My husband received an award ticket from JetBlue last summer, and has been a holder of their Amex card for about a year, which I believe allows members to keep their points/award tickets without expiration (at least in their T&C's last year). He recently logged into his account to find that his award ticket expires this May, due to changes in JetBlue's award system, and a call to customer service did not resolve anything.

We are expecting our first child in May and do not plan to do any air travel for the rest of the year. Am I remembering the JB Amex award/point expiration rule correctly? Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? Thank you.

I am in the exact same boat as you and have spent FOREVER on the telephone (mostly on hold) with those jerks over at JetBlue trying to use my passes before they expire. Like your husband, I was under the impression that as long as I kept my Amex (and paid the dumb $40 fee each year), I could keep the passes. Nope, they expire next month and I cannot even book online - I have to call JetBlue and the hold times are 30+ miinutes. Plus I do not know where to go as they don't fly anywhere I need to go.

Tried to use them to fly to Cali over New Years Weekend and they said there were no award seats - so I could not redeem them then.

I am glad I am not the only one who "misunderstood" JetBlue's policy. I was pretty sure they sold me one thing, and , like you and your husband, got another.

My plan is to redeem the passes for the most expensive ticket and just pay the change fee to change the tickets when I need them.

Thinking about just redeeeming the passes

I spent about 5 minutes at the True Blue webpages and found:

"<b>Points</b> don't expire: Just fly JetBlue, or use the JetBlue Card from American Express®, at least once in a 12-month period."

The emphasis on points is mine, the statement says nothing about award ticket expiration. It just says that you can keep points from expiring.

"Once an Award Flight is booked using Points, it may only be cancelled prior to scheduled departure by calling 1-800-JETBLUE, TTY/TDD 1-800-336-5530, and paying a $100 cancellation fee. Points will then be re-deposited to the Member's Account. Points used to purchase the Award Flight will be automatically forfeited if a passenger does not cancel prior to scheduled departure."

I suppose that both of you canceled the reservations before scheduled departure but kept the award ticket instead of paying the fee to redeposit the points? Then you should still be able to pay the fee and redeposit the points.

You probably got the info that the award ticket is good for one year from date that it was issued. I think that applies to all tix from all airlines. If you make new reservations with the existing ticket then travel will have to be completed by the original ticketing/booking date (not the original reservation travel date).

It may be that you forfeit the points if you don't cancel the ticket and redeposit the points within one year from the ticketing date. It might be possible to still redeposit after the ticket expires, but I wouldn't count on it.

Mrwunfrl, you are citing the new program. Jetblue changed it's program last fall I believe. The old program, under which we earned our award passes and signed up for the credit card, expired. So, you advice applies to the new porgram, not the old one.

So, our problem is not that we didn't bother to read the fine print for the current program. We read the fine print for the old program. It makes no sense that your points don't expire, but your passes (free one-way ticket) under the old program are good for only one year apparently. That doesn't really make sense. If they sell you a credit card saying your points won't ever expire as long as you keep charging, then wht shouldn't your passes (which were 100 points under the old program) be under the same rules???

We can never redeem our award passes under the old program for points, under either the old scheme or the new one. If we don't book a flight before expiration, we just cannot use them. The only thing we can do is book a flight and then pay the $100 change fee for a new flight (since neither of us have upcoming travel plans).

I am going to cancel the dumb JetBlue card and demand a $40 credit for this nonsense.

"We can never redeem our award passes under the old program for points, ...".

What makes you think that is true?

Um, a LOT of time arguing with JetBlue reps. Despite telling us that our awards won't expire as long as we use the card two years ago, now apparently award passes under the old system expire one year after they are earned and you cannot convert them to points under the new system. That's what JetBlue told me.

Mtwunrfl - has JetBlue told you otherwise?

This is the second time some fodorite has lambasted me for "not reading the fine print" and jumped on the website eagerly to "prove" this. (See my Shangri-La trip report). I am kind of not OK with. Why do some of you old-timers assume that us younger members don't do our homework?

Sorry, but I have to respond to mrwunfrl's assumptions:

"Once an Award Flight is booked using Points, it may only be cancelled prior to scheduled departure by calling 1-800-JETBLUE, TTY/TDD 1-800-336-5530, and paying a $100 cancellation fee. Points will then be re-deposited to the Member's Account. Points used to purchase the Award Flight will be automatically forfeited if a passenger does not cancel prior to scheduled departure."

Maybe - but this is the old system. We didn't earn our free flights under the points system. Under the old system, 50 points = one free flight anywhere. Under the advertising, your points didn;t expire as long as you use the card. So, if you had 100 points (2 one-ways) it would have been the same as having 60,000 AA miles on whatever airline). Now, under the new system, the free tickets you earn expire a year from when you earned them - even if you haven't booked anything. That's not like other airlines. For example, 60K on AA is good for a free roundtrip to Asia in the offseason. Until I use them, they don't expire, as long as I use my AA card.

"I suppose that both of you canceled the reservations before scheduled departure but kept the award ticket instead of paying the fee to redeposit the points? Then you should still be able to pay the fee and redeposit the points."

No, you pay the fee and change the tickets, You cannot keep the points.

"You probably got the info that the award ticket is good for one year from date that it was issued. I think that applies to all tix from all airlines. If you make new reservations with the existing ticket then travel will have to be completed by the original ticketing/booking date (not the original reservation travel date)."

Again, no. Travel does not have to be completed by a year, just booked. Also, I didn't book an award ticket. I earned one, just like I would have earned 30K or 60K on AA. I don't have a ticket booked. So why should it expire, as long as I use my card?

"It may be that you forfeit the points if you don't cancel the ticket and redeposit the points within one year from the ticketing date. It might be possible to still redeposit after the ticket expires, but I wouldn't count on it."

No, that is not the case. If I don't book by March 8, I lose the two passes. I don't redeposit. I don't keep ANYTHING.

To add to my stress, every day JetBlue emails me to tell me my passes are expiring - except I can't book award travel online and their phone are tied up constantly with their "new computer system" and I don't have all day to sit on the phone with them and see where I want to go.

For the record, I tried to redeem the passes over the Christmas holidays as soon as they started this "use it or lose it" nonsense - and of course, everything was booked.
Now, I cannot even book online and see what award flights are available. I have to sit on hold with JetBlue.

I wasn't lambasting anyone, just asking questions. And I have no idea whether you are young or old. One, or both, of us are confused by terms.

"For example, 60K [miles] on AA is good for a free roundtrip [ticket] to Asia in the offseason. Until I use [redeem] them [the points], they don't expire, as long as I use my AA card."

Agreed. But, when you use (i.e. redeem) the points for an AA award ticket, that airline ticket will be good for one year. The new True Blue system is the same.

"Also, I didn't book an award ticket. I earned one, just like I would have earned 30K or 60K on AA."

No. You earned points on jetBlue, like you would have earned 30K or 60K [miles] on AA. Points/miles are earned, then reservations are booked, and then tickets are issued.

Good luck.

Here's where you misunderstand JetBlue's old system.

"Agreed. But, when you use (i.e. redeem) the points for an AA award ticket, that airline ticket will be good for one year. The new True Blue system is the same."

Under JetBlue's old program, once you earned enough points for a free ticket (eg 30K or 60K on AA), then you have two "passes." Those passes apparently expired a year, or at least under the new policy, they expire after a year, whether or not you have redeemed them. That is why jetblue's old system differed than other airlines and that is why there was an incentive to have the credit card.

Now, things have changed and they have moved to a points system like other airlines. People who earned passes under the old program, like me and the OP, are now out of luck.

I think I am going to San Diego!

Excellent, have a nice trip!