It’s now possible to redeem Qatar Airways Avios for travel on JetBlue, and it’s an astonishingly good value. Transatlantic Mint (business class) awards start at just 38,750 Avios… what a deal!
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Qatar Airways adds award redemptions on JetBlue
JetBlue and Qatar Airways have had a close partnership for quite some time, including a codeshare agreement. Up until now, there have been no reciprocal redemption opportunities. Fortunately that has just changed. I received an email from Qatar Airways Privilege Club indicating that redemptions on JetBlue are now possible:
Dream of embarking on a sweet escape? You can make your wish come true by spending Avios with our partner, JetBlue.
Simply book your award flight with JetBlue on qatarairways.com or our mobile app. Then you’ll be all set to reach more destinations with your Avios.
Explore many picturesque locations across the United States of America and the Caribbean. You can also enjoy direct flights with JetBlue from the United States of America to London, Paris and Amsterdam.
This is really exciting, as there aren’t currently any major programs that let you redeem on JetBlue (aside from JetBlue’s own TrueBlue program). Both American AAdvantage and Emirates Skywards have discontinued their partnerships with JetBlue, so redemptions are no longer available.
Also keep in mind that it’s possible to move rewards between all the “flavors” of Avios, so this is an opportunity to redeem British Airways Executive Club Avios on JetBlue as well.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club recently greatly improved the value of redeeming on partner airlines. You can find the redemption chart below.
As you can see, this means you can redeem on JetBlue at the following rates (based on one-way distance):
- JetBlue awards covering a distance of up to 650 miles cost 6,000 Avios in economy
- JetBlue awards covering a distance of 651-1,151 miles cost 9,000 Avios in economy
- JetBlue awards covering a distance of 1,152-2,000 miles cost 11,000 Avios in economy
- JetBlue awards covering a distance of 2,001-3,000 miles cost 13,000 Avios in economy or 38,750 Avios in business class (Mint)
- JetBlue awards covering a distance of 3,001-4,000 miles cost 20,750 Avios in economy or 62,000 Avios in business class (Mint)
If you ask me, the most exciting opportunities here are as follows:
- For 38,750 Avios one-way, you can book a transcon Mint business class flight; there’s one additional sweet spot, as Boston to Dublin clocks in at just under 3,000 miles, meaning that’s also bookable for 38,750 Avios
- For 62,000 Avios one-way, you can book a transatlantic Mint business class flight in all other markets
Keep in mind that there are often bonuses from transferable points currencies to British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club, so you can end up paying a lot less than those amounts.
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 that’s a pretty incredible opportunity. The other awesome thing is that there appear to be no carrier imposed surcharges for travel on JetBlue, so you can even redeem on transatlantic flights without paying high fees.
The process of redeeming Avios on JetBlue
You can redeem Qatar Airways Avios for travel on JetBlue directly through Qatar Airways’ website, and the booking process is easy (thanks to @findflightsforme for flagging just how easy the booking process is).
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, you can redeem just 38,750 Avios and pay $10.10 in taxes and fees for a one-way Mint ticket from Boston to Dublin.
Meanwhile you can redeem 62,000 Avios and pay $10.10 in taxes and fees for a one-way Mint ticket from New York to Paris.
These are truly fantastic redemption rates with very good availability.
Bottom line
It’s now possible to redeem Qatar Airways Avios for travel on JetBlue. The award pricing follows the standard partner award chart, so 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.
This is an opportunity to redeem 38,750 Avios for a one-way Mint ticket on a transcon flight (or between Boston and Dublin), or to redeem 62,000 Avios for a one-way Mint ticket on all other transatlantic flights.
What do you make of redeeming Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue?
Exciting news as Qatar Airways expands award redemptions with JetBlue, reflecting Qatar's dynamic efforts in strengthening global partnerships and enhancing travel options. It's a positive step not just for the airline industry but also for Qatar's growing role in the global economy.
The points went from 62,000 to 78,000 today and they jet Blue availability is no longer on their main webpage. Full story here. https://frequentmiler.com/uh-oh-did-qatar-create-a-new-jetblue-award-chart/
QR says through phone agents that they have a note in the system saying that there are technical problems which should be resolved by 11/9-10. QR does have historically bad tech.
Thank you for writing to Privilege Club.
Concerning your query, for booking flights on Jet blue Airways we regret to inform you that as of now due to technical issues our systems are being updated, until then we are unable to assist you with the redemption requests both online and offline.
Yesterday, I found loads of JetBlue flights from Bos-Dub using Qatar Avios. This morning, the drop down would not allow DUB to be a destination from Boston on JetBlue. Major bummer!
I am seeing the same thing today - only destination that will populate is London. I wonder if this is a bug or intentional? Probably a lot of activity on this.
booked 2 seats, round trip, JFK > DUB round trip for 248,000 and about $100
I used AMEX Points, so basically .029 per point, so almost double the valuation from Ben. If I had guts, I'd have waited for an Avios bonus transfer, but it was too good to pass up now.
