JetBlue TrueBlue program: How one can simply earn factors

Since JetBlue is not part of any major airline alliance, its loyalty program, TrueBlue, tends to fly under the radar. However, it is one of the most straightforward mileage programs in the sky, and with the airline beginning seasonal service to Dublin and Edinburgh for the first time this March out of Boston and New York hubs, you may be even more inclined to redeem TrueBlue points.

So, how do you earn JetBlue TrueBlue points?

Aside from flying with the airline — and boosting your TrueBlue account by transferring points from Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards — you can also earn points through hotel stays, dining and more.

Here’s everything you need to know about earning JetBlue TrueBlue points.

One of the easiest ways to quickly get a ton of points is by taking JetBlue flights. JetBlue awards TrueBlue points based on several factors, including how much your flight costs, if you book directly through the JetBlue app, your elite status and if you book using a JetBlue cobranded credit card.

Earning points on JetBlue flights

If you’re booking a JetBlue flight for travel on the airline, you’ll earn at least 3 TrueBlue points per dollar spent in Blue, Blue Plus, Blue Extra or Mint.

If you book the flight on JetBlue.com (or through the app), you earn 3 more points per dollar spent. Additionally, those with JetBlue Mosaic elite status earn another 3 points per dollar spent on all paid JetBlue flights, no matter the fare booked.

In 2019, JetBlue rolled out its version of basic economy, dubbed “Blue Basic.” If you book a Blue Basic ticket, you’ll earn fewer base points (1 point per dollar spent) and a lower bonus for booking directly through JetBlue or the app (1 point per dollar spent). You’ll still earn 3 points per dollar spent on Blue Basic flights if you’re a Mosaic or JetBlue cardmember, no matter what fare you book.

Overall, when booking a Blue Basic fare, you can earn up to 11 points per $1 spent. If you book Blue, Blue Plus, Blue Extra or Mint fare, you can earn up to 15 points per $1 spent.

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Earning points on partner flights

Though it’s not part of the major airline alliance programs, JetBlue has several domestic and international airline partners. While you can only redeem your TrueBlue points on two of them (Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways), you can easily earn points on all of them by adding your TrueBlue number to your flight reservation.

Currently, JetBlue partners with the following airlines to earn points:

The number of miles you’ll earn per partner flight depends on the airline and booking class. You can determine your mileage earnings by finding the airline on JetBlue’s partner directory and clicking on its logo. Then, find your partner booking class on the earnings chart. The “TrueBlue Point Accrual” column will tell you how many points you’ll earn per mile flown.

JetBlue and Emirates ended their partnership in 2022, and the Northeast Alliance that bonded JetBlue with American Airlines concluded in 2023.

Related: What airline fare classes tell you about your ticket

Outside of flying, the easiest way to earn JetBlue TrueBlue points is by opening a cobranded credit card.

JetBlue Plus Card

The JetBlue Plus Card is currently offering new cardmembers 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days and paying the annual fee in full. That’s worth $700 based on our valuations. This card has a $99 annual fee.

With the JetBlue Plus Card, you’ll also earn 6 points per dollar spent on eligible JetBlue purchases as well as 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants and eligible grocery stores.

Those who hold the JetBlue Plus Card earn 6 bonus points per dollar spent on flights, regardless of the fare booked.

Related: JetBlue Plus Card review

The JetBlue Card

The JetBlue Card has no annual fee and offers 10,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on the card in your first 90 days of opening the account. You’ll also earn 3 points per dollar spent on eligible JetBlue purchases and 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants and eligible grocery stores.

If you hold the JetBlue Card, you’ll earn 3 bonus points per dollar spent on flights, regardless of the fare booked.

Related: Best credit cards for JetBlue flyers

JetBlue Business Card

The JetBlue Business Card offers up to 60,000 bonus points. You’ll earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 90 days of opening the account. You can also earn another 10,000 bonus points when a purchase is made on an employee card in the first 90 days.

This card has a $99 annual fee and has an earning rate of 6 points per dollar spent on eligible JetBlue purchases, 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants and office supply stores and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

The information for the JetBlue Plus Card, JetBlue Card and JetBlue Business card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Related: Credit card showdown: JetBlue Plus Card versus JetBlue Business Card

You can transfer points to JetBlue from three major transferable points programs: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards, although the ratio varies.

We value JetBlue points at 1.4 cents each. If you need to top up your JetBlue account for a specific award, you may want to use Citi or Chase points for a 1:1 transfer since Amex’s transfer rate is lower (i.e. 250:200 points).

Only Citi premium Citi cards like the Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees) allow you to transfer ThankYou points at a 1:1 rate. However, if you have a Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi Rewards+, (see rates and fees) or Citi Double Cash® Card,(see rates and fees) the transfer ratio is 1,000:800.

A plus for parents who fly with children, JetBlue lets you pool points with up to seven people to earn awards faster. There must be at least two people in a Points Pooling account. After accepting the invite, members of the pool contribute 100% of their points to the pool. Note that you can’t join more than one pool.

