This week, I had my first experience with the JetBlue United Blue Sky Partnership. Things got off to a bit of a rocky start, but I certainly wasn’t feeling blue by the time the story finished.
I had booked a United itinerary from Reno, Nevada, to Albany, New York via Denver using United Travel Bank cash. While purchasing the ticket a few weeks ago, I entered my JetBlue TrueBlue number in the checkout process. While reciprocal elite benefits were not yet active at the time I made the booking, I hoped that perhaps they would be by the time I traveled. Sure enough, just a few days before the trip, United and JetBlue announced that the Blue Sky Reciprocal Elite benefits were going live.
However, it didn’t start off smoothly. For several days after reciprocal benefits were announced, I tried selecting preferred seats to no avail. A chat agent was able to help me select seats, but mentioned that my Blue Sky benefits were not applying correctly. Based on a reader tip, I got a different chat agent to remove my JetBlue number and try to re-add my JetBlue TrueBlue number to the reservation. However, I realized later that they hadn’t done what I asked, but had instead removed my JetBlue TrueBlue number and added my United Mileage Plus number. So I had to chat yet again with another agent to get them to remove my United Mileage Plus number and add my JetBlue True Blue number. However, that was the difference-maker: immediately after getting my TrueBlue number reattached, I was able to select preferred seats on my own. At the 24-hour mark before each flight, I checked in and was given boarding Group 2, and was able to select extra legroom seats. That turned out to be huge because I had a tight connection and my first leg was delayed. Having a free seat in the first row of economy class made me much more confident that I could actually make my connection.
As it turned out, my flight from Denver to Albany was also delayed. We sat aboard the plane for almost an hour and a half before we finally took off. However, I wasn’t complaining because I was sitting in an exit row seat thanks to the Mosaic status I earned from last summer’s JetBlue 25 for 25 challenge. I’m a big fan of this partnership now that reciprocal benefits are live, and it makes me much more excited about the United Travel Bank cash I have stacked up, waiting for a rainy day.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Will the points game survive? | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep359 | 5-22-26
For as long as I’ve been engaged in this hobby, people have been declaring it dead. Is it finally true? Are we finally nearing the end of the hobby, or is it just the end of things as we know them? Are there still bright spots? On this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, Greg and I talk about our perspectives on the hobby as a whole.
What is dynamic pricing? An explanation and its positives & negatives
We often talk about dynamic pricing, about dynamic award pricing, in a negative light if you’ve wondered why we don’t like it or how it might be beneficial in the right situation. This beginner series post explains the basic concepts involved with dynamic pricing, when it can be to your advantage, and why we generally don’t prefer to see this in rewards programs.
First impressions of Hyatt award chart changes: A tremor rather than a seismic shift
World of Hyatt’s new award chart kicked off this week with its eight categories for ordinary hotels and resorts and five pricing bands within each category. That makes for 40 different price points for regular hotels and resorts, with another 30 for all-inclusives and more yet when you include Miraval properties.
Stephen took a look at some popular properties and award pricing both before and after the new chart launched. His results were pretty interesting. Many awards, at least thus far, have either decreased by a little bit or remained at about the same pricing as before. Those that have increased substantially are relatively few and far between, at least anecdotally and based on our early searches. Time will tell whether that holds up or whether we should be waiting around for the other shoe to drop.
Taking a run at Caesars Diamond in a Day / Diamond Plus status
Earlier this week, I spent a few days in Lake Tahoe in order to take advantage of the Caesars Tier Credit Promotion in order to demonstrate how to earn 15,000 Tier Credits in a short period of time with relatively low expected loss. That should be interesting for some readers because 15,000 Tier Credits would ordinarily get you Caesars Diamond status, which can be useful for matching around for free cruises and also for waived resort fees when staying at Caesars properties. In my case, the 15,000 tier credits will get me to Caesars Diamond Plus status, which should end up getting me two complimentary five-night stays at Atlantis Bahamas in a nicer tower and with no resort fees. The juice can certainly be worth the squeeze if you learn how to play video poker and gamble during a 10x tier credit promotion.