Not a bad deal - no "real lounge" option when leaving JFK but I think there is a Priority Pass Lounge in T2...
booked 2 seats, round trip, JFK > DUB round trip for 248,000 and about $100
I used AMEX Points, so basically .029 per point, so almost double the valuation from Ben. If I had guts, I'd have waited for an Avios bonus transfer, but it was too good to pass up now.
Not a bad deal - no "real lounge" option when leaving JFK but I think there is a Priority Pass Lounge in T2 in Dublin we can access on the return trip.
Finding Saver level award on United, Delta or Aer Lingus is very hard and we had some rather fixed dates in mind, so this gave me peace of mind to just book it and move on.
It looks like none of the award space is available anymore?
Not seeing any award space either despite "I" inventory for mint being available. Any update Lucky?
I’m not seeing it either.
I followed the steps that many other blogs have shown, but I can't see any JetBlue flights on the Qatar website
Same issue here. No results anymore - looks like they pulled the visibility from Qatar? I also called Qatar and they are unable to see them.
I decided to transfer my Citi points to Accor instead with their bonus. I’m going to New Zealand and Australia next year so it works out perfect for booking hotels there.
I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but I can't see any B6 flights from SFO -> JFK - only AA flights. Anyone else having that issue?
As a side note - is it worth (same amount of QR Avios) to fly AA biz SFO JFK? I need to get to JFK in April, would love if the new seats were in service by then (not sure when the new planes are being delivered).
Austin, it works fine for me. Must be on your end? What platform are you using? I would suggest going under 'Settings' and then 'shove it up yo butt'. Let me know if this helps.
I take back my previous comment! I kept refreshing and the website un-glitched and worked! SO HAPPY
I found an award flight, transferred points and then it said all the Avios were in my account but when I hit check out it said "you don't have enough" and said I had 0. Tried calling and in the span of 10 min all the JetBlue flights were gone and I'm devastated.
Anyone who has booked BOSDUB, have you figured out how to select seats on your flight?
Tried using the PNR from Qatar on JetBlue.com, but that didn't work.
I booked the same and ran into the same issue (though oddly, JetBlue errored out by saying the birthday of the passenger was wrong when it wasn't). Anyway, waiting for a ticket # now
If you figure this out please post a response. I asked Qatar for Jetblue's record locator and the one provided did not work. Ugh
Maybe try the correct website then.... not sure why you would book Qatar tickets on JetBlue website.
Same. Got the JetBlue PNR from Qatar, but then get an error message trying to use it on JetBlue
The B6 record locator is located in the top left corner of the PDF they email with the confirmation. It has the QR reference number and right under that it says B6 / XXXXXX <--where this is the JetBlue reference number. I just booked and pulled it up on the B6 app and selected seats for the adults on my itinerary. It wouldn't let me select seats for the kids....
Nick- I contacted JetBlue via phone and selected chat on automated message. Through chat I and was able to select a seat for my daughter.
Same question here for JFK-CDG. PNR given by Qatar didn't work on either Qatar or JetBlue websites.
When I opened the electronic ticket pdf that Qatar sent me on confirmation, it included different PNRs for Qatar and JetBlue. I was able to enter the JetBlue PNR on "add trip" on the JetBlue website and it showed up and allowed me to choose seats.
So update here: just needed to call Qatar who was able to issue my ticket and get me the attachment that includes 2 reference #s. Then I successfully reserved my seat. ~12 minute call. The agent said there was a glitch so my guess is some of us aren't automatically getting the ticket #/B6 pnr attachment. But all it took was a call!
With the current 30% Qatar Avios bonus from Citi, that is JFK-DUB in Mint for less than 30k Avios plus $10. That makes my day. Thanks Ben.
BOS-DUB
Lucky - no talk about how this appears to be a meaningful devaluation of the Move to Mint certificates offered via Mosaic? Now a bunch of credit card points holders will be taking away upgrades previously available to JetBlue's own elites...
Just booked mint JFK LAX for next month. Given how expensive the transcons are getting this could be a great opportunity
Thanks for posting! I ran the same search that you had featured (BOS-DUB on 3/20), but am seeing the taxes/fees greater than $200? Why such a difference?
Ahh, it was because i didn't have the full balance in my account so it adjusted the $$$.
At least with Alaska, Qatar passed on anything above the base fare … which was quite a bit more than $5.60.
$15 plus the US transportation tax (7.5% of the base fare)
Is anyone getting an error now when transferring citi to QR?
This is fantastic, thanks for sharing
Has anyone found availability LAX-JFK in Mint using Avios? I haven't but only checked about 10 weeks.
What are you talking about 10 weeks?
I checked for one week periods using expertflyer for 10 different weeks.
That's nice. Maybe try United's (or in this case Qatar) website - you need to book from the actual source. The rest of those sites are CRAP.
So sewuenrly found a few in 3 weeks time.. I’m guessing transoms not released far in advance.
What am I missing? When I put LAX as departure it doesn't allow me to put JFK for To airport. It says "No city matching your request."
Unfortunately YVR to JFK is Econ only on a220 . Would have been great.
Benjamin - perhaps this is worth an article? Pretty significant news in the Montreal (third largest airport in North America) food scene.
https://www.mtlblog.com/air-canada-montreal-restaurants
Spam
Wow, what an intelligent and intellectual comment.
