover takes place...I'm pretty close at the moment.

rocky

One "feature" I hate about the current TrueBlue is the forced redemption once you hit 100 points. Most other carriers, you can redeem when you're ready as long as you keep your account active.

This is compounded by the change fee, even without a chance in city pairs.

nerd

What? You're saying that other carriers don't give you a year after hitting 25k miles to use it or lose it?

People have complained about it many times here. Just another reason why TrueBlue is a useless program.

(Okay, I'm being harsh -- If OnePass, and AAdvantage, and SkyMiles, and Dividend Miles, and Mileage Plus were all discontinued, TrueBlue would stand as a viable FF program. )

rocky

This "feature" also serves as a disincentive to fly jetBlue ... if you're close to the 100 point mark, you may fly another carrier so that you don't trigger the automatic issuance of the awards.

I was forced to redeem and then shortly before the 1 year mark to ticket, I got laid off. Made a reservation to keep it alive and now will have to pay at least $100 to change it.

AFAIK, there's no way to just cancel it and redeposit (unlike most carriers), so I may end up paying multiple change fees.

nerd

"Fly someone else, it'll help you preserve your JetBlue points" -- don't write it off as bizarre just yet, it's what they call part of the JetBlue experience.

bmg42000

Despite the shortfalls on the TB program B6 managed to make a profit (which is what the airlines strive for). I myself am using my B6 Amex less often so I don't get an award ticket sooner. If they could change the award expiration from 1 year to 2 year (it should be relatively simple to do ) (or even 18 months ) then that would be helpfull.

billymach4

Fly elsewhere indeed. More award seats for my family and I!

pointsjunkie53

i am not a business flyer but the jetblue amex card and the 2-3 flights i pay for a year has gotten me 4 free flights in 2008 and 4 free flights in 2009. i only use the card at restaurants, movies, and theater tickets when i get double. the program has been very good to me.http://pointsjunkie-flyforfree.blogspot.com/