AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
Some dates you’ll just never forget. For me, one in particular is September 2, 2019. A newly minted husband, my wife and I were married the day before. For the first time, we were traveling as a married couple.
We plopped down into our seats in row 33 on Delta flight #444 and had a sense of accomplishment. Not only were we heading to Sicily for our honeymoon, but we’d managed to cover pretty much the entirety of our 12-night trip with points and miles.
One thought kept running through my head: “I can’t believe we managed to pull this off.”
In the four years since then, I have done my best to become a savant in the world of points and miles. I know I still have quite far to go, but in relatively short order, one thing has already become abundantly clear: The best points and miles strategy for anyone depends on what stage you’re at in life.
What Are Your Current Travel Goals?
Maybe you’re looking to maximize cash-back rewards to help beat inflation. Perhaps you’ve always dreamed of taking a solo trip to New Zealand in business class, or maybe — like us — you want to offset the cost of family vacations with your kids.
In the end, your ideal strategy will often be dictated by your life’s individual circumstances. And that’s why, now, four years after my initial foray into points and miles, I have concluded that JetBlue’s TrueBlue is the best program for both me and my growing family.
Between its straightforward, fixed-value point system, a growing list of non-stop destinations from our home airport, and partnership with the three most popular credit card point ecosystems, the truth became quite clear — especially once my wife and I went from a dynamic duo to a party of four.
My Family's Situation
Now with a 2-year-old and a 10-month-old, things have changed quite a bit since we boarded that flight to Rome back in 2019, including our vacations. Our four-cities-in-six-day European backpacking trips are probably over for now. Instead of international train rides, we’ll be setting up shop at kid-friendly resorts in the Caribbean. And that will probably be the case for at least the next couple of years.
Realizing this, the strategy has obviously changed a bit. That’s especially true given the increased competition and decreased flexibility we’ve seen across the credit card reward industry over the past 10–15 years.
Now, depending on the destination and time of year, finding award availability with transfer partners or hotel rooms at decent redemption rates has become quite difficult. And when you’ve got two young children to consider, your travel plans and vacation habits look a little different than they did sans kids.
A couple may take advantage of flash sales and book a flight from Chicago to Paris or New York to Amsterdam at the drop of a dime. Working remotely from an Airbnb in the 9th arrondissement of Paris sounds awesome. However, it’s just not as accessible once you have little ones to consider.
If your goal is to maximize the value you get for your points, for the most part, you have to not only be flexible but be able to book something at the drop of a dime. That’s not always easy with kids, and that’s one of the advantages of a fixed-value point system like TrueBlue.
Advantages of Flying JetBlue as a Young Family
For the most part, JetBlue allows redemption of TrueBlue points at a fixed value of around 1.3 cents each. As a result, there’s no haggling over dates and obsessively doing calculations to ensure you’re getting the highest value. The simplicity of knowing that 10,000 points will get you $130 of value — whether traveling in January or July — means one less piece of data to obsess over.
In early June, my family of four and my wife’s parents embarked on our first family vacation. It’s as exciting as it is terrifying — does anyone know how many diapers or how much baby formula you need to last five full days? Could you imagine a scenario where you packed all the equipment needed for a trip and, after a long day, discover that your baggage didn’t make the connecting flight?
Well, my wife certainly could, which is why she was steadfast with one of her demands: No connections!
Aside from making most worthwhile trips uncomfortably long for a toddler and infant who will be boarding a plane for the first time, the risks were just too great. Imagine missing a connection and getting stuck overnight.
Again. JetBlue to the rescue.
We live less than 10 miles from JetBlue’s hometown hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York, so we have quite a few options, as JetBlue flies nonstop to many popular Caribbean destinations, including Jamaica, Aruba, St. Lucia, and the Dominican Republic. And with the carrier recently expanding service to London, Paris, and Amsterdam, Europe is within reach, as well (though those flights might be a bit long for young children who are inexperienced travelers).
Growing Your JetBlue Point Balance
With both a simplistic reward structure and wide availability of nonstop flights, JetBlue’s TrueBlue checked two major boxes for us. The third is the cherry on top: JetBlue TrueBlue points are incredibly easy to accrue.
I have a growing number of credit card accounts, but among the ones I use most often are my “Chase trifecta” cards (the Chase Freedom Unlimited®(Rates & Fees), Chase Freedom Flex℠, and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)). Plus, I have Citi’s competing trifecta (the Citi Double Cash® Card, Citi Custom Cash® Card, and Citi Strata Premier℠ Card).
Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou® Points both have the ability to earn handsomely on everyday purchases at grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and dining. Thus, they are easy to earn in abundance. Both programs transfer to TrueBlue at a 1:1 ratio and make a 20,000-point flight redemption less daunting than it may sometimes seem.
For those who prefer American Express Membership Rewards and hold a card that earns Membership Rewards points, those points also may be transferred to JetBlue, though at a slightly less impressive 5:4 ratio.
It's worth noting that American Express also charges an excise tax offset fee when transferring points to a domestic airline (the fee is $0.0006 per point but is capped at $99 per transaction). Still, the option is there, even if that particular redemption may not provide the best value.
In the end, though, JetBlue happens to be the only domestic airline that is a transfer partner of three major points programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and American Express Membership Reward points. It’s hard not to consider that to be the ultimate advantage.
Related: How To Create a Travel Rewards Credit Card Strategy for Families
Bottom Line
Back in 2019, after we tied the knot, my wife and I spent our first two weeks as a married couple meandering the Mediterranean and exploring the Adriatic. From Palmero to Catania and Malta to Croatia, we flew in and out of Rome and back to New York.
Our family and our lives have changed quite a bit since then. We’re still learning quite a bit about the world of points and miles, but, all things considered, it’s easy to see why JetBlue TrueBlue has become our program of choice.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees), and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
