JetBlue has officially switched up its “Family Pooling” program for TrueBlue miles, now allowing pools of up to seven friends, family members or even complete strangers.
Now called “Points Pooling,” the switchover took effect last week. And this expansion beyond family members makes it one of the most generous structures to pool miles out there. Read on to learn how jetBlue’s new Points Pooling works.
All About Points Pooling
JetBlue is one of just a handful of airlines that allow customers to pool and share points. Many other airlines charge you to transfer miles between accounts – and often an exorbitant amount.
So while jetBlue’s previous pooling setup for families was already generous, this just takes it another step. That squares with jetBlue’s reputation as a whole: It’s the “budget” airline that offers more legroom, and free WiFi from gate to gate. Even its upcoming basic economy fares should lead the pack in generosity among domestic airlines.
“We broke ground with our original family pooling option and we’re continuing to innovate with the new, more flexible version,” Marty St George, the airline’s executive vice president of commercial and planning, said in a statement. “Customers determine the pool that works best for them, helping points rack up even faster with a program that’s even easier to manage.”
Take a look at some basics behind the new Points Pooling feature:
How to Use jetBlue Points Pooling
If you already had some pooled miles with your family, don’t fret. These have been automatically converted to the new setup, miles and all. The ability to add up to seven total members of a pool, no matter whether they’re family or friends, is a great addition. It’s more generous both in the size of the pool and who can be added.
There’s also a major change in who can use the pooled miles. Before, only a “head of household” could manage the pool and use pooled miles to book flights. Now, the new “Pool Leader” can decide which members can use pooled miles to book reward flights.
However, that comes at the cost of some flexibility. Whereas pool members could previously decide how much of their miles they’d contribute to a pool, 100% of pool members’ miles are now added to the pool account.
With that, some other important aspects to keep in mind:
- TrueBlue members can only be part of one pool
- Pool leaders must be 21 or older
- Pool leaders can remove members and designate which members can
- Members can leave a pool at any time, taking unused miles with them
To access Points Pooling, just sign into your jetBlue account and click the True Blue icon on the main menu. This is where you can start a new pool or manage your existing pool.
Our Analysis
There are few absolute truths in the ever-changing aviation world, but here are two: Airlines will make it harder to use your miles, and they’ll get less valuable over time.
So it’s refreshing to see jetBlue change things up and make its pooling program more generous. The ability to add up to seven members to a points pool is good, but it’s the expansion beyond family members that makes this great.
To underscore that, Sun Country is in the midst of going the opposite way. While the Minnesota-based low-cost carrier overhauls its frequent flyer program, it’s eliminating points pools altogether – with hopes of reintroducing a similar structure that restricts pool members to families.
Bottom Line
Given how many airlines make it nearly impossible – or impractical – to transfer miles between accounts, this is a win for jetBlue flyers.