JetBlue Mint Awards With Partner Miles: What Happened?

Meh, I’d actually rather fly even AA business class than JB Mint. The reason is simple. AA has lounges. JB doesn’t. Admittedly the JB Mint inflight experience is nice but I can’t help but feel sullen in the dreadful JFK T5.

From what I understand, QR and EY only allow members of its own FF programs to book its premium cabins, so turnabout is fair play. You all should have been expecting this.

Dumbass you are!

Business decisions aren’t made by whether turnabout is fair play. Does an airline receive incremental net revenue from opening awards to partners? If yes, then they should, even if the award inventory isn’t reciprocated

not to mention that QR and, to a lesser extent, EY do indeed permit partners to book its premium cabins; as with many carriers, partner availability comes and goes intermittently.

Remember that JetBlue gave away a ton of points (both in terms of credit card promotions and other promotions) to Delta elites in 2023 when they were trying to win their business. Almost all of those newly minted JetBlue elites dropped their engagement. Why - part of the reason was likely lack of Mint space relative to other programs. If you want people to engage with your loyalty program, it can make sense to prioritize them over partner redemptions.

Most incompetent loyalty team in the business bar none

Justin, please be advised that we have flown both QR and EY, F&J without being members of their FF programs. They both take cash-in-hand!

You mean DL's " Sky-Pesos ' compared favorable to B6's when all was said and done ?
What a ' low bar ' !
..lol

Ah.... So reassuring that a little ' baksheesh ' is still alive & well as an uttahly universal world
" currency " even though, at present, I believe no US based airlines accept cash 'infright'. But maybe they still accept ' baksheesh ' ( since around the Stone Age ! ) ...

Don't 'they' say " baksheesh talks ! " ?

Hmmmm .... a true dilemma, but '1st world problem'...
!) B6's usual superior inflight catering/service with NO current lounges....
OR
2) AA's inferior inflight soft product / service, but barely 'acceptable' lounges.

B6's lounge issue wouldn't even be a problem if they had PP lounges in JFK.

For example, Delta's terminal has so many lounge options and it's helped them so much.

If B6 had some PP lounges in its terminal, all of a sudden they'd gain a ton of flyers

Flew B6 Mint out of AMS. There’s a PP lounge but the wait to enter was 90 minutes. So no, PP lounges don’t necessarily solve the issue.

Agree they want to give priority to their own members and not their partners. No surprise.

And yet it’s the fastest growing loyalty program in the industry.

You are a clown.

Mint is shint. B6 is an expression of evil. The sooner that Chicago's Hometown Airline buys the repulsive Noo Yawk's Hometown Airline and destroys it, the better.

Don’t you think this is alignment for UA reciprocity? They will need to do demand management for the UA crowd.

-G

I would think the most obvious explanation is that UA doesn't want Mint mileage seats JFK-LAX/SFO, etc. wiped out by other carriers.

I would think the most obvious explanation is that UA doesn't want Mint mileage seats JFK-LAX/SFO, etc. wiped out by other carriers.

This is simply the beginning of what will be a long patient process of UA taking over JetBlue, either by a "merger", or by picking up the pieces after bankruptcy.

If passengers have the option to have their flight miles credited to either UA or B6, I would think a whole lot of B6 customers will want their flight credited to UA, while substantially fewer UA passengers want theirs credited to JetBlue.

Moreover, with the uptick in people getting Chase/UA credit cards in BOS and New York that I'm sure UA is expecting, there is going to have to be some serious capacity management put into place on Mint.

JetBlue just in the last week appointed a new head of IT whom I'm sure has been picked to slowly fold B6's tech into UA's so the latter can joint Star Alliance and perhaps ditch their frequent flyer altogether and just use Mileage Plus.

We'll see what happens with JetBlue in the second quarter. If they continued to be beaten bloody even before a softening economy, I think the future will be clear.

Just booked a one wa domestuc LAX to FLL using Ethihad miles for Mint. Wanted to try it and fly into FLL rather than MIA rush hour.

Any updates here? Just saw your post on this after I made the post here - https://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/1mupf57/jetblue_partner_mint_space_gone_plenty_of_i_space/

I received an official response from ‘Lori’ at JetBlue which confirms the situation but doesn’t provide further info:

“ Thank you for reaching out to us and for being such a big fan of Mint. I can understand how frustrating it must be not to find the partner award availability you’ve come to expect, especially when you’ve enjoyed using those options in the past.

At this time, Mint award redemptions through partner loyalty programs like Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Etihad Guest are not currently available. While I don’t have details to share about future availability, I can assure you your feedback is heard and valued. We know how important these options are to our most loyal travelers, and I’ll be sure your comments are shared with the team.”