In early November I came across some very important information regarding jetBlue’s mileage program- TrueBlue.                                                                       

I had a little over 25,000 TrueBlue points in my account (thanks to the jetBlue Amex card sign up bonus) that were going to expire on December 31. There isn’t any dining or shopping program affiliated with JetBlue. I figured that I could just transfer a small amount of American Express Membership Rewards points to my TrueBlue account to extend the expiration date.

While chatting with my brother, I told him my plan to keep my TrueBlue account active. He told me that he had heard that transfering points would not help to extend my account’s points from expiring!

I was totally surprised by this information. I checked online and called JetBlue. They had confirmed that what my brother had said was true.

The only ways to keep jetBlue points from expiring is:

1. Earn points by flying 
2. Use your jetBlue American Express card on eligible purchases

Earning points by either of these methods must be done at least once in a 12 month period.

I wasn’t looking to pay for a flight on jetBlue and I no longer had the JB Amex card so I had to get creative and use these miles before I lost them.

My original plan was to find a flight for Kim and I that would be covered by my TrueBlue miles. I searched quite a bit and didn’t come up with much. I found flights from NYC to Portland, Maine or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but we decided against these options. 

I had to start thinking of some other ideas and decided to use my points towards a trip to New Orleans for May 2013.

I booked a flight on Southwest from New York to New Orleans for 9,600 points thanks to the SW Companion Pass. For the flight home I booked the flight from New Orleans back to New York with my jetBlue points.

In the end, I still have around 4,000 TrueBlue points left. Odds are they will just expire but at least I found a good way to put most of my points to use.

This is just a friendly reminder that if you have jetBlue points expiring soon be careful. If you don’t have the jetBlue Amex or plan to purchase a JB flight soon, you better start thinking about booking a flight with your points. 

Use ’em or lose ’em…