UPDATE 01.06.18: The Offer Still Appears to Be  Available

The 60,000 JetBlue Points Link

Now you can get 60,000 JetBlue points with a new JetBlue Plus offer. This is record-high. The initial offer was 30,000, then 40,000, then it reverted back to 30,000. Now it’s 60,000 points. That’s a lot of points! The offer is valid until the end of the year. HT to Reddit’s jkelly17.

I like flying JetBlue. The legroom is plentiful, and an upgrade to an exit row seatdoesn’t cost a fortune. And it’s got free TV programs and WiFi (when it works). Along with Southwest it has the most tolerable coach among U.S. airlines, IMHO, but unlike Southwest, it has nothing to do with Chase (for those of us who feel the pain). 😆

You can do a lot of flying with 60,000 JetBlue points. At some point, you could take a JetBlue flight to Cuba for just a few hundred points. Now, that the current White House occupant is busy to tear down everything achieved by his predecessor, Cuba might not be an option anymore for most folks. But 60,000 points is still a great bonus, considering how easy it is to get 1.6x-1.8x value out of TrueBlue points.

The JetBlue Plus Card Features

• $99 annual fee.
• 60,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days.
• Earnings:
  • 6 points for every $1 spent on JetBlue purchases.
  • 2 points for every $1 spent at restaurants and grocery stores (for the business card restaurants and office supply stores, thanks GEM!).
  • One point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Free checked bag for the primary cardmember and up to three companions (must buy tickets with the JetBlue Plus Card).
• 5,000 bonus points every year after your account anniversary.
• 50% savings on in-flight purchases (cocktails, food and movies).
• 10% points back every time you redeem to use toward your next redemption.
• Primary car rental collision coverage.
• PIN-ready for international travel.
• No FOREX fee.

The JetBlue Plus Card Is a Keeper if You Fly Regularly

There are 3.5 tangible benefits that make the $99 annual fee a non-issue to me.

• 10% points refund (makes your bonus 66,000 points rather than 60,000, and 6,000 JetBlue points are objectively worth $99 or more).
• 5,000 points annual bonus (even at 1,6x it almost covers the annual fee).
• A free bag ($25 value). Just 2 JetBlue flights cover 50% of the annual fee.
• 50% off on in-flight purchases (well, I can splurge for a drink, sometimes)

What Can 60,000 JetBlue Points Get You?

TrueBlue is a revenue-based program, and for the most part it’s fairly consistent. While JetBlue does offer outsized values every now and then, you should expect to redeem for 1.4x-2x, with the former not being very wise, and the latter meaning that you’re lucky. Since points are directly linked to the fares, it means, the cheaper the flight — the more value you get. Fare sales are especially good values for redeeming TrueBlue points.

Here are some examples. Remember, you need to deduct the cost of taxes to get to the true value of TrueBlue point.

Boston to Washington:

Find the lowest point levels and they will almost always correspond with the lowest revenue fares. In our case: (43-5.60)/19 = A Whopping 1.97X!

You will often find the best values for redeeming points on short hauls, but some medium hauls give you a good value too. Here is a flight between New York and the Dominican Republic.

New York to Punta Cana: 

 (160 – 36.90)/67 = 1.84X. Not too shabby!

Other redemptions will yield more average results. Here is a transcontinental flight between Fort Lauderdale and Seattle.

(166-5.60)/96 = 1.67X

If you are craving a flight in Mint (JetBlue’s excellent First Class seat) — you’ll find it’s rarely a good value. Expect to get about 1X to 1.2X points per $0.01. You might be better off just paying cash for your ticket.

Once again, don’t forget to add that 10% rebate to your calculations.

This Is My Plan for the JetBlue Cards Applications

I’m going to wait a couple of weeks and see if they don’t increase the bonus for the business card too (slim chance, I know). Whether they do or don’t, here is my plan.

I apply for both, the JetBlue Plus and JetBlue business cards to get 90,000 to 120,000 JetBlue points.

My wife applies for both, too (shh, she doesn’t know yet).

Then I pool the points to get my hands on 180,000 to 240,000 JetBlue points.

Should last a while.

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I’m updating my credit card pages, and it’s taking forever after months of neglect… Stay tuned.