As flagged by @findflightsforme, JetBlue TrueBlue points can now be used to book flights on TAP Air Portugal, including both economy and business class redemptions. This is great news for TrueBlue members as single-segment economy class one-ways cost 19,000 TrueBlue points each way and business class rings in at 59,000 TrueBlue points each way with no surcharges. Both are very competitive deals for what I think is an underrated way to get to Europe.
If you don’t have JetBlue points, keep in mind that it’s possible to transfer points 1 to 1 to JetBlue from Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou rewards. While it’s also possible to transfer from Amex Membership Rewards, that’s not as good of deal. Amex transfers to JetBlue at a rate of 250 Membership Rewards points to 200 TrueBlue points, plus they impose excise taxes on the transfer.
I’ve flown TAP Air Portugal business class between New York JFK and Lisbon a couple of times, each time wondering why they don’t get more attention. On the one hand, I find an overnight business class flight from the east coast to Lisbon to be too short to fully enjoy the experience, but on the other hand the seats are comfortable, food is decent, and while service hasn’t been doting, neither has it been bad. The most disappointing part of the experience is the ground game in Lisbon as the lounge isn’t great and their ground operation in general just isn’t particularly smooth. That said, I’d imagine that west coasters would be pleased to find business class from San Francisco to Lisbon for just 59.000 points one way.
Note though that connections price cumulatively and TAP’s calculators are faulty, so it may be significantly cheaper (though perhaps inconvenient) to book legs separately. And the challenge will be finding availability. Economy class has scattered availability over the next few months, almost nothing over the summer, and then limited availability pick back up in the fall.
There isn’t an award chart set out for this partnership, but pricing is thus far consistent for nonstops to/from their North American gateways. For instance, San Francisco to Lisbon costs the same 19K points each way as New York to/from Lisbon. Update: This is no longer true — the San Francisco flights now cost 34.9K points each way in economy class.
JetBlue does not levy any surcharges on these awards, so you’ll just be on the hook for mandatory taxes & fees, which are just $5.60 departing the US.
There are always more taxes due when departing Europe, though the amount varies based on departure airport.
Keep in mind that in addition to serving quite a few routes between the US and Lisbon, TAP Air Portugal also flies between Porto and Boston/New York. I visited Porto many years ago and found it to be a fun city to explore for a few days that wouldn’t have been on my radar if not for a cheap flight.
It is also worth a mention that you aren’t limited to using TrueBlue points to book travel between the US and Europe. You can also use TrueBlue points to book other routes in TAP’s network, like intra-European flights or flights between Europe and Africa. This business class flight from Lisbon to Accra isn’t a terrific award price at 69,000 points one-way, but it’s worth knowing that stuff like this is out there, too.
Overall, I think it’s terrific news that JetBlue TrueBlue is expanding partnerships and redemption opportunities with international partners. Whereas TrueBlue points traditionally had fixed-value and could only be used on JetBlue, the recent expansion to partner awards and the ability to book them online is certainly a value-add for long-time JetBlue loyalists.
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It looks like pricing for these may have increased yet again. Didn’t do a full analysis, but looks like east coast may now be 34.9K and west coast be 39.9K.
[…] I should add a separate section for devaluations? Here we go all over again with JetBlue TrueBlue points and of course Lifemiles again and […]
No longer 1:1 transfer from Citi to Jet Blue 🙁
why is JetBlue always struggling to find its genitalia in its own pants
Pricing for SFO->LIS is now showing up at 34,900 for economy
73,900 for business
This is great news, thank you! I am however really struggling to figure out how to find business class eats on jet blue’s website. Seems like they only show economy seats? Am I missing something?
Hello- I am experiencing the same issue. I see a good number of coach seats at 19k, but nothing from any US city to LIS on TAP in business class for 59k. I’m curious what I might be doing wrong with the search. Any ideas? Thanks
Same, from quick googling I think this is because biz space has not been released to JB? Or is it just not available? Hopefully someone has a more definitive answer as I’ve been checking space all the way to the end of the year.
The 19k coach seats are long gone. They quickly ‘re-adjusted’ coach seats to 34.9k and if biz ever shows up those will likely go up as well. Prob easier to just book them on the TAP site. When something seems too good to be true….it usually is.
Not exactly true. You are correct that they have increased the economy class rate from West Coast cities (thanks for the heads up on this!) to 34.9K. It’s still 19K from the east coast cities in economy and 59K in business. There is still business class availability out of EWR/BOS/YUL – it’s not wide open, but it’s findable. The JetBlue website is, however, not the easiest way to find availability. We have a Youtube video publishing tomorrow about how to find availability, but the easiest method is using Seats.aero.
Actually, it’s 34.9K from ORD/MIA as well…..
I’m trying to find routes from South America to Portugal on tap but I’m finding it hard to find anything. Any suggestions?
Can someone please explain the part “Note though that connections price cumulatively and TAP’s calculators are faulty…”
Probably something like A to B is 20K miles, B to C is 10K miles, but A to B to C is 50K miles.
Got it, thanks. I tried to simulate and example of that but couldn’t get one. But makes sense.
ANYONE? Can we use JetBlue miles to book Hawaiian Airlines?
Is there a reason you’d want to? You can use Virgin Atlantic to book Hawaiian when saver space is available, but only over the phone. Given the plethora of transfer partners and bonuses Virgin would always be a better option when Hawaiian is available to partners.
thanks Andy for the reply….have a ton of JB miles but they no longer have viable service from PDX…..Short hop to OGG on AS/HA from here
Ah if you’ve got the miles then that’s still likely a better value than redemeeing on Jet Blue’s own metal.
FM does have the redemption rates for Hawaiian using Jet Blue miles on their guide page for Jet Blue:
https://frequentmiler.com/jetblue-trueblue-guide/#Redeem_for_Hawaiian_Airlines_flights
As with other partners saver award space needs to be available.
Yes. You can use the online search and it’ll show up if available. Availability is poor on many routes but there’s some decent deals if you look hard. I booked 3 on economy for HNL-PPT R/T for 120k points total (would have 150k direct with Hawaiian).
What’s the cancellation policy like? Same as JetBlue awards on JetBlue metal where you get a full refund (though taxes go to your travel bank) if you cancel before takeoff?
I called jetblue to ask this very question. The answer was yes, free cancellation before takeoff. But interestingly, the agent said something else that I think is a nice positive: he said that the taxes are refunded back to the method of payment instead of to your jetblue travel bank with a 1 yr expiration like it does with regular awards on their metal. He seemed quite sure and mentioned this is because a full refund is required for these partner airline awards.
Great news, but REALLLY!!?? Would’ve been helpful a month ago when I was booking a trip a trip to Portugal and I asked about using my TrueBlue points and was told “not yet, but coming soon.”
Sfo-lis for 59k & $5 is a pretty good deal if you can find availability.
Assuming it’s the same availability as Aeroplan awards it seems to show up regularly at schedule open. But I haven’t checked that in a few months.