JetBlue is one of those carriers with the revenue based award redemption program. While there are times that is incredibly convenient (being able to fly somewhere domestically for fewer than the standard 25,000 miles), there is also not really room to maximize the system. With zone based redemption programs, you can really get a lot of value for your points – for instance, an economy ticket to Europe is 60,000 miles on most programs. That same ticket might cost $1,500 making for a value of over 2 cents per mile. Of course, business and first class redemptions increase the value tremendously.
With JetBlue’s TrueBlue program, the points are typically worth around 1.5 cents each. But, there are certain times and flights when the value of those points increases quite a bit – in some cases up to 2.8 cents per point! Using the calendars to compare can really help you to get more value out of your points on some flights.
Getting Up To 2.8 Cents Per Point
I tried this on several flights and routes and was able to find this on many of them. Not all of the flights and calendars will reflect this, but you might be surprised which of your upcoming flights will give you this expanded value.
One thing to note up front – these rates are not decreasing the amount of points needed for a flight. What causes the increased value is the dollar cost of the flight goes up while the point cost stays at low level.
JetBlue’s Dollar Calendar for JFK-PLS
The point value for JFK-PLS
In the above example, notice the amount of dates available at the 8,000 point level. Then compare it to the dollar calendar above. You can see there are a quite a few dates that show a $211 price while the award calendar shows 8,000 points on those dates. After subtracting the $5.60 fee from the dollar cost, we get a value of 2.5 cents per point!
The dollar calendar for JFK-SFO
The point calendar for JFK-SFO
In the above example, the highlighted days show a single example of an even higher redemption rate. Again, after subtracting the $5.60 fee from the $334, we get a value of 2.8 cents per point!
What Does This Mean In Real World Redemptions?
Ok, so we can get some more value – great! But, how does this work out for us in a real redemption scenario? When you go to book your flight, especially if you are going to book a flight using cash, make sure you check the calendars first since it might show that the point redemption for that particular flight yields an impressive value of 2.5 – 2.8 cents per point (instead of the more standard 1.5 – 1.7). Using your points on those flights will give you a great value on your points and make the credit card bonus on the JetBlue card to be at a value closer to $520 (check this post for why you may want to apply for this card soon)!
What routes have you found that present a similar value on point redemptions?
