The JetBlue Card is a good entry-level airline credit card for travelers who fly JetBlue regularly, don’t care about rich benefits and want to avoid an annual fee.
The Barclays JetBlue Card offers several attractive benefits, including an intro APR on balance transfers and a $0 annual fee. The card may be worth it for regular JetBlue flyers who travel the airline once or twice a year, but not enough to justify paying an annual fee. While the card doesn’t offer free checked bags, you do get half off in-flight food and drink purchases, which is a nice perk.
If you fly JetBlue more than twice a year, you may want to consider the JetBlue Plus Card which offers more perks, including free checked bags. The annual fee is canceled out by the extra rewards and benefits if you spend enough on JetBlue each year.
Still, many travelers may find more value in the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or another top general purpose travel credit card. As long as you’re going to pay an annual fee, you may be better served by the added flexibility, the ability to maximize rewards through a large number of transfer partners and the available travel insurance benefits.
Intro Purchase APR
N/A
Regular Purchase APR
21.24%, 25.24% or 29.99% variable
Intro BT APR
0% introductory APR for the first twelve billing cycles following each balance transfer that posts to your account within 45 days of account opening.
Regular BT APR
21.24%, 25.24% or 29.99% variable
Annual Fee
$0
Cash Advance Fee
The greater of $10 or 5% of the transfer
Foreign Transaction Fee
$0
Balance Transfer Fee
either $5 or 3% of the amount transferred, whichever is greater
The JetBlue Card is a solid choice for JetBlue travelers who don’t fly the airline enough to justify paying an annual fee. The card is an especially good option for cardholders who also have high-interest debt on another card and are looking for a zero-percent balance transfer deal.
But this JetBlue Card has a number of drawbacks — including the fact that you get far fewer benefits than you’d get with the $99-annual-fee JetBlue Plus Card. For example, you won’t get any free checked bags on flights with this card, a common perk offered by many airline credit cards.
What kind of welcome offer do you get on the JetBlue Card? Earn 10,000 bonus points after making $1,000 in purchases within 90 days of account opening.
This sign-up bonus is worth less than $200 in airfare, but you may be able to eke a cheap domestic plane ticket out of it. For example, we found a coach flight from New York to Los Angeles for 9,900 JetBlue points.
This offer is very low compared with the sign-up bonuses on most of the top travel credit cards, including the JetBlue Plus Card. Plus, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which also has an annual fee, offers one of the best sign-up bonuses around, with flexible points that you can use on many airlines.
What it’s worth: Around $160 in JetBlue airfare
Who’s eligible to earn this offer? To qualify, you must live in the United States. You may not be eligible if you already have a JetBlue Card or had one in the past.
The JetBlue Card offers good earnings on JetBlue purchases, and a decent rate on dining and grocery shopping.
Earn 3x points on eligible JetBlue purchases, 2x points at restaurants and grocery stores and 1x points on all other purchases.
The JetBlue Card has a competitive rewards earnings rate, particularly for a $0-annual-fee card, and sits squarely in the middle of the pack when compared with other top travel cards. For example, both the American Express® Gold Card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card beat the JetBlue Card on rewards earnings rate, but the JetBlue Card comes out on top when compared to other popular airline cards.
To estimate a rewards earnings rate per dollar spent for the average consumer, we used U.S. Bureau of Labor spending data and multiplied it by the value of each card’s points or miles. Here’s how the JetBlue Card stacks up:
Average rewards earned per $1 spent
It’s also important to note that with the recent partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines, you can choose to earn JetBlue points for your flight when you fly American Airlines, and vice versa.
We peg the value of JetBlue points at an average of 1.6 cents per point, compared with an average value of 1.3 cents per mile or point for airline programs overall. This means that JetBlue points are worth about 30% more than the average airline mile or point (1.3 points), with a higher value for points or miles than American, United, Delta and Southwest.
Booking a JetBlue ticket with your rewards is pretty easy. You simply search for a flight at JetBlue.com, or on the mobile app, and click the “TrueBlue points” circle to see prices in points.
The cost of JetBlue award flights depends on the type of fare, the route, the time of year and whether you’re flying coach or first class. You can find tickets for less than 10,000 JetBlue points up to over 100,000 JetBlue points.
You’ll have a few different fares to choose from, and they cost different amounts of JetBlue points. Here are the main differences between them (note that the fare rules are different for JetBlue Plus Card and JetBlue Business Cardholders, and for JetBlue elite flyers, known as Mosaics):
Examples of JetBlue redemptions that would offer good value include:
There are plenty of good values to be had on JetBlue, for both domestic and international flights, so it’s not hard to maximize your JetBlue points.
