Joe who writes asthejoeflies gave us his thoughts on not chasing a deal and highlights why he will not be doing the JetBlue deal. I may be biased because I am based in New York where JetBlue has their hub. I might also be biased because my life situation is different than his and many others who feel this deal is not worth it. That being said, I have been putting serious thought behind the deal. Yes, you need to take a round trip flight before August 31 and submit proof before July 4.
Here’s Why I Think You Should Do It
If you can make the deal work, the JetBlue points do not expire and you could use it whenever you have a need. Worst case scenario, you spent some money for a flight and have a bunch of points with JetBlue. My suggestion? Be entrepreneurial and book an award flight for someone and sell it to them.
If you don’t want to sell the points, you could also play around with exchanging your JetBlue points into other programs on points.com
The transfer rates are not ideal and you’ll need to pay a cash copay to transfer, but if you can make the promotion work and find a good mileage run this could be your exit strategy.
There’s some space between the coasts, not that I expect Virgin California (or to a lesser extent Jetblue) to notice. When it would require positioning flights just to get to somewhere so I could fly the required throwaway Jetblue roundtrip… No, never mind that!
I’m also leaning toward the “no, thanks anyway” camp. If I had a trip in mind to use the VX and JetBlue points, maybe, but I don’t really want to sacrifice my MRs or Starwood points just to boost balances elsewhere, esp. as I’d need to book a paid trip from PDX to NYC, Boston or Long Beach, none of which are cheap.
You’re in PDX, me too!
“I may be biased because I am based in New York where JetBlue has their hub.” Gee, ya think?
This is practically a no-brainer for anyone with convenient access to a city that has lots of JetBlue activity. But for those of us who have limited or even no such access save for positioning flights, it’s pretty easy to conclude this deal is not worth the hassle. As I’ve done.
Either way, hardly the unqualified “you should do it” claim of the post title.
If I were living on the east coast, I’d be jumping with both feet into this promotion.
But as JetBlue hasn’t deigned to server the Midwest in any way, shape or form, I’ll say “No, Thanks anyway.”