JetBlue’s Expansion Into Europe Will Make TrueBlue a Better Loyalty Program

JetBlue is finally launching international service from the East Coast to London. Announced last week, service will initially begin from Boston and New York JFK to London on JetBlue’s fleet of A321neos. It’ll take until 2021 until flights fully get underway.

For loyalty members, this is welcome news. Expanded availability into Europe means that TrueBlue members can now earn points for flying across the Atlantic while it’ll now be possible to use that currency to book international flights without leaning on the airline’s partners. Overnight, TrueBlue points will become more powerful.

As to the value of each mile spent, there’s a lot of variability in the equation. When booking award tickets through TrueBlue, the value of each mile is tied directly to the revenue price of the ticket being sold. Expensive seats off the shelf will thus translate to users spending a ton of miles to fly to Europe.

The good news is that JetBlue’s entry into the market should push global flights to London down in cost — meaning the number of points required to cash in an award seat should rarely be excessive. But those looking for a screaming deal to London bookable with TrueBlue points may be waiting for a while.

— Grant Martin, Business of Loyalty Editor

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Skift Business of Loyalty Editor Grant Martin [gm@skift.com] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.