jetBlue, the last straw

So it’s the last straw for me with jetBlue, I'm done with them. I put up with the six hour delays this year, the overcrowded uncomfortable conditions in T6 but this is it. Today I sign into my TrueBlue account and come to find that 20 yes 20 points have expired. Apparently jetBlue's points expire within one year even with continued activity according to the rather could careless attitude of the jetBlue CSR I spoke to. What's even funnier is only last week I get an email from jetBlue congratulating me for being a TrueBlue customer for one year, yeah congratulations and as a reward we're taking you're points away.....great customer service..... Yeah I know some of you are probably saying to yourself what a snob but when you give you're business to someone as much as I do you do come to expect some level of service in return.

I was under the impression that you're Trueblue points would not expire if you continued to have an active account, but I guess I should have read a bit further. What amazes me is I've flown the same amount of legs with Southwest in the same period of time and I've earned 2 free tickets with WN and my points are good for a full two years. I guess it’s easy to see which FF program is better.

Clearly jetBlue is not a business friendly airline nor as I'm coming to learn are they a customer friendly airline. Where’s the incentive for me as a frequent flyer to give them my business? You basically get nothing back from flying jetBlue. I really hope Virgin America comes along and buys this poor excuse for an airline and cleans house. I’ve sent a request to their customer service folks to close my Trueblue account as I’m going to do my very best not to step foot on one of their planes again.

Their point system is very generous...take four long trips (trans-con) and a short one (Boston) within a year and you get a free flight to anywhere. This sounds like a great system for keeping biz travelers loyal to them. I don't think it's fair to compare them to Southwest...compare them to AA or Delta.

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Originally Posted by T-Bird76

I was under the impression that you're Trueblue points would not expire if you continued to have an active account, but I guess I should have read a bit further. What amazes me is I've flown the same amount of legs with Southwest in the same period of time and I've earned 2 free tickets with WN and my points are good for a full two years. I guess it’s easy to see which FF program is better.

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I am a fan of Jetblue & their business plan, but, having your Trueblue points expire, even when you have an active account, that is nonsense. I am surprised that people have not complained about this before?

I have over 100k in my United account, had the same rules been applied, my account would be down to zero!

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

Their point system is very generous...take four long trips (trans-con) and a short one (Boston) within a year and you get a free flight to anywhere. This sounds like a great system for keeping biz travelers loyal to them. I don't think it's fair to compare them to Southwest...compare them to AA or Delta.

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Matt their point system is far from generous...example, short haul trip lets say to D.C, I only have to fly WN (via BWI) 8 times and I receive a rapid reward ticket, same leg on jetBlue (via IAD) would take me 25 round trips to earn one free ticket. Each long haul trip is 6 points each way on B6, that's 12 points r/t, so 4 long haul trips equal 48 points not 98, that's not even half of what you need, again not very generous. I’d need another 4 long haul r/t’s and one short haul on B6 to earn a free ticket. Comparing B6 and WN is very fair since both programs work on points vs. miles and both airlines use somewhat of the same business model.

Right from B6's website.

SHORT (2 pts): Flights from JFK to Buffalo, NY
MEDIUM (4 pts): Flights from Rochester, NY to Ft. Lauderdale, FL or from JFK to New Orleans, LA
LONG (6 pts): Flights from JFK to Oakland, CA or Burlington, VT to Long Beach, CA

You get double points for booking online. I got 24 points just for my trip to Cancun. :D

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

You get double points for booking online. I got 24 points just for my trip to Cancun. :D

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Matt most business travelers including myself don't book online or book our own travel, we can't. We have a corp. travel dept who charges our airfare directly to a cost center; this is the case with all large companies, I don't know to many Managers, Directors, or VP's who book their own travel, they simply tell their Admin or Travel Dept they need to go here on this date. jetBlue now has links to Sabre, Worldspan, and Galileo so travel agents book through these systems and not on jetBlue.com so no double points.

Killing off you're points when you still fly the airline is simply a bad practice, you're telling you're customers their business isn't important. Even though American just came out with the 18 month expiration policy as long as you have an active account the miles renew with each activity for another 18 months. I just don't see a reason to give them my business anymore.

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Originally Posted by T-Bird76

Matt most business travelers including myself don't book online or book our own travel, we can't. We have a corp. travel dept who charges our airfare directly to a cost center; this is the case with all large companies, I don't know to many Managers, Directors, or VP's who book their own travel, they simply tell their Admin or Travel Dept they need to go here on this date. jetBlue now has links to Sabre, Worldspan, and Galileo so travel agents book through these systems and not on jetBlue.com so no double points.

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Yep, as a business traveller, the best you can do is tell your Corporate Travel Department which airline you prefer to fly, all booking is done by the Travel Department.

When I go on business trips, I would love to book & pay for everything on my credit card, as I would get miles, booking bonus points, & other bonus, points, but, it does not work that way.

"This sounds like a great system for keeping biz travelers loyal to them"

I don't see how they are fit well of business travelers.
I was telling Tom my first experience with B6 this past Friday the 13th. Truth be told I wasn't terribly impressed.

For business travel, I don't see their draw:
1. Leather seats don't do much for me though they are great for simple cleaning of a plane.

2. The lack of power ports, unacceptable. When I travel for business, I need basic needs and access to power to do my work is one of those things.

3. I do see how they cater well to families. Just sit down and plug your kid in the ubiquitous TV and that will shut them up. Unfortunately that how I look at it. TV is the last thing I want to do in flight. I'll stick to read my kid a few books, look out the window and teach them geography or planes or cirrus clouds. Last resort, fine, I'll plug him into the National Geographic channel if its appropriate:roll:

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

Matt most business travelers including myself don't book online or book our own travel, we can't. We have a corp. travel dept who charges our airfare directly to a cost center; this is the case with all large companies, I don't know to many Managers, Directors, or VP's who book their own travel, they simply tell their Admin or Travel Dept they need to go here on this date. jetBlue now has links to Sabre, Worldspan, and Galileo so travel agents book through these systems and not on jetBlue.com so no double points.

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If they book using the CompanyBlue site you will get double points. Most corp agents I know prefer the CompanyBlue site when booking Jetblue, it allows for much easier control of all Jetblue bookings, credits, etc. And, you can input cost centers, account/department codes as well. But I do agree, their FF program is nothing to write home about.

Mike