So JetBlue Airway has been in the news lately because of a Federal investigation, and that can’t be fun for them.
Basically, the Justice Department and six states are suing both JetBlue (JBLU) and American Airlines (AAL). The two companies have a partnership in which they share revenue and coordinate schedules, but they don’t set prices.
The companies say they are doing this in order to compete in the Northeastern region with Delta, and that this gives consumers more choices. The Justice Department feels differently, deeming it an unofficial merger that costs consumers $700 million a year in higher fares.
The alliance “will eliminate significant competition between American and JetBlue that has led to lower fares and higher quality service for consumers traveling to and from those airports,” the Justice Department’s suit alleges. “It will also closely tie JetBlue’s fate to that of American, diminishing JetBlue’s incentives to compete with American in markets across the country.”
As Don Draper once said, if you don’t like what people are saying, change the conversation. So maybe that’s the thinking behind JetBlue’s latest promotion, which might just change the conversation.
New Opportunities for JetBlue Members
As part of JetBlue Vacations, customers can now use TrueBlue loyalty points toward the flight, hotel and rental car portions of their vacation package. Previously, flight points were just for, well, the flight part of the vacation.
The promotion is only for members of TrueBlue loyalty program, which is free.
And if you don’t have enough points to cover the whole vacation, it’s chill, insists JetBlue. TrueBlue members are now able to make up for any difference with a combination of points and cash, above a minimum redemption requirement of 500 points.
“Launching a cash + points redemption option for JetBlue Vacations packages offers even more value and flexibility for customers who are ready to return to travel in a big way,” said Andres Barry, president, JetBlue Travel Products. “Our loyal customers can now turn their TrueBlue points into a much-needed vacation by booking three significant parts of their trip – flights, hotels and even cars – with the only thing left to worry about when they get there is which beach to visit first.”
The company is saying you can now use points to book your family’s entire vacation, though that’s not technically true. You can’t use them for cruise packages, and points can’t be redeemed for travel insurance, as well as some fees and taxes.
But the company does insist there are no blackout dates.
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How Does JetBlue's Rewards Program Work?
So starting at 500 points, customers can choose any combination of cash and points, by using a slider or manually entering an amount.
Select 'Use TrueBlue Points'
Start a JetBlue Vacations package search on jetbluevacations.com
Select your flight + hotel package
On payment page, choose the exact number of points you wish to redeem using the slider tool
A change fee may apply for some bookings. Changes to a cash and TrueBlue points booking cannot be made after departure, the company says.
