Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
JetBlue made an unannounced policy change yesterday when they shortened the timeframe you’ll have to use travel credits created by cancelled trips. Previously, during the pandemic, JetBlue had made travel credits from changed or cancelled trips valid for one year from the date of change/cancellation. Now, those credits will be valid for one year from the date of booking. If you book travel far in advance, this is certainly not a customer-friendly move.
As noted at the top, during the pandemic, JetBlue made “travel bank” credits from cancelled travel valid for a year from the date of change or cancellation. For instance, if you booked a ticket on 3/15/23 for travel on 2/1/24 and you cancelled the day before the flight (on 1/31/24), you would receive a credit valid for a year from the date of cancellation (the credit would be valid until 1/31/25). That would give you plenty of time to use your banked credit and it was a customer-friendly move in an era where people were frequently forced to cancel travel at the last minute due to COVID.
Without any prior notice, JetBlue has changed that policy and the credit will now be valid for one year from the date of original booking. In other words, in the example scenario above, your travel credit would only be valid until 3/15/25 (or about 6 weeks from the date of cancellation).
That obviously gives you far less flexibility than the policy of the past couple of years since you’ll potentially have far less time to use credits from cancellations. Of course, you’ll still be able to use those credits to book travel all the way out through the end of the JetBlue schedule, but you’ll need to decide on what you’ll book by a year from the date of original booking.
While the change is an unfortunate one, in my opinion the worst part of this is that, as pointed out by The Points Guy, the change came without notice and on a day when JetBlue had other big announcements that were sure to draw the most attention. If you weren’t paying close attention, you’d easily miss this change.
If you’re a frequent JetBlue traveler, be aware that booking travel far in advance comes with a bit more risk these days since you’ll have a shorter rebooking window. That may not be a problem if you fly often enough to easily use the credit before expiration, but it’s worth being aware of the policy before you book end-of-schedule travel.
H/T: TPG
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
If you pay for part of a ticket with travel credits and JetBlue cancels your flight or has a significant schedule change, they give the option to refund the ticket.
However it seems the policy is that the original travel credits keep their original expiration date. If you are past that date, you get 2 days to use it. I had hoped you get another 12 months. That’s what I’ve gleaned but the JetBlue site is not clear at all. Is this correct? Thanks in advance.
Very disappointed in this change. My husband uses a wheelchair. We must book travel far in advance due to all the considerations that have to be taken when traveling with a wheelchair (finding flights that have long enough connection times, finding accessible accommodations, finding accessible transportation, etc). Sometimes we have to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. Being able to reschedule a flight within a year of cancellation was not a problem, but having to reschedule within a year of booking will be. Not happy at all with this change.
Really crappy change and the original booking date is very problematic as you point out for those far out booked flights
Wondering if this includes flights booked prior to this policy change? The main reason we booked a “Blue” vs “Blue Basic” for an upcoming trip was the ability to cancel & rebook within 1 year. Quite disappointed in this policy change.
Booked before Mar 8, 2023?For tickets booked before Mar 8, 2023 that are voluntarily cancelled or exchanged to a lower fare, funds are returned as a JetBlue travel credit that is valid for 12 months from the date the credit is issued. Tickets exchanged after Mar 8, 2023 will fall under the new expiration guidelines and new travel credit issued upon cancellation will be valid for 12 months from ticketing date.
==
So if your tickets booked before 3/8/23, it should follow the old policy.
In other words, in the example scenario above, your travel credit would only be valid until 3/15/25 (or about 6 weeks from the date of cancellation).
==
I think it is 3/15/24.
In other words, in the example scenario above, your travel credit would only be valid until 3/15/25 (or about 6 weeks from the date of cancellation).
==
I think it is 3/15/24,
They also, maybe late last year?, took away the ability to easily use travel bank funds to pay for miles award bookings. So if you book a miles flight, see the price goes down and want to cancel and rebook, then on cancellation the miles go back into your account, and your taxes and fees go into a travel bank, which you then can not use to rebook at the lower miles rate. Some have reported calling in agents can use the travel bank for points booking, but this is very customer unfriendly as well.
I Don’t Understand Please elaborate
They also, maybe late last year?, took away the ability to easily use travel bank funds to pay for miles award bookings. So if you book a miles flight, see the price goes down and want to cancel and rebook, then on cancellation the miles go back into your account, and your taxes and fees go into a travel bank, which you then can not use to rebook at the lower miles rate. Some have reported calling in agents can use the travel bank for points booking, but this is very customer unfriendly as well.
Jetblue used to let you use travel bank funds for points bookings. They do not anymore, you must use a cc now not your travel bank for points bookings. This change happened sometime last year maybe? Their new website is horrible and maybe that is part of the reason? Either way I consider this another unfriendly change.
Yes … just found this out the hard way … went to rebook & the taxes/fees had gone up by a couple of dollars … the chat agent said I could not use points, the travel bank, & pay the rest in cash (aka credit card) because you can not “use 3 forms of payment”. Of course that was after waiting over 30 minutes to “chat” with an agent. The hold time on the phone was over an hour. Very customer unfriendly indeed.
I also just had this same situation. Cancelled a trip which had been booked with miles. Was told that I could absolutely use the travel bank when booking a new trip. Last week booked that trip also using miles only to hear this BS about not using 3 forms of payment. So, in effect JetBlue is making sure they get to keep thousands and/or millions of passengers $$$. Not the airline I fell in love with a few years ago.