In light of increased oil prices, we’ve seen airlines increase checked bag fees, and we’ve also seen them increase carrier imposed surcharges on many tickets. However, here’s a precedent that I especially don’t love, and I can’t help but wonder what the bigger implications are, in light of United’s overall loyalty strategy.
In this post:
JetBlue adds fuel surcharges on United awards
JetBlue and United have the Blue Sky partnership, as it’s called, and that’s progressively being rolled out over time. In late 2025, we saw the two airlines introduce reciprocal points redemptions. While I wouldn’t say that redemptions ever represented a great deal, we’ve just seen a significantly negative change — JetBlue TrueBlue has just added carrier imposed surcharges for travel on United.
This doesn’t apply on domestic flights (which don’t generally have carrier imposed surcharges), so it’s mainly international flights that are impacted. For example, a one-way economy award from Newark (EWR) to London (LHR) costs 40,000 points, but will now cost you $265.60, rather than the $5.60 you would’ve paid before.
Meanwhile a one-way economy award from San Francisco (SFO) to Hong Kong (HKG) costs 55,000 points, but will now cost you $205.60, rather than the $5.60 you would’ve paid before.
So as you can see, long haul awards now have carrier imposed surcharges of $200-260 one-way, which is substantial.
Presumably these would also apply on United Polaris business class awards, but nowadays those tickets are mostly limited to United MileagePlus members, as partner programs have been cut off.
Are there bigger implications for this change?
While I don’t generally consider redeeming JetBlue TrueBlue points on United to be a great deal, I do think this change could potentially be significant, bigger picture.
Keep in mind the issue here isn’t whether United has fuel surcharges on revenue tickets, or how much those are. Instead, it’s that JetBlue TrueBlue has just started passing those on to consumers redeeming points, despite this partnership having just gone live months ago.
Generally when airlines pass on carrier imposed surcharges on award tickets, those surcharges aren’t actually going to the operating airline, but instead, are used as part of the overall math on reimbursement between airlines. In other words, if one airline passes on $500 in surcharges on an a partner award and another airline passes on $0 in surcharges, that doesn’t mean that the former airline is actually paying the operating airline $500 more.
The reason I find this to be interesting is because United has increasingly been exerting control over its partners when its comes to its loyalty program. As United pushes forward to try and improve its margins, increased profitability of MileagePlus is a key part of that strategy.
In recent times, we’ve seen United do virtually everything to encourage people to engage in MileagePlus rather than engage in partner programs, and that includes even controlling how many points partners charge for awards, to prevent arbitrage opportunities.
Perhaps this is just a one-off change, though I can’t help but wonder if this could be the first of several airlines adding surcharges on United awards. If so, is that driven by United demanding increased reimbursement for awards, is it just United forcing higher pricing on partners so that MileagePlus looks more compelling by comparison, or what?
Bottom line
JetBlue TrueBlue has quietly started adding carrier imposed surcharges to awards on United, just months after the two airlines launched a frequent flyer partnership. So if you do redeem JetBlue points for an international flight on United, expect that it could cost you as much as $260 one-way, beyond the government imposed taxes.
In isolation this isn’t a huge deal, since I don’t consider international United flights to be a good use of TrueBlue points. However, I can’t help but be curious about the bigger implications here.
What do you make of these TrueBlue changes for redemptions on United?
Big picture.
None of this is going to matter in the long run. JetBlue's days as an independent carrier are limited. Someone will acquire them and then this, and JetBlue, becomes a distant memory.
United better keep the hubris in check because, although limited, consumers still have other choices for air travel.
Using JetBlue to book a domestic United Award proved problematic when I had to cancel the flight after checking in I couldn't do it on JetBlue ( who told me to go to UA) and I couldn't do it on UA (who told me to deal with my "booking agency"). Chat with JetBlue had a 2 hour wait - I was finally able to cancel via phone with JetBlue after 45" wait.
Regarding that Blue Sky partnership. When will JetBlue implement reciprocal elite benefits like free checked luggage for United elite members?
I don't like this at all. I agree with you that it's not *specifically* a big deal in that I am unlikely to redeem B6 for UA coach any time soon, but if it becomes a wider trend it's concerning