Good morning everyone, happy Friday! I hope you all have exciting weekend plans for the first weekend of 2018. My girlfriend and I are flying to Las Vegas this weekend with a couple lounge visits in our future (SFO Centurion Lounge on departure, LAS Centurion Lounge on arrival, again to LAS Centurion Lounge on departure, and then the Escape Lounge (Priority Pass) in OAK on arrival). Enough about my free lounge obsession, let’s talk about the Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card.
I got this credit card during my December 2016 App-O-Rama and wrote this post about the features of the credit card. I quickly received the 30,000 JetBlue points from the sign up bonus but I didn’t fly JetBlue at all in 2016. But thanks to the generous 3x JetBlue points on Amazon purchases, I continued to earn hundreds of JetBlue points each month. I almost completely forgot about this credit card until this email came to me in early December regarding the annual fee and the 5,000 bonus JetBlue points for being a cardmember.
Even though the above email arrived on December 6, the 5,000 bonus JetBlue points didn’t post to my JetBlue account until December 27. I believe my statement closes around the first of the month, but I received the 5,000 bonus JetBlue points before the $99 annual fee posted to my credit card.
I should also mention a cool feature of the Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card is the fact that you get 10% of your redeemed JetBlue points back. As an example, I booked 2 one way flights for parents to come see me in the Bay Area (Long Beach to Oakland on JetBlue) and used 18,600 JetBlue points. After they completed their flight, I received 10% (1,860 JetBlue points) of the redeemed JetBlue points back into my account. I booked the flights on May 20 and the flight was on November 26. As far as I know, there is no limit on the number of rebated JetBlue points you can earn per year.
As a refresher (to me), here are all the noteworthy features of the Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card (landing page): 6x on JetBlue flights; 2x on restaurants and groceries; 1x everywhere else; 5,000 bonus JetBlue points annually; 10% rebate on redeemed JetBlue points; and more for a $99 annual fee.
In comparison, here are all the benefits of the the no annual fee Barclays JetBlue Credit Card (landing page); 3x on JetBlue purchases; 2x on restaurants and groceries; 1x on everything else; and a few other benefits for no annual fee.
For me, I received a total of 6,860 bonus JetBlue points for having the Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card. When the $99 annual fee posts, I would be essentially buying 6,860 JetBlue points for $99 (1.44 CPP). Since JetBlue points do not have a fixed value, their value can range from 1 CPP to more than 2 CPP, depending on the route and when you purchase your ticket. Since I am currently sitting on ~70,000 JetBlue points, if I were to redeem them all this year, I would get ~7,000 bonus JetBlue points back into my account. If I add that to the 5,000 bonus anniversary JetBlue points, I would be essentially buying~12,000 JetBlue points for $99 (0.83 CPP). But, if I do not redeem any JetBlue points this year and only get 5,000 bonus anniversary JetBlue Points, I would be essentially buying 5,000 JetBlue points for $99 (1.98 CPP). Therefore, the more JetBlue points I redeem, the lower price I pay for JetBlue points.
Since I do not have any upcoming JetBlue flights in mind, I am not sure what to do. I like the possibility of keeping this credit card and then redeeming all my JetBlue points and getting a big JetBlue points rebate. I think I will hold on to the credit card one more year and see what this year looks like. Of course, I will call Barclays for a retention offer and see if I get any decent offers. If I do, that would adjust my CPP calculations. What do you think I should do – should I keep the credit card another year? If you have any questions about either JetBlue credit card, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone.
By keeping the credit card you receive a free checked bag. Jetblue also has offers throughout the year that offer larger points rebates if you have the cc. An example of this was in Nov-Dec they offered an additional 15% rebate on points for flights.
That’s good to know. Thank you Blaine. If you fly JetBlue often, keeping the credit card seems like a no brainer to me.
Cancel. Wait a month (or less). Reapply.
Interesting strategy. I’m going to call Barclays and see if they give me any type of retention offer.
I don’t think you close then can reapply as some suggest; usually these bonuses are invalid if you’ve been a card member within 24 months (give or take).
However one other aspect: if you charge a lot ($50K a year or more), you get complementary Mosaic status. That’s huge! So if you think you’ll spend that much on the card that’s a really nice perk. Among the Mosaic benefits are FREE flight changes and no cancelation fees (you get it back as travel credit I believe but can reuse the fare w/ no fees for another flight). So this makes any of the cheapest fares into “flex” fares which can be a huge savings annually.
Clearly this depends upon how much one flies JetBlue. The problem *I* have with JetBlue are its lack of destinations from the SF Bay Area: the only non-stops are to LGB, LAS, JFK, BOS, and FLL. It’s a pain for me to fly to Long Beach when I really need to be in West LA or Hollywood. Vegas might be a possibility, but typically I’ve been flying VX to LAS. (We’ll see if AS lives up to its promises.) That lives FLL (where I *never* go), BOS (where I occasionally go), and JFK (when I tend to go 1x a year). But again, since I have mostly flown VX, all my points are with AS, and while I love Mint, I only have ~25,000 points on JetBlue.
OTOH, if I lived on the East Coast, this would be a no-brainer!
Yes, I really wish JetBlue would add more routes and destinations on the west Coast. I have ~70,000 JetBlue points and I would live to use them to travel around the West Coast or on partner airlines. Good thing JetBlue points don’t expire…
True, and the perfect reason why I wish JetBlue had taken over Virgin America rather than Alaska . . . much better “fit” in my opinion.
Ya, that would have been great.
There is a $100 statement credit when purchasing Jetblue vacation packages. So if you are already buying a vacation somewhere maybe check out the Jetblue packages and get your annual fee back. I have not looked into these that in dept though.
I think a JetBlue vacation package includes airfare (on JetBlue), a rental car, and a hotel. I don’t think you earn any points with the rental car or hotel, or have your elite benefits recognized. I think I can book a better vacation on my own.
I just booked a JetBlue vacation package from SEA to Boston. It worked out much better than I thought. I came out ahead by $200.00 with flight and hotel(no car) than if I had booked the same hotel myself, earned JetBlue points on both the flight AND hotel, and instantly received the $100.00 credit. So, not including JetBlue points, that’s $300.00 ahead. I’m also on the west coast, but am planning a trip to New York next year. I’ll probably keep it for one more year, then will be in the same spot as you.
I’m glad you saved a few hundred dollars by booking the JetBlue vacation. Have a great trip!
Do you retain your points if you cancel the Jet Blue credit card?
Yes, once the points post to your JetBlue account those points are under the JetBlue terms and conditions regarding expiration.