In November 2023, Qatar Airways Privilege Club rolled out the ability to redeem Avios for travel on JetBlue.
At first, the redemption rates were astonishingly good. Actually, I guess they fell into the “too good to be true” category, because they ended up getting pulled within a week, presumably due to the volume of people booking. The good news is that it’s still possible to redeem Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue, it’s just not quite as good of a deal.
Now that it has been several months and the dust has settled, I wanted to take a look at the value proposition of redeeming Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue, as it can still be a solid use of Avios.
In this post:
Qatar Airways award redemption rates on JetBlue
While JetBlue has quite a few airline partners, historically the airline hasn’t allowed many reciprocal redemption opportunities.
At the moment, Qatar Airways is the one partner that allows you to redeem for travel on JetBlue. Previously, both American AAdvantage and Emirates Skywards offered redemptions on JetBlue as well, but those opportunities have been discontinued. When you consider this opportunity, keep in mind that Qatar Airways Avios are easy to earn:
- It’s possible to move rewards between all “flavors” of Avios, so this is also a way to indirectly redeem British Airways Avios for JetBlue flights
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club directly partners with Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou
Unfortunately redemptions on JetBlue don’t follow the standard Qatar Airways Privilege Club partner award chart. While there’s no chart with the published pricing, here’s what I’m currently seeing in terms of award rates for one-way travel:
- For travel in Mint business class, pricing ranges from 74,000 to 78,000 Avios one-way; the 74,000 Avios price is for a domestic transcontinental flight, while the 78,000 Avios price is for a transatlantic flight
- For travel in economy, pricing ranges from 8,500 to 25,000 Avios one-way; the 8,500 Avios price is for the shortest domestic flight, while the 25,000 Avios price is for a transatlantic flight
- Note that in all cases, award pricing is per segment, and there are no carrier imposed surcharges
What’s award availability like? JetBlue award availability is tied to the following two fare classes when booking through Qatar Airways Privilege Club:
- JetBlue economy awards are available when there’s “P” class availability
- JetBlue Mint awards are available when there’s “I” class availability
Many flights, including transatlantic services, have seven or more business class award seats available, so this is a good opportunity for those seeking multiple award seats. There aren’t many ways to book JetBlue Mint efficiently, and redeeming Qatar Airways Avios will typically be a better deal than redeeming JetBlue TrueBlue points.
JetBlue Mint business class is also an exceptional product, whether you’re booking the “classic” product primarily used on domestic flights, or the new version primarily used on transatlantic flights.
The process of redeeming Avios on JetBlue
You can book award travel on JetBlue directly through Qatar Airways’ website, and it’s an easy process.
Once you’re logged into your Privilege Club account, just go to the booking page, select “Book an award flight,” and then enter your origin, destination, departure date, preferred cabin, and number of passengers.
There you’ll see all the options that are available. For example, a New York to London flight in business class costs 78,000 Avios plus $10.10 in taxes and fees. Not bad, especially when you consider how many award seats are available on some flights!
The same principle applies for domestic economy flights, where availability should also show up if JetBlue has award seats available.
Bottom line
It’s possible to redeem Qatar Airways Avios for travel on JetBlue, and it can be quite a good deal. This is a great opportunity to redeem all “flavors” of Avios on JetBlue. Best of all, award availability is very good, and there are no surcharges on these redemptions.
I wouldn’t call the redemption rates a bargain, but 78,000 Avios for a one-way transatlantic business class award is quite a good deal, especially given the availability.
What do you make of redeeming Qatar Airways Avios on JetBlue?
So, I'm trying to do a search on Qatar's website after logged into my privelege club account. Trying for LAS>BOS. If I try "book award flight" Las Vegas does not show up in the "From" box. (I must select from a dropdown that populates. I can't just enter LAS).
So then I try the "Flights with other partners" tab and select JetBlue. That one allows me to select Las Vegas in the "From" section,...
So, I'm trying to do a search on Qatar's website after logged into my privelege club account. Trying for LAS>BOS. If I try "book award flight" Las Vegas does not show up in the "From" box. (I must select from a dropdown that populates. I can't just enter LAS).
