Arguably the greatest frequent flyer offer ever was when the KLM Flying Dutchman program offered not just to match elite status in another frequent flyer program, but also account balances (flights on KLM or partners were required for this).
US residents were excluded from the promotion because back then because US residents were sent over to the Northwest Worldperks program. It was sometimes challenging to virtually ‘move’ to Europe back then because several US airline programs gave their non-local top elite members complimentary club memberships because Europe and Asia-based programs offered lounge access to their elites. Still, many did it and received millions of miles (that were then moved into Flying Blue) as a result.
This effort won Best Promotion at the Freddie Awards in April 2003 in Colorado Springs and upon accepting, KLM told the crowd of assembled loyalty executives that they got many of those other programs’ members through the promotion.
You can imagine my excitement at the new JetBlue Pointmatch promotion.
JetBlue will match whatever balance is in your Virgin America Elevate account by July 4 (up to 50,001 points but and in some cases matched better than 1:1) if you take a single roundtrip with them by August 31.
Here’s the earning table:
The great news here, of course, is:
- that you have 10 days to get points into a Virgin America account.
- that American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest all transfer to Virgin America Elevate
Citi and American Express transfer 2:1. Starwood transfers 1:1 with a bonus, so 40,001 Starpoints yields 50,001 Virgin America points.
By transferring points to Virgin America for a balance of 50,001 or more and taking one roundtrip you’ll get those 50,000 Virgin America points plus 75,000 JetBlue points. That’s leverage.
At a value of 1.4 cents apiece, 75,000 JetBlue points are worth over $1000. Who said mileage runs are dead? (At least for folks who live in a city served by JetBlue.)
The goal is to ensure you have 50,001 points in your Elevate account by July 4. Then:
- Take a screen shot of your Virgin America account dashboard and email it to pointsmatch@jetblue.com by July 4.
- “Screenshots must include first name, last name, and points balance.”
- Include your JetBlue TrueBlue account number in the email.
You’ll receive an email confirming your registration for the promotion once JetBlue reviews your submission. Then book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by August 31.
Virgin America miles can be really valuable and will wind up transferred to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan at some point, perhaps a year and a half from now, if you don’t use them first (and hopefully at a rate of 1:2).
Terms and conditions:
This offer is available to new or existing TrueBlue members. To qualify, members must send an email including their TrueBlue number and a picture of their Elevate® account dashboard showing first name, last name, and points balance to pointsmatch@jetblue.com by 7/4/2016, await receipt of an email to confirm registration for the promotion and then book new roundtrip flights operated by JetBlue and completed all travel by 08/31/2016. Number of points awarded will be based on Elevate® points balance evidenced by submitted proof. Proof is are subject to verification. TrueBlue number must be provided at the time of booking. Offer can only be redeemed one (1) time by any individual. Points awarded in conjunction with this promotion are considered bonus points and do not count towards earning Mosaic status. Offer does not apply to non-revenue travel; is not valid on flights operated by airline partners; is not valid in connection with any Getaways vacation packages, cruises, or any other product or service and may not be combined with other special offers. In the event you cancel your reservation or change your reservation so that it no longer complies with the terms of this offer, you will not receive any of the promotion bonus points. TrueBlue points will be awarded within 4-6 weeks after round-trip flight. Offer can be cancelled or modified at any time. TrueBlue Terms and Conditions apply.
(HT: The Points Guy)
Gary,
Any thoughts on how this might work (to huge further benefits) for those of us with family pooling turned on where every member has an elevate account? For example, I can transfer into elevate from TY and my wife from AMEX, each into our respective elevate accounts, would we then be able to individually get the bonus deal, and have it all pooled into one account?
Do you know what the transfer time frame is for the various programs to VX?
@Jed as long as you can show a Virgin America account with the requisite points in your screen shot that person who owns the account should also be eligible for the promotion with JetBlue whereby taking a flight will match their miles up to 75,000 TruBlue points.
@Gary-
Thanks- If I do this for 5 family members on my trueblue family share, I will have approximately 250K elevate points (and 375K bonus trueblue points) sitting and waiting to be moved over to Alaska when all that goes through – is that too much risk?
Based on your point valuations, can you rank of the three, which is to best transfer from? Amex, Citi or Starwood? Thanks!
@ie (1) Starwood [thanks to the 1:1 ratio], (2) Citi [because I value a citi point a bit less than an amex point], (3) Amex
I wonder what they consider a “round trip”?
A friend had their points match denied that had no flights segments or credits. The account only had points in it from a previous Amex transfer. Be warned. YMMV.
Saw I can do a $69/each way JFK/Bos flight, this is going to be sweet. Got this within 2 hours after sending the screen shot.
You are now registered for #GoForthWithJetBlue Points Match!
Way to let your independent flag fly! To take advantage of the #GoForthWithJetBlue Points Match and earn your bonus TrueBlue points, just book and take a roundtrip JetBlue flight by August 31, 2016.
Once you fly, your points will automatically be added to your TrueBlue account within 4 – 6 weeks.
Thanks again for spreading your wings!
See you onboard soon,
The TrueBlue Team
I call BS on John!!! Another jerk commenter deliberately posting misinformation to keep deals to themselves!
