JetBlue True Blue is a program that mostly charges points based on the cash price, but partner awards might hold some potential..

Updated April 14, 2026. Now reflects the loss of the JAL partnership and United awards that have a rather large cash copay attached.

For this post, I’m not going to get into the details of the elite status aspect of the program and instead focus on the redemption side of the program.

Most banks transfer to JetBlue but it’s not worth it

Let’s start with the good news: almost all bank programs (aside from Bilt and Rove) transfer points to JetBlue True Blue.

• American Express Membership Rewards (MR) transfers to JetBlue at a 250:200 ratio (meaning 250 MR becomes 200 JetBlue points). Since this is a US-based program, you’ll also pay a fee of $0.0006/point transferred as an excise tax, up to $99 in a single transaction.
• Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to JetBlue at a 1:1 ratio.
• Capital One transfers to JetBlue at a 5:3 ratio.
• Citi ThankYou transfers to JetBlue at either a 1:1 ratio (Citi Prestige or Citi Strata Premier) or a 5:4 ratio (all other cards).
• Wells Fargo transfers to JetBlue at a 1:1 ratio.

The bad news includes the poor transfer ratios above, and if you’re looking to just fly on JetBlue you’ll get a low, fairly fixed value for your points (more on that later). In some cases, it’s better off just to use your bank points to purchase JetBlue airfare directly.

Our recommendation with the loss of the JAL partnership is only transferring to top off your account to purchase an award flight.

Award space is released 331 days in advance

As a planner, I love being able to book awards well far in advance. I feel like I can lock down my preferred dates of travel before the majority of other award seekers. And so the earlier the schedule is released, the better it is.

As with other US-based airlines, JetBlue releases its schedule 331 days in advance. You’re unlikely to be fighting with others for the award space that far out–at least not with JetBlue’s program. JetBlue doesn’t offer up saver award space to its members, so you’re not truly in a rush to compete with others.

JetBlue points are worth between 1.2 and 1.5 cents each

There is no award chart with JetBlue True Blue and the number of points required for a flight depends on the cash price. Let’s run a few sample routes on JetBlue.com to understand if there is a theme behind the pricing. We’ll check out three example routes.

First up is LAX to Fort Lauderdale (FLL). Accounting for the $5.60 charged along with the points gives us a point value of between 1.4 and 1.5 cents per point.

Next let’s look at San Francisco SFO to New York JFK. Both economy fares produce a 1.4 cents/point value (after accounting for the $5.60 add-on for redeeming points). Mint class only gives a 1.2 cents/point value.

Finally, let’s review Boston BOS to London LGW. Similar to the other examples, the value of JetBlue points sits between 1.2 and 1.4 cents/point. The value doesn’t change significantly for transatlantic flights.

If there is any theme you can get out of the examples chosen, it seems like Mint class is marginally a lower value compared to economy.

Not considered in this calculation is the 10% rebate for JetBlue Plus, Premier, and Business cardholders. If you’re planning on making a big redemption, it could be worth it to sign up for the card first to get that rebate.

JetBlue is not in an alliance but has several partners

JetBlue has a webpage outlining who all their partners are. Most–but not all–partners allow for redemptions using your JetBlue points.

Cape Air

When I run searches on Cape Air’s route network on JetBlue’s website, I’m not seeing much optimism for using JetBlue points. Redemptions seem to be pretty consistently 0.9 cents/point. Unless you have a specific desire to fly Cape Air, it’s not worth your time using points.

Etihad Airways

Try as I might, I haven’t been able to find any route show as available with Etihad Airways using JetBlue miles. Yes, generally Etihad restricts partners from being able to use miles until it’s within a month close to departure. Etihad award space that I find on Air Canada is not bookable with JetBlue points. I’m inclined to think this partner is only available to earn and not redeem, but the JetBlue website talks about redemptions.

Perhaps it was once available but it doesn’t seem to be available anymore.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has a lot of connectivity from its base in Doha, Qatar and is known for its excellent Q-Suites product. JetBlue allows you to book on practically any flight, with pricing varying by distance. I haven’t had a chance to fully diagnose the distance bands, so instead I think it’s helpful to provide representative route pairings to give a sense on what prices might look like.

If your JetBlue miles are burning a hole in your pocket, I think the pricing for Qatar Airways is much better than other partners. And if you can find business class availability (can be hard to find), the pricing is much better than JetBlue’s own Mint class.

Japan Airlines (JAL) — Ended March 31, 2026

Sadly, this was a rather beneficial partnership between JAL and JetBlue that ended a mere 11 months after it started. This was one of the bright spots of the program. As quickly as it showed up, it’s now out of our lives.