Podcasting on the road: trials and tribulations | Coffee Break Ep106 | 5-18-26
I certainly won’t complain about the fact that I can work from almost anywhere with a good Wi-Fi connection, but sometimes podcasting from the road presents unforeseen challenges. I don’t mean that in a physically demanding way, but more so in the simple logistics of setting up and recording from unfamiliar locations with substitute equipment or with unideal lighting conditions.
On this week’s coffee break, Greg and I give a little peek behind the curtain into the life of the traveling podcaster and hopefully give you a few laughs along the way about some of the issues we’ve had to overcome.
A quick guide to transferable points programs
Transferable points are, without a doubt, the secret to winning the points and miles game. Having a stash or several stashes of transferable points makes it possible to combine forces between points earned from different banks and also gives you the opportunity to strike when and where the iron is hot. In other words, you’ll have a multitude of potential options, and you can pivot to the one that fits your situation rather than trying to make the situation fit the specific airline miles or hotel points that you have.
This high-level guide explains the concept of transferable points programs and the basic things you need to know about them, including things like which ones exist, how you can earn them, whether you can transfer them or share them with others in your family, and more. If you’re just getting started, this is an important read.
My credit card application was declined. Now what? | Question of the Week Ep03 | 5-17-26
Stick around this happy long enough, and one day it will happen to you. Your credit card application will be denied. What next? We frequently receive questions from readers and podcast listeners about whether they should close a card or reduce a credit limit in order to increase their odds of approval in the future. On this week’s question of the week, we discuss what we think about that and what we actually do when faced with those types of circumstances.
What are Air Canada Aeroplan points worth?
For many years, determining the value of airline-specific miles was a guessing game. We long used a formula based on the average price of a domestic economy class ticket and the typical price for an economy class domestic award, but we’ve long since abandoned that model in favor of much more significant data shared with us through Points Path. This really helps us nail down a more valuable and accurate reflection of the relative value of different types of miles.
What’s interesting about Air Canada Aeroplan is that the average was significantly higher than the median. As Tim points out in the post, that indicates that there are a significant number of sweet spot uses where you can get much higher value, particularly for international business class awards. In some cases, that’s no doubt because you can get outsize value for close-in redemptions, since cash pricing is higher close to departure in many cases. However, that just goes to show that this currency does have some terrific use cases, and is worth a look for many folks in this hobby.
8 days in Crete: Here’s what we did
Stephen recently spent eight days in Crete, and in this post, he covers everything from how he and his wife got to Crete to how they got around, what they did, where they ate and drank, and what they decided not to do on this trip. I’m a sucker for the Greek islands, so I think you could never really go wrong when visiting just about anywhere in Greece. See this post for more on what Stephen and Shae did.
The diminishing value of Priority Pass for US travelers (on Nick’s mind)
Travelers have been complaining about overcrowding and the inability to get into airport lounges over the last few years as more and more cardholders with access to various lounge networks are in the airports. But it’s not just overcrowding that’s a problem; we have also seen the introduction of additional fees, like the $5.40 cleaning fee I got hit with this week at MinuteSuite’s Baltimore Washington International Airport. There’s no doubt the Priority Pass can be awesome for international economy class travelers, but the value for those who primarily travel domestically is highly variable and frequently relatively low.
Ink Business Premier Review (2026)
This is one of the most confusing cards in the market since it offers a rewards currency that sounds similar to many other similarly named credit cards, but its points are not transferable to partners or combinable with other cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points. Still, it can be a solid option for the right cardholder. Read our review to see whether this one is a fit for you.
Watch out for easy-to-forget debts! An embarrassing, but useful reminder. (A Carrie commentary)
In Carrie’s latest contribution, she shares how easy it can be for something to slip through the cracks. Whether you’re a digital nomad or just an enthusiast with far more accounts than one can easily manage, this sort of thing may well have happened to you, too. Hopefully, Carrie sharing her story makes it easier for others to check up on this stuff and take the steps to stay on top of it so that you can also stay on top of the credit card game.
How to decide which premium cards are keepers (Video)
Greg has built and maintains a fabulous spreadsheet to help you decide which of your premium credit cards are keepers. As fabulous as the spreadsheet is, it is equally complicated. In this week’s how-to video, Greg and I demonstrate how to use that spreadsheet to help you determine which of your premium cards to keep and which to cancel based on running your own numbers.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals for those month-ending deals that will wrap up this week.
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