JetBlue TrueBlue is increasingly adding award redemptions on partner airlines, which is exciting. In late 2023, we saw TrueBlue add online redemptions for Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways. Now we’ve seen TrueBlue add redemptions on TAP Air Portugal, giving members more opportunities to redeem their points (thanks to @findflightsforme for reporting this — the account is absolutely worth a follow).
JetBlue adds online award redemptions on TAP Air Portugal
JetBlue and TAP Air Portugal have had a partnership for a long time, whereby JetBlue provides feed for many of TAP’s gateways in the United States. It’s now possible to redeem JetBlue TrueBlue points for travel on the airline as well. Here are the basics of these redemption opportunities:
- These awards are bookable directly on JetBlue’s website, on the homepage, by selecting the “use TrueBlue points” button
- There are no carrier imposed surcharges on these redemptions
- Redemptions on TAP Air Portugal are possible in both business class and economy class throughout TAP’s network
- While there’s not an award chart, award pricing seems to be a combination of zone based and segment based; that means you pay more if you have an itinerary that includes more than one segment
Just to give some examples of award pricing, a one-way award from North America to Portugal seems to cost 19,000 points in economy or 59,000 points in business class. That’s true whether you’re flying from Boston (BOS) to Porto (OPO) or from San Francisco (SFO) to Lisbon (LIS).
In some cases, connecting itineraries are bizarrely expensive, like that same flight from Toronto to Lisbon with a connection to Frankfurt costing 108,000 points in business class.
Honestly, TAP isn’t great about making award seats available, but if there is space, this could represent a solid deal. The carrier actually has an underrated onboard product, in my opinion. I recently reviewed TAP Air Portugal’s A330-900neo business class, and had a pleasant flight.
More JetBlue partner awards are long overdue
JetBlue is really trying to make its TrueBlue loyalty program more of a profit center. Historically I’d say the program has just been kind of lazy in terms of perks, and hasn’t done much to encourage incremental engagement (flying or credit card spending) in terms of elite benefits. On top of that, JetBlue hasn’t put any effort into offering partner award redemptions.
The airline has been mostly headed in a great direction in recent times, as the current management team is trying to return the airline to profitability. A big part of that is better leveraging the loyalty program. I think partner redemptions can unlock significant value, so here’s to hoping we see more of these partner awards added in the future.
Bottom line
JetBlue TrueBlue has just rolled out award redemptions on TAP Air Portugal. In late 2023, we saw the program roll out online redemptions on Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways, and while there has been a gap, I’m happy to see more partner redemptions added again.
This perhaps isn’t the most exciting partner ever, especially in terms of the amount of award availability, but I’m happy to see it nonetheless.
What do you make of JetBlue TrueBlue redemptions on TAP Air Portugal?
