Earning Points in JetBlue’s Complicated New TrueBlue Program (Part 1)

While a FF programme based on spend is better than one based on miles, it should really be based on ticket profitability. If that US$70 short haul ticket costs the airline US$50 to operate, the airline should give out miles based on the US$20 difference. If that US$200 long haul ticket costs US$120 to operate, the customer should be credited with US$80 of miles.

Follow this approach, and there is no need to stipulate Go Big or Go Long bonuses – the airline ends up rewarding the customers who help its profit figures, rather than those who just represent turnover.

Do you know if the JetBlue AMEX cardholders get that ‘Go Big Bonus’ too?

Does any of us expect companies in this industry to make anything simple? Fares? What may or may not constitute a delayed flight? Mileage/points accrual and redemption? And, on and on!

Good to see UA announce that it has come up with a “new/improved” plan for yet another Chase/Mileage Plus card, actually three cards, each with its own minimal(?) annual fee, mileage/segment/points accrual rules, and invitation to a not-recently-closed Red Carpet Club.

This is so confusing. Why not keep it simple?

What I’m amazed at is that they don’t describe “sample” fliers. Its one of those things I want to pull out an excel spreadsheet and start modeling, but I think B6 should’ve done this for us already..

Hey Cranky,

You forgot about double point Wednesdays and the nite-owl bonus if you book between 1AM and 4AM EST.

In my mind, one of the simplest schemes is Air New Zealand’s Airpoints Dollars. I am not sure how the collection of points is calculated, but the rewards part of the programme is very simple – basically, if you have $300 Airpoints Dollars, you have $300 to spend on a ticket. From what I understand, there are no restrictions on which tickets you can buy or times you can buy them – they are simply like a voucher.

CF,

Could you elaborate on how you would calculate profitability? Ron brings up a good point, which you acknowledge is “a problem” but that it is ideal from the airlines’ point of view. If calculating it is a problem, then why is it ideal?

I wonder what happened to the idea to integrate JetBlue more into Lufthansa and his Miles&More program. Any words and information about this?

I just contacted jetblue with the following statement:

I have shared this concern before with the new true blue program before, but nothing came of it at all. I am comparing the validity of the old true blue program to the new one and the so called “benefits” that come along with it.

The point earning process has changed completely and in no way has it gotten ANY better. My fiance and I travel to Puerto Rico quite often and LOVE the jet blue program and flights. Before, flying would earn us a total of 24 points (that was 24% of an award flight) which was amazing. That and we have the jet blue amex card to add points on top. We would earn a free flight in about 4 months (we travel at least once every 2 months). And even on that the award flight would cost a total of 5$ round trip. Never had a complaint, until now with the new award system.

Now with point earning based on cost of a flight, we would earn (say an average flight would cost $149), we would earn a total of 2,384 points on a round trip flight (booking on jetblue.com with my amex). With a $149 flight each way, round trip would cost 22,200 points, that would only earn us about 10.7% of an award flight. Also the fee’s are now $44.20 as opposed to the $5 it used to be.

For the amex card points, say we earned 3200 award dollars, which was 16 points, so that was 16% of a free flight on a flight costing 149$ each way. Now a flight would cost 22,200 points round trip, those 3200 points would give us 14.4% of a free flight.

Prior, a free flight would grant us a range from whatever low price up to $149 flight (I even think it went to $159 as well). Now, we earn less and the flight will cost us more. I understand you are doing this point system for the better good of the people, but I sincerely fail to see how this point system helps the frequent customer like myself or my fiance.

There are the bonus’s that you can reach when you accumulate only account for points earned for the actual flight. The amex points and purchases are disregarded completely. So these points only add up well until you surpass the 6000 point value on flight’s ONLY.

I am sorry for ranting about this, I have done the math and I have a LOT of calculations done in front of me to try to prove what I am thinking wrong, but I just can’t do it. Please tell me I am missing something in what I am looking at. Or at least open my eyes to what this service should be providing that I am in complete shade with.

Alright, as you can see i’m pissed… lol. The new point system completely fucks me along with the additional fee’s they added to the flights. So maybe you guys can shed some light on the subject for me, what do you think?

Doesn’t matter.. it is what is is. Here’s the GENERIC reply i got ONCE AGAIN from jet blue:

Hello Stephen,

Thank you for contacting JetBlue Airways regarding our Newer Truer, TrueBlue program. We thank you
for the opportunity to address your concerns. Our new TrueBlue program was designed with our
customers best interest in mind. We created a program that was not only flexible unlike the old one
and a program that has plentiful options for our customers. There are now seats offered on all
flights in all markets on all dates.