United Airlines — now with large cash copays

The closer ties between United and JetBlue began in the second half of 2025. The partnership includes earning miles for flying on partners and also award redemptions. At the time, we called out that the redemptions simply weren’t all that appealing.

“Only” 39,900 JetBlue points for economy and 99,900 for business class? What was United charging? About a third of the price that JetBlue charges.

And now it’s somehow even worse. If you’re looking to fly internationally on United with your JetBlue points, seems like JetBlue is now tacking on a fuel surcharge.

That higher fee is driven by a carrier-imposed fuel surcharge. JetBlue claims it’s $320 that they’re just passing along. That’s a huge penalty just for flying economy class. It’s now one of the absolute worst redemptions we’ve seen for economy class.

By the way, ITA Matrix says the carrier-imposed fuel surcharges are $290. JetBlue is just looking to pocket an extra $30?

It’s almost a favor that United is doing by not releasing Polaris business class awards to partners as we would hate to see what those awards would cost.

No award cancel or change fees

One of the best uses of miles is getting better refundability status compared to paying with cash. JetBlue makes it easy by not charging any cancel or change fees for award flights.

What are the sweet spots?

With the removal of the JAL partnership, we’re not seeing much opportunity for outsized value these days. Hopefully that will change over time but it would likely need to wait for JetBlue to find a way out of its current financial issues.

Fare sales

As mentioned above, cheap cash fares mean your JetBlue points likely go farther. So if you see a cheap fare for where you want to go, that’s a better use of your points. When fares are high (not necessarily due to many connections), you’re better off paying with cash.

Fly on Qatar

I mentioned it above, but if your goal is to fly in an excellent business class cabin, others would suggest you use your miles on Mint, but I’d instead say to use them on Qatar in their Q-Suites. Mint is excellent and a treat to fly, but award prices flying on JetBlue vary based on cash prices. Meanwhile, Qatar flights are based on distance and not price. And that will save you some points.

I need to stress that this isn’t an excellent price for everyone to transfer in their points to JetBlue to book. Qatar flights are cheaper with AA miles and also with Qatar Avios. This is strictly for those people who have a lot of JetBlue points already and are looking how to maximize.

Does JetBlue charge no fee for lap children?

I’m sure it’s well-known that lap children are free within the US. But what about international journeys and those on partner airlines? Well let’s take a look at Qatar between Doha and London. You can enter a lap infant on the JetBlue website, and checking the box… doesn’t change the price. At all. Is that reasonable? Realistic? Are you going to show up at the airport and the airline claims your child doesn’t have a ticket and charge you 10% of the walk-up rate for the flight?

It would certainly seem like lap infants are free at least based on the JetBlue website. I haven’t seen any reports of anyone testing this out, so if you have a chance to check it out, I’d love to hear about it!

How to Best Search for Availability?

It’s generally simple enough just to use the JetBlue website to search for flights. Obviously, if you’re looking to fly on JetBlue, you will naturally be inclined to look at the website. You’ll also be able to see a points calendar that shows the lowest price each day. Ostensibly this ends up showing just Blue Basic fares (which are the cheapest). But if the cheapest fare happens to be sold out, you’ll see the next cheapest fare for that day.

What about all the JetBlue partners? All of JetBlue’s partners are searchable on the JetBlue website, so it’s not a bad choice to just use the JetBlue calendar to search for a date. But, again, the same problem comes up if you are searching for business class flights but only the calendar will only show economy. In that case, using other award tools like Seats.aero or the free point.me tools might help you find that business class space.

Do Points Expire?

No, thankfully points do not expire. From a member experience standpoint, that’s great!

Points pooling

One feature I wish more airlines would implement is points pooling. JetBlue is one of the airlines that allows this awesome feature. The rules are fairly simple:

• Points pooling is free.
• One person (at least 21 years old) is assigned the leader.
• The leader is in charge of administering the account and redemptions.
• You can add at least six others to the same pool.
• Once someone joins a pool, all of their points are removed from their account. But any remaining points are returned to the member after leaving the pool.
• You can only be included in one pool at a time.
• There is a six-month cool-off period before replacing a member.

I like to use it to combine the random points each family member earns into a single account. I don’t have to worry about doing this to avoid expiring points, but it’s still helpful to just have to manage one balance than several.

How do you use your JetBlue points?

Suggested reading:

• Review: JetBlue Mint A321 Neo BOS-LAX
• What to Do in Boston with Kids
• Review: Hilton Boston Park Plaza