It is SPAM. You post a link to an blog. Why would Ben write a post about restaurants? Not airport restaurants, mind you, but just ones AC named? And you posted in response to a post about Qatar and JetBlue. Your post is SPAM.
Dink, what are you yammering on about? Truly confused - check the OMAAT SOPs, if you want something to be posted then you should leave a comment with a link to it in the most recent article - here are the SOPs: onemileatatime.com/about/post-request-sop
He's yammering about how this article has not one iota to do with Montreal so it's spam. Why not just link to cute kittens. At least then people will care.
Maybe some people are on a travel blog to hear about travel? I, for one, am riveted by what Darryl shared.
Narrow-mindedness is a horrible, horrible thing to practice, Bob.
Bob - while you keeping yapping away, we all sit and ponder, does he have one or two undescended testes?
I tried to redeem Avios via QR on JL for domestic flights because of the "bargain" of 6000 Avios vs BA's 10,500 but the taxes and surcharges they wanted was really absurd, at $60 each way. On querying, that's a YR fee that QR put on JL themselves as there is literally $0 on JL domestic, at most a $3 fee sometimes show's up on BA redemptions via the phone ($0 online).
The opaque process for booking partner means they can charge whatever they want.
Ben, you missed the sweetest spot, 2993 miles, 38,750 avios in mint
When B6 had the NEA with AA, why didnt it join One World like AS did? I would have though AA would have sponsored their membership.
The NEA was never long for this world. AS never fed AA network the way AA relied on B6 in the northeast
So is it worth transferring my Citi Points to Qatar now with the bonus that is currently being offered?
Probably not speculatively... All programs have done Avios transfer bonuses. Citi has turkish miles which I value a lot.
Jeez I feel great as well as vindicated about just having transferred 100,000 Citi ThankYou points plus 30% bonus to Qatar two days ago.
Did you get the 30% bonus right away? I transferred 100k this morning expecting to see 130k in the account, but it only transferred the 100k. The Terms and Conditions said to give it 45 days.
No, 72 hours have passed and I fully expect it will take up to 45 days as advertised — especially knowing that 45 days from 03 November would be 18 December, long after most people would have made their holiday bookings.
It's not good cpp though? I consistently get JetBlue Mint RT transcon fares for $1k to $1.2k. That's at best like 1.5cpp. The transatlantic is not great either considering it's all East Coast departures, which are drastically less value then West Coast, you're at best getting 1.7 to 1.8 cpp on transatlantic. Not to mention the skyhigh surcharges for flying into LHR.
@ yoloswag420 -- Interesting take. I hear you, but a few thoughts. First of all, we often see transfer bonuses to British Airways Executive Club, so if you can acquire these Avios with transferable points and a 25-30% bonus, you're paying a lot less (like under 30K Amex or Chase points for a transcon in Mint).
Furthermore, I find $500 one-way Mint fares to very much be the exception rather than the norm. Keep in...
@ yoloswag420 -- Interesting take. I hear you, but a few thoughts. First of all, we often see transfer bonuses to British Airways Executive Club, so if you can acquire these Avios with transferable points and a 25-30% bonus, you're paying a lot less (like under 30K Amex or Chase points for a transcon in Mint).
Furthermore, I find $500 one-way Mint fares to very much be the exception rather than the norm. Keep in mind that in many cases there's "I" class availability even in situations where the cheapest fares aren't available. For example, on Tuesday a MIA-LAX JetBlue Mint ticket costs $955, but there's "I" class available.
I'd say 30K point (with a transfer bonus) for a ticket like that is pretty great. Is this the highest value redemption in the world? No. But it's a great way to fly the best domestic product there is.
At some point earlier this year jetblue went back to being competitive with prices. I have ow mint flights between Seattle and nyc for $548 and return to sfo after Xmas (27th) at the same price but I bought this in Sept. In Oct sub $600 mint was still available just not as many.
You are getting JFK-LAX on B6 mint for $1-1.2k rt? I havent seen fares that cheap.
Might not be JFK-LAX, but there are dozens of Mint transcon routes and yes, they do go as low as 1k-1.2k RT.
Probably not everyday every flight but it's there.
Nice. Though IINM, there's still no way to redeem jetBlue miles on another longhaul carrier, right?
@ ConcordeBoy -- Correct, which is ridiculous. Seems like a major missed opportunity, especially as JetBlue tries to grow its revenue associated with TrueBlue. Even when American and JetBlue had a partnership, we were promised reciprocal redemptions, but only American introduced them for travel on JetBlue.
Was looking to redeem for JFK to LAX, but when I select JetBlue as the partner airline, and JFK as the Origin it does not let me select LAX as a destination.
I wonder if transcon routes are blocked?
EWR works
I'm having the same problem trying to find BOS-LAX
Very exciting, and I hope that it will remain a long partnership.
Great news!!!
Ben, great catch. But, how do you determine JetBlue availability if you don’t have sufficient Avios to cover the award? I wouldn’t want to transfer points to my Qatar account without knowing if a flight is available.
Expertflyer