Another JetBlue purchase points promo has come around. This time, it is targeted with either a discount or bonus. I received one offer on one account for up to 50% with the other only going up to 35%. There may be other offers as well but those are the two that I received. In the end, these two are pretty much the same when it comes down to maxing out the promos.
JetBlue 50% Point Purchase Promo (and 35% Discount Promo)
JetBlue launched a new sale today (that you probably have already seen the e-mail for if you are signed-up for their e-mails) that gives up to a 50% bonus on purchased points. Here is how the breakdown looks (for the 50% offer):
- 2,500 – 4,500 = 10% Bonus
- 5,000 – 9,500 points = 25% Bonus
- 10,000 – 19,500 points = 30% Bonus
- 20,000 – 29,500 points = 40% Bonus
- 30,000 points = 50% Bonus
If you max out the 50% promo, you will have paid $886 for 45,000 points. It comes to a value of 1.96 cents per point.
On the other account I have in my family, it is a discount instead of a bonus. This is what the 35% discount offer looks like:
- 2,500 – 4,500 = 10% Discount
- 5,000 – 9,500 points = 20% Discount
- 10,000 – 19,500 points = 25% Discount
- 20,000 – 29,500 points = 30% Discount
- 30,000 points = 35% Discount
If you max out the 30% promo, you will have paid $576 for 30,000 points. It comes to a value of 1.92 cents per point.
These promos expire 7/23/15 and you do not get a choice of which promo you want. Each one is loaded to an account and that is what you have available to you.
Running the Numbers
With TrueBlue points costing $37.63 per 1,000 points (coming out to 3.7 cents per point), that means that you are paying more than double the value that you can actually extract from the points! That is not good! But, with a bonus, does that change the math at all? Typically with a purchase promo like this, it only makes sense to purchase points if you need some to top up your account before making an award redemption. It can be better doing that than transferring points from Membership Rewards.
But, to get the most value out of this promo and get the price down to 1.96 cents per point (still more than they are worth on redemption), you would have to purchase 30,000 points for $886 – that is not topping up an account, that is buying a ticket. Buying 30,000 points would give you a total of 45,000 points. That is with using the 50% bonus promo.
If you use the 35% discount promo, you will be paying $576 for 30,000 points. The valuation is a little better here at 1.92. But, it is still more than what you would pay for most JetBlue tickets. Because the TrueBlue program is basically a fixed value redemption program, you are not going to get more than 1.5 – 1.7 cents per point (most of the time).
However, you will get more of a savings buying the ticket outright (and earning points) than buying the points to redeem for travel.
I will leave a little wiggle room, however. There are some redemptions that beat the standard of 1.5 – 1.7 cents a piece (like when I was able to find 2.5 – 2.8 cents a piece!) and, in those very limited circumstances, it could make more sense to purchase points than buy the ticket. The positive about purchasing points is that you are not contingent on award availability – if there is a seat available with a price on it, you can use points to pay for it.
In my opinion, there would only be a few select circumstances in which someone would find value in buying – even with the 50% bonus/35% discount. If you need the JetBlue points, consider applying for the jetblue card from American Express. You will receive 20,000 points as the bonus for the card.
