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Well, shoot. We knew that Qatar's amazing pricing on JetBlue was too good to last, but we didn't expect it to disappear in less than a week. Alas, the airline caught on quickly and has since made huge changes to Avios redemptions for JetBlue awards. Here's the unfortunate update to what's going on.
Qatar Airways Changes JetBlue Redemptions
Evidently, Qatar Airways Privilege Club‘s redemptions for JetBlue were so well-priced (and they were!) that they necessitated creating a new award chart. Rather than relying on the existing partner award chart, Qatar has built one specific to JetBlue redemptions.
| Distance | Economy (previous price) | Economy (new price) | Business (previous price) | Business (new price) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–650 miles | 6,000 Avios | 8,500 Avios | 12,500 Avios | 17,000 Avios |
| 651–1,151 miles | 9,000 Avios | 8,500 Avios | 16,500 Avios | 17,000 Avios |
| 1,152–2,000 miles | 11,000 Avios | 13,000 Avios | 22,000 Avios | 26,000 Avios |
| 2,0001–3,000 miles | 13,000 Avios | 18,500 Avios | 38,750 Avios | 74,000 Avios |
| 3,001+ miles | 20,750 Avios | 25,000 Avios | 62,000 Avios | 78,000 Avios |
It's probably not necessary to say that paying 74,000 Avios for a one-way business-class flight across the U.S. is ridiculous, even if it is in lie-flat JetBlue Mint.
Aside from this, Qatar Airways has also pulled the ability to book these flights online. Instead, those looking to book will need to submit a request for these flights. However, due to “technical issues,” all bookings have stopped at this time. There isn't a published timeline for when this will be fixed, either.
Related: The Best Ways to Redeem Avios in the Americas
The Bottom Line
Well, that escalated quickly — just being blunt. By that, we mean the affordable rates for redeeming Avios on JetBlue flights went from exciting to missing to gone in a quick period. With costs more than doubling on some routes, the short-lived era of excellent redemptions has disappeared. Booking these flights seems to have disappeared altogether until those “technical issues” are solved.
If you were one of the lucky few who snagged a JetBlue Mint flight at the previous, fantastic rates, consider yourself lucky.
Update: Some dates are showing available flights with JetBlue booked via Qatar Avios, though availability is very rare. It seems the issues are being resolved.
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