United & JetBlue Reciprocal Revenue Flight Bookings: Big Upside For JetBlue?

In May 2025, United and JetBlue announced plans to roll out a partnership, which is being marketed as Blue Sky. It’s a quirky collaboration that seems odd on the surface.

For United, it’s clearly motivated by the desire to compete with Delta in Boston (BOS) and New York (JFK), and to prevent JetBlue from partnering with another major US airline. Meanwhile for JetBlue, it’s about partnering with whatever airline gives the company the most financial upside.

In October 2025, we saw the two airlines roll out the first phase of reciprocity with this partnership, which included reciprocal points earning and redemption opportunities. Now we’ve just seen the airline roll out the next phase. While not a big deal on the surface, I do wonder if it could have bigger implications…

United & JetBlue now sell tickets on one another

This week, United and JetBlue are rolling out reciprocal ticket sales, whereby travelers can start to purchase eligible itineraries operated by either airline directly on the websites or apps of JetBlue or United. So that means United flights can be booked with JetBlue, and JetBlue flights can be booked with United.

For now, the airlines are only selling tickets for travel exclusively on one airline, meaning you won’t find mixed tickets on United and JetBlue. However, the functionality to book a single itinerary that includes flights operated by both airlines is expected to be offered in the future.

This spring, the two airlines are expected to roll out reciprocal elite perks and benefits, including priority boarding, preferred and extra legroom seating, and same day flight changes and standby. Furthermore, United MileagePlus Travel will be transitioning to JetBlue’s Paisly platform.

Of course for United, the most exciting development is that the airline plans to make a return to JFK, as JetBlue will provide United with up to seven daily roundtrips at JFK Terminal 6, as early as 2027.

Here’s how United Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella describes this development:

“With cash bookings now available, Blue Sky is making it even easier for customers to plan and purchase travel across two leading networks. This milestone is another proof point of the value Blue Sky is bringing customers – in giving them the ability to book with cash, miles or points on either network, customers now have more choice, flexibility and a better overall booking experience when traveling to their favorite destinations.”

Meanwhile here’s what JetBlue President Marty St. George had to say:

“This is an important step forward in our Blue Sky collaboration, expanding the choice and flexibility we offer customers when they travel. This move gives our members even more ability to earn and redeem points to exciting destinations around the world, while United customers gain access to JetBlue’s network across the Americas and Europe. Throughout the year, we will enhance the Blue Sky collaboration by introducing reciprocal loyalty perks on flights and expanding Paisly-powered vacation offerings, including United-supported products such as hotels, cruises, rental cars and travel insurance.”

I’m curious what impact this has on JetBlue’s bottom line

It goes without saying that while United is doing well financially, JetBlue isn’t, and the carrier is trying to reduce its losses and return to profitability. Obviously JetBlue’s partnership with United is intended to help that situation, given that JetBlue also had the option of partnering with American, but chose not to.

Up until this point, we’ve simply seen reciprocal points earning and redemption opportunities, which are nice, but don’t necessarily move the needle that much, since people actually have to know to book revenue travel with the other airline to take advantage of that.

The base of United MileagePlus members is much bigger than the base of JetBlue TrueBlue members, so JetBlue’s flights now showing on United’s website seems like it could drive a lot more business to JetBlue. Admittedly I think the full value of this will only be unlocked once full reciprocal elite perks are rolled out, given how much people value that.

To me, it’s an interesting question of consumer psychology and behavior. Admittedly lots of people comparison shop on websites like Google Flights, but for United loyalists, how much more likely are they to book a JetBlue flight if it’s suggested to them on United’s website? I’m not sure the answer, but I could see it making a difference.

Between the rollout of reciprocal perks plus JetBlue introducing fleetwide first class in the coming months, I certainly hope that this makes a material difference to JetBlue’s bottom line.

Bottom line

United and JetBlue have just rolled out reciprocal flight bookings, meaning you can book United flights on JetBlue’s website, and vice versa. This follows the two airlines rolling out reciprocal points earning and redemption opportunities several months back, and now planning on rolling out reciprocal elite perks in the coming months.

JetBlue could certainly use some help with its financial situation, so it’ll be interesting to see just how much business this sends to the carrier among United’s customer base.

Do you think reciprocal flight bookings will have a material impact for either airline?