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.
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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The trueblue team couldn’t hit a urinal if it was the size of a pool.
B6 be adding and dropping partners like flies (see TAP demise earlier this year in similar time-frame)
JB lost a few valuable partners for award booking in the past 5 years. I remember that you were able to use JB points for SA, and for Hawaiian, and if I’m correct for AA at some point of time. Now they switching to be more exclusive with United, but United will most likely buy them soon (what happens to JB points would be interesting).
Overall I saw the steady decline in hard and soft products over the past 8 years. Many planes are pretty beaten and old now, and service is merely bare-bones (and used to be elevated). Some useful routes has been cancelled in 2024-2025 from East cost airports, in favor for more international (but those mostly seasonal and might not hold in long run too).
Flew in Mint over Atlantic recently, and sliding doors were not operational due to staff shortage. Menu was lackluster and seats very narrow without much padding or extra mattress given.
Sorry to see a nice airline biting the dust…