The brand new United and JetBlue Blue Sky partnership started this morning. TPG aviation reporter Sean Cudahy wrote a narrative overviewing the brand new United-JetBlue Blue Sky partnership, together with the incomes charges you possibly can anticipate and different upcoming modifications.
However, on this article, I am going to dive into what we have discovered whereas trying to find United-operated award flights by JetBlue TrueBlue and for JetBlue-operated award flights by United MileagePlus. This is what it is best to know.
Reserving United flights by JetBlue TrueBlue
Now, you possibly can redeem JetBlue TrueBlue factors for United-operated flights. Typically, you may all the time discover the identical award pricing for United flights booked by JetBlue, whatever the date you journey.
Nonetheless, award house might be troublesome to search out for United flights booked by JetBlue TrueBlue on some routes, and it is normally nearly not possible to search out any award house in enterprise class.
On some — however not all — routes, you may see awards pricing at a better tier near departure. For instance, we discovered nonstop United flights between Newark and Johannesburg priced at 27,800 extra factors when booked inside three days of departure.
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We additionally discovered that nonstop United flights between Newark and Dubai value 26,600 extra factors while you e-book them shortly earlier than departure.
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You may need to give attention to nonstop flights, as every phase is priced individually. For instance, a one-stop itinerary from Los Angeles to Seoul by way of San Francisco on United-operated flights would value 81,800 JetBlue factors plus $260.60.
However a nonstop itinerary from San Francisco to Seoul would value 69,900 factors plus $260.60. And a nonstop itinerary from Los Angeles to San Francisco would value 11,900 factors plus $5.60. Therefore, the factors required for the one-stop itinerary are merely the sum of the 2 nonstop segments that comprise it.
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Lastly, it is value mentioning that United-operated flights booked by JetBlue do not appear to observe a strict distance-based factors value (even in the event you give attention to nonstop flights and exclude close-in bookings). For instance, nonstop United-operated flights value 39,900 JetBlue factors plus $5.60 for the 1,023-mile route from Newark to Palm Seashore, Florida.
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Nonetheless, you may solely have to redeem 39,000 JetBlue factors plus $5.60 for the three,370-mile route from Newark to Anchorage.
This being stated, the minimal JetBlue factors you possibly can anticipate to pay on United flights inside the continental U.S. seems to be 11,900, as discovered on the 140-mile route from Houston to Austin.
In the meantime, the minimal JetBlue factors you may pay on United flights exterior the continental U.S. seems to be 15,900, as discovered on the 129-mile route from Guam to Saipan, one of many Northern Mariana Islands.
Reserving JetBlue flights by United MileagePlus
We had extra points when trying to find JetBlue flights we may e-book by United MileagePlus. Generally, we could not discover any JetBlue-operated flights bookable by United, even on routes the place JetBlue operates nonstop flights.
And even once we did discover JetBlue-operated flights, the award pricing was usually far increased than the United-operated choices.
Different JetBlue accomplice awards have been additionally priced much less expensively than JetBlue-operated flights on some routes. For instance, a JetBlue-operated flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Medellin, Colombia, would value 20,000 United miles plus $20.60, whereas an Avianca-operated flight would value 17,500 miles plus $20.60.
Based mostly on the info factors we collected, the award charges for nonstop JetBlue-operated flights booked by United MileagePlus appear to be based mostly on distance thresholds. Listed here are just a few flight distances and what number of United miles they’d value for a seat in economic system:
- Brief flights of 155 (San Juan to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic) and 187 miles (New York Metropolis to Boston): 15,000 United miles
- Flights of 1,035 (Palm Seashore, Florida, to New York) and 1,056 miles (San Juan to Medellin): 20,000 United miles
- Flight of 1,951 miles (New York Metropolis to Aruba): 30,000 United miles
- Flight of two,343 miles (Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles): 35,000 United miles
- Flights of two,704 (San Francisco to Boston) and three,451 miles (New York Metropolis to London): 45,000 United miles
Backside line
The brand new Blue Sky alliance is nice for JetBlue and United members, giving them extra methods to earn and redeem their factors and miles. Nonetheless, not one of the award charges we discovered are compelling sufficient for me to need to switch rewards to JetBlue TrueBlue or United MileagePlus. And even in case you have JetBlue factors or United miles that you just need to redeem, keep in mind that there could also be better-value choices in your miles than the brand new redemption choices unlocked by the Blue Sky alliance.
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