In November 2023, Qatar Airways Privilege Club rolled out the ability to redeem Avios for travel on JetBlue.
At first, the redemption rates were astonishingly good. Actually, I guess they fell into the “too good to be true” category, because they ended up getting pulled within a week, presumably due to the volume of people booking. The good news is that it’s still possible to redeem Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue, it’s just not quite as good of a deal.
Now that it has been several months and the dust has settled, I wanted to take a look at the value proposition of redeeming Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue, as it can still be a solid use of Avios.
Qatar Airways award redemption rates on JetBlue
While JetBlue has quite a few airline partners, historically the airline hasn’t allowed many reciprocal redemption opportunities.
At the moment, Qatar Airways is the one partner that allows you to redeem for travel on JetBlue. Previously, both American AAdvantage and Emirates Skywards offered redemptions on JetBlue as well, but those opportunities have been discontinued. When you consider this opportunity, keep in mind that Qatar Airways Avios are easy to earn:
- It’s possible to move rewards between all “flavors” of Avios, so this is also a way to indirectly redeem British Airways Avios for JetBlue flights
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club directly partners with Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou
Unfortunately redemptions on JetBlue don’t follow the standard Qatar Airways Privilege Club partner award chart. While there’s no chart with the published pricing, here’s what I’m currently seeing in terms of award rates for one-way travel:
- For travel in Mint business class, pricing ranges from 74,000 to 78,000 Avios one-way; the 74,000 Avios price is for a domestic transcontinental flight, while the 78,000 Avios price is for a transatlantic flight
- For travel in economy, pricing ranges from 8,500 to 25,000 Avios one-way; the 8,500 Avios price is for the shortest domestic flight, while the 25,000 Avios price is for a transatlantic flight
- Note that in all cases, award pricing is per segment, and there are no carrier imposed surcharges
What’s award availability like? JetBlue award availability is tied to the following two fare classes when booking through Qatar Airways Privilege Club:
- JetBlue economy awards are available when there’s “P” class availability
- JetBlue Mint awards are available when there’s “I” class availability
Many flights, including transatlantic services, have seven or more business class award seats available, so this is a good opportunity for those seeking multiple award seats. There aren’t many ways to book JetBlue Mint efficiently, and redeeming Qatar Airways Avios will typically be a better deal than redeeming JetBlue TrueBlue points.
JetBlue Mint business class is also an exceptional product, whether you’re booking the “classic” product primarily used on domestic flights, or the new version primarily used on transatlantic flights.
The process of redeeming Avios on JetBlue
You can book award travel on JetBlue directly through Qatar Airways’ website, and it’s an easy process.
Once you’re logged into your Privilege Club account, just go to the booking page, select “Book an award flight,” and then enter your origin, destination, departure date, preferred cabin, and number of passengers.
There you’ll see all the options that are available. For example, a New York to London flight in business class costs 78,000 Avios plus $10.10 in taxes and fees. Not bad, especially when you consider how many award seats are available on some flights!
The same principle applies for domestic economy flights, where availability should also show up if JetBlue has award seats available.
Bottom line
It’s possible to redeem Qatar Airways Avios for travel on JetBlue, and it can be quite a good deal. This is a great opportunity to redeem all “flavors” of Avios on JetBlue. Best of all, award availability is very good, and there are no surcharges on these redemptions.
I wouldn’t call the redemption rates a bargain, but 78,000 Avios for a one-way transatlantic business class award is quite a good deal, especially given the availability.
What do you make of redeeming Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue?
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