TrueBlue points are now earned based off of dollars spent. This allows our customers to earn points
on a larger scale. Award flights are similar in the way that flights are subject to change. Price
points for Awards may vary between markets, flights and dates depending on popularity, time of year,
and availability of the flight.

We understand the frustration in this transition; However we do encourage you to participate in the
program. For anyone who will be traveling JetBlue, we are confident that they will find good use of
this program. One thing that we are really excited about is TrueBlue points will be extended each
time you fly with JetBlue and not just when you spend on your JetBlue American Express. This means
as long as you fly at least once with in a rolling year, that your points will never expire.

We do appreciate the feedback and will make sure your suggestions are noted. If you have questions
regarding the new program please feel free to ask.

Regards,

Dina
TrueBlue Customer Service Crew
JetBlue Airways
Crewmember 81603

One point I would like to make about JetBlue’s new program is the actual number of points required for a free flight seems to always be more than 10,000 points. I am seeing roundtrip from Washington to San Juan starting at 20,000 points for a roundtrip ticket. At 6 points per dollar spent that is over $3000 I would have to spend to achieve those points (excluding bonus miles). I just paid $225.00 RT for this same trip. “Roundtrip Award flights starting at 10,000 points” is like the ONE car the dealer has on the lot at a particular low-ball price.
JetBlue told me the new points equate to 1/200 of the old points. So if you have 90 old points, you would need to use or buy 2,000 new points to earn two True Passes for a RT ticket. Does anyone know if they will issue one-way tickets for 50 “old points?”

Yea sorry, it’s not based on distance AT ALL. It USED to be based on distance, now it’s the COST of the flight.

Do the math, make an effort and actually research it. The cost of the flight reflects how many points you need to get it for free.

The only way you could really take advantage of this program is to 1) book ON jetblue.com, 2) have a jet blue amex and use it for EVERY purchase.

The old system was great, the new one sucks. You can transfer your old points to the new system and get your one way probably. click old system on your profile and look at the step by step things there. Have fun!

First off I was correcting you because you stated what you thought was the answer and it wasn’t. And no there is no correlation between spend and distance.

Do me a favor, go on jetblue.com and look at flights right now from New York to San Juan Puerto Rico. Now go to christmas for the same flight.

Go ahead and tell me that there is a natural correlation between the cost of a flight and the actual distance.

3 things factor into the cost of your flight. 1) distance, 2) time of the day and 3) the date.

I can take a 4 hour flight to puerto rico at 3am and have it be cheaper than flying a 3 hour from new york to florida.

Again, please do some research before you post your OPINION. And apparently it does “me good” to get snippy to prove you wrong. I say to do some research and make an effort to show you actually did this, because everything you state has no backing other than what you think is. You spoke to somebody there, you think this you think that. Do the math, do the research.

Enjoy

Yea i’m done too. I’ll go ahead and cancel this subscription. You state one thing than state the completely opposite. Enough is enough.

I’m completely unhappy with the new system. I used to accumulate points pretty quickly by flying and by my AMEX, but now I spend literally 10s of thousands of dollars on my AMEX (I use it for everything, including massive vet bills), and have found that it only adds up to a single free flight that I could actually afford without the points. The best part of the old program was that you could pretty much book any flight that was available, regardless of how much it might cost without the pass. Now, I basically can get only a cheap flight free after spending quite a bit of money, which really doesn’t do me all that much good. I fly a lot between NYC and Salt Lake City, and it requires 55,000 points for some of the return trip flights, which almost all have 2 layovers or are red-eyes. The system is not merely too complicated, but clearly just a marketing ploy with rhetoric designed to make people think it’s better for them when it’s basically cheating them out of the deal they used to get. My loyalty to JetBlue is waning quickly.

if u use any amex card convert the membership rewards into miles lets say u spend 5,000 amonth on amex thats 5000 membership rewards points and continental will redeem 1 miles for each membership rewards in other words you will have 60,000 miles with continental i was able to book a business first ticket from ewr to tyo for only 120,000 miles which was equilivent to 120,00 membership rewards points that ticket would have cost me over 10,000 dollars if i had to pay for it …. jet blue could never come close to that also other airlines offer 1membership rew pt for 1.00 dollar just check it out with amex now that is a good deal i no peoplr who spend 15k a month on their amex card and have over 350,000 membership rewards points which never expire can u imaging converting them into 350,000 continental miles u would have a ton of free trips …. now that is how a frequent flyer program should work

I actually like the program. I think it’s the best one out of all major carriers, especially considering 90% of the time jetblue has the lowest fare between TPA and JFK, which are my two major destinations. I’ve only been using it a couple months and already have redeemed a ticket and halfway to the next ticket.