How to earn points in the JetBlue TrueBlue program

JetBlue’s loyalty program, TrueBlue, has been around since the airline’s inception. It’s one of the most straightforward mileage programs in the sky but tends to fly under the radar. That may change soon, as the airline recently launched flights to London from its Boston and New York hubs.

But did you know you can earn JetBlue TrueBlue points without flying? You heard right: You can earn JetBlue points through hotel stays, dining and more. Here’s everything you need to know about earning JetBlue TrueBlue points.

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Earn JetBlue points by flying

One of the easiest ways to quickly get a ton of points is by taking JetBlue flights. JetBlue awards TrueBlue points based on three factors: how much your flight costs, the fare type you book and where you book.

Earning points on JetBlue flights

ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

If you’re booking a JetBlue flight for travel on the airline, you’ll earn at least 3 TrueBlue points per dollar spent in Blue, Blue Plus, Blue Extra or Mint.

If you book the flight on JetBlue.com (or through the app), you’ll earn an additional 3x points. Additionally, those with JetBlue Mosaic elite status earn another 3x points spent on all paid JetBlue flights, no matter the fare booked.

In 2019, JetBlue rolled out its version of basic economy, dubbed “Blue Basic.” If you book a Blue Basic ticket, you’ll earn fewer base points (1x) and a lower bonus for booking directly through JetBlue or the app (1x). You’ll still earn 3x if you’re a Mosaic or JetBlue cardholder, no matter what fare you book.

JetBlue also has a bonus program that lets you earn even more points after taking a certain number of flights.

Take 3 Bonus: Earn 5,000 bonus points when you fly three round-trip JetBlue flights per calendar year.
Lucky 7 Bonus: Earn 7,000 bonus points when you fly seven round-trip JetBlue flights per calendar year.
Go Long Bonus: Earn 10,000 bonus points when you fly 10 one-way JetBlue flights that are 1,600 miles or longer in the calendar year.

You can also earn bonus points when you pay for extras. For example, paying up for an Even More Space seat gets you 200 bonus points and paying the pet fee earns 300 points.

Earning points on partner flights

A Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321neo. HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

JetBlue has several domestic and international airline partners. While you can only redeem your TrueBlue points on one of them (Hawaiian Airlines), you can easily earn points on all of them by adding your TrueBlue number to your flight reservation. Currently, JetBlue partners with the following airlines for earning points:

American Airlines.
Emirates (ending Oct. 30, 2022).
Hawaiian Airlines.
Icelandair.
JetSuite X.
Qatar Airways.
Silver Airways.
iles
South African Airways.

Except for American Airlines, the number of miles you’ll earn per partner flight depends on the airline and booking class. You can determine your mileage earning by finding the airline on JetBlue’s partner directory and clicking on its logo. Then, find your partner booking class on the earnings chart. The “TrueBlue Point Accrual” column will tell you how many points you’ll earn per mile flown.

American flights earn TrueBlue points the same way as JetBlue flights do. All fares earn 3 points per dollar except basic economy, which earns 1 point per dollar. Those booking American flights through JetBlue’s website are eligible for an additional bonus: 1 point per dollar on basic economy tickets and 3 points per dollar on all other fares. Additionally, Mosaic elites earn an extra 3 points per dollar.

Earn JetBlue points with credit cards

Outside of flying, the easiest way to earn JetBlue TrueBlue points is by opening a co-branded credit card.

JetBlue Plus Card

ISABELLE RAPHAEL/THE POINTS GUY

The JetBlue Plus Card is currently offering new cardholders up to 50,000 bonus points. You’ll earn 80,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days and paying the annual fee. That’s worth a cool $650 based on our valuations. This card has a $99 annual fee.

Related: JetBlue Plus Card review

The JetBlue Card

The no annual fee JetBlue Card offers just 10,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on the card in your first 90 days of account opening.

JetBlue Business Card

Meanwhile, the JetBlue Business Card offers up to 70,000 bonus points. You’ll earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $2,000 in the first 90 days of account opening. Then, you can earn another 10,000 bonus points when a purchase is made on an employee card. This card has a $99 annual fee.

