JetBlue’s partnership with Japan Airlines ending in March

Well, that didn’t last long.

In April of this year, JetBlue and Japan Airlines (JAL) launched a loyalty partnership allowing members of each company’s rewards programs to book the other’s award flights. Unfortunately, like many celebrity marriages, this one evidently wasn’t built to last: the airlines have announced that the partnership will end on 3/31/26, only eleven months after it began.

The New

• JetBlue and Japan Airlines have announced that their reciprocal redemption partnership will end on March 31st, 2026.
  • All award tickets booked through both programs before 3/31/26 will be honored.
  • JetBlue’s announcement can be found here.
  • Japan Airlines’ announcement is here.

Quick Thoughts

When the JetBlue/Japan Airlines partnership was announced (mere months ago), JAL hadn’t yet begun partnering with Capital One or Bilt, so being able to use TrueBlue Points for JAL flights was pretty interesting. Once JetBlue announced its “25 for 25” promotion, Nick discovered that using JAL miles to book JetBlue flights could be even more lucrative.

Alas, no more.

The speed of the about-face here is stunning. It’s been barely eight months since the airlines announced their partnership, and I can’t imagine that integrating their backend availability and booking infrastructure was a quick, five-minute job. I’d be fascinated to know what happened behind the scenes that led them to call it quits so suddenly…this is why the folks who run loyalty programs shouldn’t spend weekends together in Vegas.

Japan Airlines award flights can still be booked via oneworld partners like American, Alaska, or Qantas, and being able to transfer Capital One Miles and Bilt Points to JAL makes Mileage Bank an enticing program in and of itself, despite the loss of JetBlue.

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