In addition to allowing you to earn and redeem JetBlue points faster, the JetBlue Card also offers other benefits — these include discounts and a balance transfer deal.
Get half off in-flight food and drink purchases as a credit on your account, which you’ll receive four to six weeks after the purchase is posted. In-flight purchases eligible for the discount include meals, beer, wine and cocktails; you won’t get the discount on other in-flight items, such as earbuds, pillows or seat upgrades.
Points Pooling is a free program from JetBlue that lets you form a group of up to seven TrueBlue members. All the members’ points automatically go into one big pool, then the person designated as the “pool leader” can then choose anyone in the group to redeem JetBlue points in the pool.
The JetBlue Card offers a 0% introductory APR for the first twelve billing cycles following each balance transfer that posts to your account within 45 days of account opening. on balance transfers that post to your account within 45 days of opening (after which an APR of 21.24%, 25.24% or 29.99% variable applies). This allows you to pay down high-interest credit card debt faster and to pay less interest overall while also reaping the other benefits of an airline credit card.
The JetBlue Card doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees, which makes it a good choice to use for international travel. A foreign transaction fee (FX fee) is a surcharge (typically, up to 3%) that some cards tack onto purchases made outside of the United States. Always travel with a card that doesn’t charge these fees to avoid this unnecessary upcharge on your international trips.
| Credit Cards | Annual Fee | Rewards Rate | Welcome Offer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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JetBlue Card
Review Coming Soon
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$0 | Earn 3x points on eligible JetBlue purchases, 2x points at restaurants and grocery stores and 1x points on all other purchases. | Earn 10,000 bonus points after making $1,000 in purchases within 90 days of account opening. | Review Coming Soon |
|
JetBlue Plus Card
Review Coming Soon
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$99 | Earn 6x points on eligible JetBlue purchases, 2x points at restaurants and eligible grocery stores and 1x points on all other purchases. | Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days. | Review Coming Soon |
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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Review Coming Soon
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$99 | Receive 6,000 anniversary points each year. Enjoy benefits including 3X points on Southwest® purchases, 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare, 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming, 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year, 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points boost each year, and more. | Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | Review Coming Soon |
|
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
|
$95 | Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other travel purchases, and $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, plus more. | Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. |
The JetBlue Plus Card provides double the rate of rewards on JetBlue purchases — Earn 6x points on eligible JetBlue purchases, 2x points at restaurants and eligible grocery stores and 1x points on all other purchases. — and also offers better airline benefits like a free first checked bag. If you fly JetBlue often, these additional benefits can easily justify the fee.
How does it compare?
How does it compare?
The only downside? The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card charges an annual fee.
How does it compare?
The JetBlue Card generally is aimed at consumers who have a credit score of at least Excellent/Good. However, having a score in this range doesn’t guarantee you’ll be approved for a JetBlue Card, as credit card companies will consider a variety of factors in addition to credit score.
You can get a free coach domestic flight on JetBlue for less than 10,000 JetBlue points. We’ve found that round-trip award flights on JetBlue range from less than 10,000 points to almost 120,000 points or more, depending on the route, time of year, class of fare and other factors.
A JetBlue Card offers a welcome bonus and extra rewards earnings on JetBlue purchases, at restaurants and grocery stores and through the JetBlue shopping portal. You also can get an introductory APR on balance transfers, as well as airline benefits and perks that include 50% off in-flight food and drink purchases.
To check the status of your JetBlue Card application, visit the Barclaycard check application status page. You’ll have to type in your last name, the last four digits of your Social Security number, your zip code and your email address. Then click the “check status” button to see where you stand.
There’s no way for U.S. consumers to prequalify for a JetBlue Card. However, some consumers may get an offer either electronically or in the mail. While this is no guarantee that you’ll qualify, it may be a good sign. The best way to gauge your eligibility is to check your credit history and score before you apply.
The $0-annual-fee JetBlue Card doesn’t offer a free checked bag. However, the JetBlue Plus Card, which charges an annual fee of $99 a year, does offer a free first checked bag for you and up to three travel companions on the same reservation. To get the benefit, you’ll need to use your JetBlue Plus Card to buy the tickets.
JetBlue Card do not offer car rental insurance — that’s true of both the $0-annual-fee JetBlue Card and the $99-annual-fee JetBlue Plus Card. Car rental insurance is a common benefit on travel credit cards, especially those that charge an annual fee. If this benefit is important to you, consider one of our top travel credit cards, many of which offer auto rental insurance.
The information related to the JetBlue Card has been independently collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication.