JetBlue isn’t running a promotion for buying points right now, but they have in the past. Historically, most JetBlue buy points bonuses have been targeted and come with varying bonuses.

If you want to purchase TrueBlue points, they start at $32.08 for 1,000 points, giving you a purchase rate of 3.2 cents apiece, which is significantly higher than TPG’s 1.4 cents valuation of TrueBlue points.

Overall, buying points and miles without a bonus is rarely a good idea, especially with cash-based programs like TrueBlue. However, it could make sense if you’re just a couple thousand points away from an award flight.

Related: Should I buy airline miles?

JetBlue has its own shopping portal called TrueBlue Shopping. This site lets you earn TrueBlue points in addition to any credit card earnings. To use the portal, just sign up for an account and find the merchant you want to shop with. Click on the link, and TrueBlue will award you points based on spending.

TrueBlue shopping also has Card Linked Offers. These enable you to collect TrueBlue points at participating merchants by registering and using your credit card to pay for those purchases. You can see which retailers participate in the program under the “Card Linked Offers” tab.

You can also quickly compare the earning rates with other online shopping portals like Rakuten by using a portal aggregator like CashBackMonitor.com.

JetBlue Dining rewards

If you’re the type who loves restaurants or going out, you might want to consider ordering through JetBlue’s TrueBlue Dining program.

There are no elite status tiers. But after registering a credit card and using it at participating restaurants, bars and clubs, all members will earn 3 JetBlue points per dollar spent.

Note that you must opt in to email communications from JetBlue’s TrueBlue Dining program to earn 3 points per dollar spent at a participating restaurant. If you do not allow emails from TrueBlue Dining, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar spent at eligible restaurants instead.

There is a bonus offer for TrueBlue Dining. You can earn 500 bonus TrueBlue points when you link a credit card to your account and spend $25 or more on a dine-in or takeout order at an eligible restaurant within your first 30 days of registering. You must pay with your linked credit card and leave a review of the restaurant through a link from your Account Center or an email to get the bonus points.

Even better? You can double dip points-wise with your travel rewards credit card, so be sure to use a card that gives you extra points on dining purchases.

Related: Earn bonus points on takeout with these dining rewards programs

Earn TrueBlue points through a Peacock subscription

If you’re a TrueBlue member, you’ll receive 1,000 points when you activate a new Peacock subscription. The Peacock subscription will run you $5.99 a month, and this offer can’t be redeemed by current Peacock Premium or Peacock Plus subscribers.

While it won’t earn you more points, JetBlue flyers with Mosaic elite status get 12 free months of Peacock (a $59.99 value per Peacock) when they activate their subscription. After 12 months, Mosaic elite status members will be charged the regular $5.99 monthly rate for the streaming service.

Other retail partnerships

You can earn 400 TrueBlue points when you take your first survey with Jet Opinions. You can also earn 1 point per dollar spent on certain airport purchases at select airport restaurants and merchants when you register and link your credit card here.

Earn JetBlue points with travel partners

Vacation packages

You will earn 6 points per dollar spent on flights and 1 point per dollar spent on hotel and cruise bookings, and car rentals on the JetBlue Vacations package.

Car rentals

When you rent a car through Avis or Budget, you can earn 100 TrueBlue points per day (200 if Mosaic) for up to five days. Remember that you’ll also pay a $1 frequent flyer surcharge. The value of these points exceeds the surcharge, but just be aware of it.

You can also earn 100 points per day (200 if Mosaic) when you book a rental car (up to five days) through Paisly, JetBlue’s travel booking platform.

Hotels

Like many airline programs, you can earn JetBlue points while staying at hotels.

You can earn 2 JetBlue points per dollar spent on qualifying room rates at most IHG brands. At Candlewood and Staybridge Suites, you’ll earn one 1 point per dollar spent. You’ll also get a flat 500 TrueBlue points per stay at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.

You can also earn 1 point per dollar spent when you book a YOTEL through Paisly.

Travel portal purchases

TrueBlue members can earn JetBlue points on select purchases through Paisly. This includes earning 1 point per eligible dollar spent on activities (excluding Universal Orlando Resort theme park tickets), 1 point per eligible dollar spent on theme park tickets (again, excluding Universal Orlando Resort tickets), and 1 point per eligible dollar spent on travel bags from Briggs & Riley and Solo.

You can also get more points when you use your JetBlue card on Paisly purchases. Those who hold the JetBlue Card and the JetBlue Plus Card earn 1 point per dollar spent on car rentals, stays and activities booked through Paisly, while theme park ticket and travel bag purchases earn 3 points per dollar spent when purchased on the JetBlue Card and 6 points per dollar spent on the JetBlue Plus Card.

Related: Using miles and points to book airline tickets and hotels for others

JetBlue TrueBlue points are some of the easiest domestic airline points to earn, meaning JetBlue Mint is more attainable than ever. With its decent inflight product and often reasonable fares, it’s easy to earn and redeem points with the carrier.

You can use a combination of the methods above to jumpstart your TrueBlue balance, and before you know it, you could be flying across the country (or the Atlantic) in the airline’s award-winning economy class or Mint business class.