JetBlue and United deal lets fliers use miles with either airline

Washington Post

4 days ago

United Airlines and JetBlue Airways unveiled a partnership Thursday that expands flight options for travelers in the Northeast.
The new pact, dubbed 'Blue Sky' by the airlines, will link United's MileagePlus and JetBlue's TrueBlue loyalty programs, allowing members of each to earn and redeem points on either carrier's flights, as soon as this fall. And, in 2027, United will return to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport; it stopped flights there in 2015 except for a brief return from 2021 to 2022.
The partnership shifts the air travel landscape in the Northeast, particularly in New York. United and JetBlue loyalists will, for the first time, be able to take their loyalty — and hard-earned perks — and fly the other airline. That represents an expansion of travel options for those fliers at the expense of competitors.
JetBlue loyalists will gain access to United's broad global network that encompasses nearly six times as many flights as than the New York-based airline. And United frequent fliers get the option of JetBlue's schedule from New York's JFK airport, long a gap on the legacy airline's map and an increasingly important option amid the delays related to air traffic control at United's main New York airport, Newark.
The announcement ends months of speculation over whom JetBlue would link up with following the end of its Northeast Alliance with American Airlines in 2023 and its unsuccessful merger with Spirit Airlines in 2024. The airlines' agreement is subject to regulatory approval but is expected to clear those hurdles under the Trump administration.
United and JetBlue together operated more than a third of all flights from New York's three main airports — JFK, LaGuardia and Newark — in May, schedule data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows. Their closest competitor, Delta Air Lines, operates roughly 30 percent of flights.
Tom Fitzgerald, an airline analyst at investment bank TD Cowen, wrote at the end of April amid speculation of a United-JetBlue merger that if United could land a deal it would represent a 'major competitive coup.'
'It would make [United] by far the dominant carrier in NYC, give them a small hub in Boston, and close one of the few gaps in their network (Florida and the Caribbean),' he wrote.
The partnership unveiled Thursday is not quite as expansive as the potential merger Fitzgerald envisioned but includes upsides for consumers. United will initially offer seven flights provided by JetBlue at JFK. In return, JetBlue will gain eight flights from United at Newark.
Clint Henderson, the travel editor at the Points Guy, said he likes that 'elites will get access to a few perks on both airlines.'
He noted that there are a few gaps in the loyalty side of the partnership, including a lack of upgrades or lounge access for either United or JetBlue's most frequent fliers.
Ahmed Abdelghany, an associate dean in the business school at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, said in an email that the deal significantly expands JetBlue's reach.
'This dramatically expands JetBlue's global connectivity, allowing customers to travel beyond the carrier's traditionally leisure-focused footprint,' he wrote.
JetBlue President Marty St. George told investors in April that the airline wanted a deal that could get its customers to places like 'Omaha or Boise,' neither of which it flies to itself.
Katy Nastro, a spokesperson for the cheap-flight service Going, called United's new JFK flights the 'juiciest' part of the new partnership but wondered if there is more to come.
'This is really the start,' she said. 'Okay, they've defined their relationship but are they going to get engaged? Are they going to get married? This could lead to bigger things.'