The terms and conditions do not require a flight segment. The screen shot won’t show whether or not there’s a flight segment. JetBlue isn’t denying submissions yet on a promotion that’s only a few hours old.
Ducky Mark, if you send a screenshot the way JetBlue asks you to, the screenshot definitely will show the number of segments you have have flown on Virgin America. I dunno. I have zero segments, did it about 11:30, and haven’t heard back yet.
brteacher, and others. This will definitely be an interesting issue to follow up on. Please update us when you hear back from Jetblue, or if others have successfully registered the promotion without a segment on Virgin America.
I got confirmed for this by JetBlue and have 0 Virgin America segments. There is no segment requirement.
any idea if the names need to match for an spg transfer? i know its inconsistent for each partner…
thanks
I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is this really such a great deal, in terms of opportunity costs of using say, 50,000 Amex, Starwood or ThankYou points for other purposes (especially international premium cabin trips on non-Alaska partners)? The main value might be the Virgin America miles, if they convert to Alaska miles at a good rate down the line. But the JetBlue miles are worth far less: a handful of economy domestic flights or a one-way Mint flight.
I haven’t thought through all of the ramifications of this, so please correct me if I’m wrong. But I wonder if this is really such a great deal for everyone or even for most folks.
@Steve-
I’ve found the value of TB points in multi-person redemptions. For example, in anything but extremely low demand environments, you can’t find 5 award seats on the same flight on relatively short nice (say within 30 days). With Jetblue, you’re much more likely to find midpriced tickets on medium load flights. Value wise they are perhaps lower value than booking the theoretical saver awards (if they were ever available in that quantity), but much better value than burning anytime awards. I’ve also found from practical use that you get the flight you want as opposed to fitting your plans to the available seats.
Gary,
May I ask why you didn’t use the words “Virgin America” in your title? I read thinking, holy shit! I’m gonna get 300,000 miles from B6 when they match my AA balance!
And then I had to read a bit about KLM and European programs to find out that B6’s match is limited to a rather obscure program… that I’d have to transfer miles into from a transferable currency.
@Dan Virgin America didn’t seem to be a limiting factor with 3 transfer partners, I was running out the door with my wife to lunch when i wrote it, and the stuff about KLM was what was most interesting to me sorry it seemed like something you had to read through. I’m often just a bit stream of consciousness and free association!
Well, here goes: 20,000 from Starwood (=25000 in VX), + 8000 TU Points (=4000 in VX), and I’m above 50,000 VX points. Neither of these currencies transfer immediately, but “can take up to 14 days.” HOPEFULLY this gets done in time, and HOPEFULLY JetBlue doesn’t pull this offer. I’ve had several VX flights this year, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Counting on you, Gary. It was painful to see my depleted SPG balance lowered by 20k, and the Citi TU transfer ratio is such a rip…..
Well, the first 4,000 points from Citi Thank You transferred over in under an hour. So far, so good. Now we’ll see how long Starwood takes…….
Folks, don’t blindly jump on this one…JetBlue miles are not worth that much and Virgin America miles have very limited usage.
Sure, VA miles will become AS miles eventually, but by the time that happens, I’m 99% sure AS will have devalued its award charts at that point, making VA to AS transfers pointless.
With Citi Thank you points, you are only getting .5 mile per point – vs. several other airlines that you can do a 1:1 transfer. Is it worth it to transfer Citi Thank you rewards in to Virgin?
All 50,000 points show on VX’s summary, and it was emailed off — no response from JetBlue after 14 hours.
SST did you ever here back from JB. I sumbnitted at 10:30a on 6/28 and have not yet received a reply.
Nope. Still waiting as of Wednesday, from an early Sunday submission.
If you would Pls. post if you hear back and I will do the same.
Finally, I got a response: I am not approved, try again. What crap. I replied again now, sending the VX screen shots showing my balance, asking to know what is missing. My name matches. Can’t believe it.
@SST – from what email address did the response come? I want to be sure I don’t miss something that goes to spam.
And did you hear back about what was ‘missing’?
Finally went and called just now: they said to NOT send a copy of the screen(s) off a phone or tablet. They are requiring a screenshot from a DESKTOP which has your FULL NAME and mileage balance in the upper right corner, which neither my phone nor ipad will do. Went to a desktop, got the screenshot they wanted, Made a PDF and sent it in. They confirmed that I now could book a Jet Blue flight and have it count, and said the confirmation will be along “in a couple of days”. At this point, I don’t trust them, but I need to schedule some work flying, so I’ll hope for the best.
Had submitted separate proofs for myself and my wife. Called Jet Blue and after 10 minutes on hold came back and said they’re running behind on responses but they had put a note in my file and I could go ahead and book my flight. Then had my wife call regarding her account. Different agent also said they were running behind but could not do anything to expedite the process. Told agent she was hoping to book before fare sale ended tonight. Put us on hold for 6 minutes. When she came back told us we needed to wait for email confirmation before booking. So I would say book at your own risk. I’m going to book now. Hope we hear back tomorrow. Then call and confirm eligibility. If they say no, I can cancel under the 24 hr cancellation policy and rebook (probably at a higher fare)
Got my confirmation email at 5:30. Still waiting on my wife’s. Came from pointsmatch@jetblue.com email address titled: “It’s a match – you’re registered!”