In the year 2005, American Express partnered with JetBlue Airways, the five-year old low-cost carrier, to provide consumers with a credit card that allows cardholders to earn Award Dollars that can be converted to points under the JetBlue's Flight Gratitude program, TrueBlue.
Cardholders are awarded with one Award dollar for every dollar charged to the card, while every dollar charged for JetBlue flights, restaurants, movie theaters, gym memberships, event tickets, and golf green fees earn the cardholders 2 Award Dollars. This stems from the fact that the JetBlue Credit Card aims to encourage their cardholders to spend on fun experiences, in line with their corporate positioning.
With this, 200 Award Dollars can be converted into one TrueBlue point, with 100 TrueBlue points redeemable for a free round-trip ticket to any destination of JetBlue Airways. Thus, in order to qualify, cardholders will need to charge $20,000 of purchases to their card, or $10,000 on purchases for products and services that qualify for 2 Award Dollars. What's more, cardholders are awarded 5000 Award Dollars immediately upon their first purchase with their new JetBlue Credit Card, which works out to 25 TrueBlue points. This truly helps them speed up the point accumulation process, and get their free round trip ticket in no time!
Award Dollars are not limited but the TrueBlue points expire within one year. Another drawback is that as Award Dollars are automatically transferred as one TrueBlue point when 200 points are accumulated, the cardholder does not have much control on how their points are dealt with. This attribute may turn certain consumers away.
Also, there is a $40 annual fee charge, which is rather low as compared to other airline reward cards. However, with the six-month introductory APR set at 3.99%, this is a relatively high percentage considering the fact that many other credit cards offer a 0% APR period.
In a nutshell, individuals likely to spend at least $7,500 a year on JetBlue flight tickets or other participating merchants eligible for two Award Dollars for each dollar would be the ones who will benefit greatly from using the JetBlue Credit Card.
For more information or to apply for the
JetBlue Credit Card, Eric Wasselman recommends Find Credit Cards.
