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Just as mysteriously as it first appeared, JetBlue’s partnership with Japan Airlines is coming to an end.
Earlier this year, AwardWallet was the first to notice that JetBlue began offering award flights on Japan Airlines bookable with TrueBlue points. JAL soon reciprocated by making JetBlue awards available on its own site. However, the partnership won’t even make it to its first anniversary before officially ending for good.
Here's what to know.
JetBlue and JAL to End Partnership in Early 2026
JetBlue’s non-alliance partnership with Japan Airlines unceremoniously kicked off on April 23, 2025. According to JAL’s partner airline landing page, though, the partnership is set to be terminated early next year.
The partnership will officially end on March 31, 2026. That’ll be the last day you can book JetBlue awards through JAL’s website and, presumably, JAL awards via JetBlue. JetBlue’s partner page hasn’t yet been updated to reflect that its JAL partnership is ending, but that’s likely to change soon.
Japan Airlines also noted that changes and refund requests for tickets will still be possible on or after April 1, 2026. You can make adjustments and requests through JAL’s website or its contact centers.
This is disappointing news
It’s hard not to be disappointed by the loss of yet another way to get to Japan using points and miles. JetBlue TrueBlue points are relatively easy to earn, and for a short time, award rates on Japan Airlines were actually pretty good especially in business and first class (when space was available).
That said, it did seem like something had been off with this partnership for a while. When it first launched in April 2025, you could book JAL business class from places like Vancouver to Tokyo for just 59,000 TrueBlue points.
A few months later, that price jumped to 79,900 points. A sharp increase like this probably meant these redemptions were too expensive for JetBlue to sustain over the long term.
Alternatively, the early end could be tied to JetBlue cozying up to United, a Star Alliance member. Or, they could stem from the JAL side, especially as earning Mileage Bank miles has become significantly easier since the partnership rolled out.
We don’t know the exact reason, but no matter the root cause, it’s disappointing to see a partnership like this end so quickly.
Bottom Line
JetBlue’s partnership with Japan Airlines is ending on March 31, 2026. That’ll be the last day you can book JAL awards with TrueBlue points, and vice versa. Thankfully, there are still plenty of other ways to get to get to Asia in business class, but losing this option in particular will surely sting.
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