I am getting an e-mail from JetBlue every 7-8 days for the last few weeks telling me “You asked. We listened. 20,000 points.”
I keep thinking they actually want to give me the points – especially since they had given me the Mosaic status. 🙂 Nope, it is not just giving it to me but is a credit card ad for their co-branded American Express JetBlue card. Since I imagine many of you have been getting these e-mails as well (if you signed up for their recent promos, for example), I thought it would be good to examine the card and the bonus.
American Express JetBlue Card
Disclaimer: I do not receive a commission from this card.
American Express JetBlue Card – 20,000 TrueBlue points after spending $1,000 in 3 months – Application Link
This is not one of your typical airline credits. You do not get a free bag (because JetBlue provides 1 free bag to all passengers) and you do not get priority attention as a base elite might (because they only have one level of elite and they sell that elite access to any passenger for each flight). However, you do get bonus points for signing up (and spending $1,000 in the first 3 months). While not the type of bonus we are used to seeing from Southwest/United/etc, it is still free travel money and can be a great help, especially on a lot of JetBlue’s shorter routes.
The value you can get from the bonus points is a little variable but it is all tied to the revenue cost of the ticket. So, if a ticket costs $80, expect it to require about 5,200 Trueblue points for the reservation. That works out to about 1.5 cents per point. Some of your redemptions may be a tad higher, some a bit lower. This translates to an approximiate value of this bonus offer of $300. We are spoiled enough to where that doesn’t sound great – but that is still free travel and quite a bit of it, too!
Card Details
To get the 20,000 TrueBlue points, you will need to spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. There is an annual fee of $40 but it is waived for the first year. In addition, it will give you 50% off in-flight purchases made with the card (and issued in the form of a statement credit). You will also earn 1 TrueBlue point on all purchases.
Here are some sample itineraries to show what is possible. Booking these tickets is quite straightforward as you can select at any point of the flight search/selection process whether you want the amount to be in points or dollars.
The value of the points in the above example is an exact 1.5 cents per point (subtracting the $2.50 in taxes from the cash price of the ticket first). Booking itineraries such as this with your 20,000 points would yield a value of $300.
The value of the points in the above example is 1.46 cents per point. Booking itineraries such as this (which is a one-way flight from JFK to St. Lucia) with your 20,000 points would yield a value of $293.
There are many more examples and ways you can use your points. I would personally value these for the short, cheap flights since they can add up quickly but are generally not worth using legacy program miles on (like Delta who would charge 25,000 miles for a Rochester – JFK round-trip).
Do I think this is a good card to get? Why not! It is $300 worth of points and is a good bank of points to have for that travel that just pops up on you. In addition, most people have probably not had this card before so it is a nice American Express card to get to add to your portfolio. Just remember that American Express only allows you to have 4 credit cards at one time. If you are at that limit and apply, it will be sent to pending so call in to find close one of your cards (you should be able to close it and transfer the line of credit to the JetBlue card).
I signed up for this card last year for the bonus points and I’m not much of a fan. The problem for me is that there’s a long delay for points to post. Say my statement cycle ends on 4/15. The points won’t post until another full cycle has passed. So the money I spent from 3/15-4/15 shown on my 4/15 statement won’t equate to posted points in my JetBlue account until a few days after 5/15. It was good for the bonus points, but I won’t be renewing when my year is up.
Thanks for adding the great data point.
Most people will get better value out of the Southwest cards than the JetBlue if they’re looking for a low cost carrier.
True, but they are not mutually exclusive. They are issued by separate banks and have different focus cities. JetBlue is the way to go for JFK and many Caribbean destinations.
You know what would be really funny? If you applied for the card and get rejected —- after all those emails too! 😉 Just kidding. I hope that doesn’t happen though if it did, then it’s definitely a marketing fail.
That would be funny – and unfortunately, all too possible. Their marketing departments do not have all the right info about whether you are really eligible. I still get United card offers and already gave the card.