The information for the JetBlue Plus Card, JetBlue Card and JetBlue Business card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Transfer points

You can transfer points to JetBlue from all major transferable points programs: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Brex, although the ratio varies.

We value JetBlue points at 1.3 cents each, which means you will likely give up value if you transfer in from any of these programs. However, if you need to top up your JetBlue account for a specific award, you may want to use Citi or Chase points for a 1:1 transfer since the other transfer rates are lower. Just remember that if you have a Citi ThankYou® Preferred or Citi Rewards+SM Card, the transfer ratio is 1,000:800.

Pool points

A boon for parents who fly with children, JetBlue lets you pool points with up to seven people to earn awards faster. There must be at least two people in a Points Pooling account. After accepting the invite, members of the pool contribute 100% of their points to the pool. Note that you can’t join more than one pool.

Buy JetBlue points

JetBlue isn’t running a buy-points promotion right now, but they have in the past. Historically, most JetBlue buy-points bonuses have been targeted, with varying bonuses.

Right now, if you want to purchase TrueBlue points, they start at $35.10 for 1,000 points. Buying points and miles without a bonus is rarely a good idea, especially with cash-based programs like TrueBlue, but it could make sense if you’re just a couple thousand points away from an award flight.

Related: Should I buy airline miles?

Earn JetBlue points by shopping and dining

JetBlue Shopping portal

JetBlue has its own shopping portal called TrueBlue Shopping. This site lets you earn extra TrueBlue points in addition to any credit card earnings. To use the portal, just sign up for an account and find the merchant you want to shop with. Click on the link, and TrueBlue will award you points based on spending.

TrueBlue shopping also has Card Linked Offers. These enable you to collect TrueBlue points at participating merchants by registering and using your credit card to pay for those purchases. You can see which retailers are participating in the program under the Card-Linked Offers tab.

You can also quickly compare the earning rates with other online shopping portals like Rakuten by using a portal aggregator like CashBackMonitor.com.

JetBlue Dining rewards

Earn bonus JetBlue points while you eat. ANDREW KUNESH/THE POINTS GUY

If you’re the type who loves restaurants or going out, you might want to consider ordering through JetBlue’s TrueBlue Dining program.

It doesn’t currently offer a bonus, and there are no elite status tiers. But after registering a credit card and using it at participating restaurants, bars and clubs, all members will earn 3x JetBlue points per dollar spent.

Even better? You can double-dip points-wise with your travel rewards credit card, so be sure to use a card that gives you extra points on dining purchases.

Other retail partnerships

You can earn 400 TrueBlue points when you take your first survey with Jet Opinions and 3x TrueBlue points when you shop with Amazon onboard JetBlue flights via Fly-Fi.

Earn JetBlue points with travel partners

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ/THE POINTS GUY

Vacation packages

You will earn 6x points per dollar on flights and 1 point per dollar on accommodation and car rentals on the JetBlue Vacations package.

Car rentals

When you rent a car through Avis or Budget, you can earn 100 TrueBlue points per day (200 if Mosaic). Remember that you’ll also pay a $1 frequent flyer surcharge. The value of these points exceeds the surcharge, but just be aware of it.

You can also earn 100 points per day (200 if Mosaic) when you book a rental car through Paisly, JetBlue’s travel booking platform.

Hotels

Like many airline programs, you can earn JetBlue points while staying at hotels.

You can earn 2 JetBlue points per dollar spent on qualifying room rates at most IHG brands. At Candlewood and Staybridge Suites, you’ll earn one 1 point per dollar spent. Meanwhile, you’ll get a flat 500 TrueBlue points per stay at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.

You can also earn 1 point per dollar on hotels booked through Paisly.

Bottom line

JetBlue TrueBlue points are some of the easiest domestic airline points to earn, meaning that JetBlue Mint is more attainable than ever. With its solid inflight product and occasionally dirt-cheap fares, it’s easy to earn and redeem points with the carrier.

You can use a combination of the methods above to jumpstart your TrueBlue balance and, before you know it, you could be flying across the country (or the Atlantic) in the airline’s economy class or award-winning Mint business class.

Featured photo by Zach Griff/The Points Guy