JetBlue Plus Card Review: 80,000 Bonus Points ($99 Annual Fee)

80k offer is back. The JetBlue Plus Mastercard is a rewards credit card that earns TrueBlue points for purchases and includes special perks for JetBlue customers. Right now, there is a special link above has an increased offer above the prior 50k and 60k offer levels (hat tip to DoC). Here are the highlights:

80,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days. First checked bag is free for the primary cardmember and up to 3 companions when you use your JetBlue Plus Card on JetBlue-operated flights. 6X points on JetBlue purchases, 2 points per $1 at restaurants and grocery stores and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. No blackout dates on JetBlue-operated flights & redeem for any seat, any time on JetBlue flights. Points required for an Award Flight will vary based on the published base fare at the time of booking. Annual $100 statement credit after you purchase a JetBlue Vacations package of $100 or more. Points awarded in your TrueBlue account don’t expire. Earn and share points together with Family Pooling. 50% savings on eligible inflight purchases including cocktails, food and movies. Points Payback option allows you to redeem points for a statement credit – up to $1,000 per year. Get 10% of your points back every time you redeem to use toward your next redemption. 5,000 TrueBlue bonus points annually after your account anniversary. $99 annual fee.

First checked bags on JetBlue usually cost $35 each-way, per person. The free checked bag perk applies to you and up to 3 travel companions on the same reservation when (1) the ticket is purchased with your JetBlue Plus card, (2) the primary cardmember’s TrueBlue member number must be entered at the time of booking. That works out great for a family traveling together. If you buy higher fare classes, a certain number of complimentary bags may already be included.

How does redeeming TrueBlue points work? TrueBlue works on a revenue-based system, where the points required depends on the current cash cost of the flight (with no blackout dates). If they sell it for cash, you can book it with points. This is different than traditional chart-based systems that charge a fixed point balance but imposes blackout dates and limited seat availability.

TrueBlue points are best redeemed for JetBlue flights. There are some other options like newspaper or magazine subscriptions, but I won’t cover them here.

TrueBlue points can be estimated at 1 points = 1.3 cents. Ex. 30,000 points would cover roughly $390 in JetBlue airfare. The exact value may vary, but 1.3 cents is a conservative average of what I found across Blue, Blue Plus, and Blue Flex fares. You can test it out yourself by pricing out the same flight on JetBlue.com using points or cash (you don’t need to sign-in or have an account). Here is an example of a randomly-chosen Blue flight from New York City (JFK) to Orlando (MCO). The roundtrip flight costs $250.20 cash total:

Or the exact same roundtrip flight costs 15,800 TrueBlue points + $11.20 in taxes/fees:

That means the 15,800 points offset $239 in cash, or a value of 1.51 cents per TrueBlue point. But again, 1.3 is a conservative average estimate.

This means 2X points back on restaurants and groceries can be estimated as 2.6% back in the form of TrueBlue airfare. The 3X points back on Jetlue-operated flights can be 3.9% back in the form of TrueBlue airfare. The 6X points back with the Plus card on JetBlue-operated flights can be 7.8% back in the form of TrueBlue airfare.

Upon the renewal of your $99 annual fee, you get another 5,000 TrueBlue points ($65 of airfare value at 1.3 cents/point). If you can take advantage of the free checked bag perk, there is definitely ongoing value for regular JetBlue fliers. I haven’t investigated the $100 off a JetBlue Vacations package, but it could be worth a look.

As a minimum baseline value, you can redeem up to 100,000 TrueBlue points per year at 1 cent a point for a flat statement credit. So 30,000 points = $300, and so on. You always get more value redeeming for a JetBlue flight, but I know some people may just want to cash out.

Bottom line. The JetBlue Plus card from Barclaycard offers several perks for regular JetBlue customers such as a free first checked bag for you and up to 3 companions. There is also a nice sign-up bonus for new applicants.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

There is also a JetBlue Business card that currently offers up to 60,000 bonus points. Also see: Top 10 Best Business Card Offers.