So then I try the "Flights with other partners" tab and select JetBlue. That one allows me to select Las Vegas in the "From" section, but not Boston in the "To" section. (Again, I must select from an autopopulated dropdown list after I start typing).
There is definitely availability in Mint on JetBlue's website for the dates that I'm searching.
Any thoughts on why you can't search certain city pairs?
Has anybody actually been able to perform a search on Qatar's website...? Been trying for months now and even if you're able to get past the login screen (keeps erroring out, then you have to prove you're not a robot by selecting the crosswalk images for 15 hours, then you have to reset your password which somehow is *too* secure for their system, then finally you have to log in and enter a texted number...
Has anybody actually been able to perform a search on Qatar's website...? Been trying for months now and even if you're able to get past the login screen (keeps erroring out, then you have to prove you're not a robot by selecting the crosswalk images for 15 hours, then you have to reset your password which somehow is *too* secure for their system, then finally you have to log in and enter a texted number which comes at the 59th second out of 60 seconds allowed) I just get stuck at the search function which never completes. Tried on multiple browsers.
It seems to me - though maybe I'm doing it incorrectly - that you can only see Jetblue inventory on Qatar's website if you already have the requisite number of points in your account. Is that right? Every search I run comes back with zero results and a message saying "You need 78000 points for this trip." I even ran the exact dates you have in the article and get the same message.
Beats 410,000 miles one way on Delta!
What the cancellation policy is if booking JetBlue using Qatar Avios?
While the amount of points seems to be high, I could see value in this, if you’re effectively getting close to a refundable fare.
So 74k-78k Avios, vs how many True Blue points. Given that TB points are at a fixed value (say $0.015), that translates to a cash equivalent fare of $1,170 for an Avios redemption at 78K.
Be helpful to provide that as a comparison/baseline for those people who have the option of transferring points.
Good point; although for Mint the fixed value is closer to $0.013, so the breakeven point where you're better off transferring points to TB vs Avios is $1014, give or take. And at that point, if you have the Biz Plat or Chase Sapphire Reserve, then you're better off just booking through the credit card travel portal and paying with points vs transferring the points to TB.
So I just bought some Avios a week ago when they had 40% bonus and been trying to book JAL flights that I see available with either First or J on Qatar’s site/app but without any luck. Apparently, and I didn’t know that, when you book you are actually sending a request and they have to check the space. Once I figured that out, I sent a request and waited almost a week before I...
So I just bought some Avios a week ago when they had 40% bonus and been trying to book JAL flights that I see available with either First or J on Qatar’s site/app but without any luck. Apparently, and I didn’t know that, when you book you are actually sending a request and they have to check the space. Once I figured that out, I sent a request and waited almost a week before I called/chatted with them. Their agents are 100% useless (I’m silver with them), I ended up opening 5 or 6 other requests all gone unanswered until this AM where they blasted me with refusal on all of them due to “unable to confirm a seat”
I get it but their site and their process are misleading at best. Their (un)Privileged Club customer support is beyond horrible. I feel like I’m stuck with these points after paying for them and most likely I’ll have to waste them on AA or JetBlue flights (which by the way don’t show international routes from the app)
I've used QR's website to book QR flights, which can be done online (QR bookings aren't "requests" requiring later contact) and the process was satisfactory. On two different bookings, I needed to contact QR for changes. On one, I used LiveChat and the service was very good and competent, with my desired result achieved in one session. In the other case, I phoned and again the result I wanted was achieved in one call. So,...
I've used QR's website to book QR flights, which can be done online (QR bookings aren't "requests" requiring later contact) and the process was satisfactory. On two different bookings, I needed to contact QR for changes. On one, I used LiveChat and the service was very good and competent, with my desired result achieved in one session. In the other case, I phoned and again the result I wanted was achieved in one call. So, based upon my two direct experiences with Customer Support, my rating is 4/5, not "beyond horrible" as you rate them.
Transfer it to BA and book it via there. The Avios amount is the same and the taxes are better there.