JetBlue Virgin Elevate Points Match
JetBlue announced that they will match Virgin Elevate balances for members who book a flight on JetBlue. I’ll show you why this has the potential to be a huge deal and why you may want to consider transferring over points.
The Offer
Show us your Elevate® Points balance by 7/4/2016, then book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by 08/31/16 and we’ll match (or give you more) TrueBlue points!
How to Request a Match
- Elevate® members must email a screenshot of their account dashboard to pointsmatch@jetblue.com by 7/4/2016. Screenshots must include first name, last name, and points balance.
- Please include your TrueBlue number in the email. If you are not a TrueBlue member yet, sign up now.
- Once we assess your balance and eligibility, we’ll email you to let you know if you’re officially registered for the promotion.
Then book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by 08/31/16.
You can find the full terms and eligibility requirements here.
How Points Are Matched
The offer sounds good all by itself, but now let’s look at how the points are matched:
They actually are paying 1:1 at worst! This provides for a lot of opportunity. I’ll show you how.
Transfer Points to Virgin Elevate for the Match
This match requires that you send in your account balance before July 4. That gives you time to transfer points to Virgin Elevate. Both Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou transfer to Virgin Elevate at a 2:1 ratio. Not great by itself (although Elevate points are valuable), but it is great with this promo.
For this scenario I’ll assume you have at least 1 Virgin Elevate point:
- Transfer 100K TYP or MR to 50K Virgin Elevate.
- Fly on JetBlue and Earn 75,000 TrueBlue points.
Therefore
- 100K TYP or MR = 50K Virgin Elevate and 75K TrueBlue.
Of course you do need to actually fly roundtrip, but for those in markets with a lot of shorter JetBlue flights it shouldn’t be too expensive. My best route would be LAS-LGB which is $133 roundtrip.
Transferring SPG Starpoints
SPG Starpoints also transfer to Virgin Elevate, but at a ratio of 1:1 and you get a 5K bonus with a 20K transfer. This means:
- 40K Starpoints = 50K Virgin Elevate
So for transferring 40K Starpoints, you could potentially earn 50K Virgin Elevate points and 75K TrueBlue points after completing your flight.
Possibility of Elevate Miles Doubling to Alaska
Virgin Elevate is a dying program as it is set to be shuddered sometime after Alaska Airlines complete their purchase of Virgin America. Since Virgin Elevate points are worth much more than Alaska miles, some have speculated that they will be doubled when the programs are combined. While this is far from guaranteed, this could be a way to end up with 100K Alaska miles and 75K JetBlue points for 100K ThankYou or Membership Rewards or 40K Starpoints. Wow!
Virgin America Points Value
If you are new to Virgin America, then the system works quite simply. For Virgin America flights you redeem points based on the cost of the flight. Virgin Elevate points are often worth up to 2.5 cents each, but never worth less than 2 cents each. They also have international partners where you can redeem your points at a flat rate. You can find their award charts here.
Conclusion
This deal won’t be for everyone, but for those with extra points sitting in their Virgin Elevate accounts or for those with excess TYP, MR or Starpoints, this is one to consider. I know that I am seriously considering transferring over points to take advantage of this deal. How about you? Do you think this is a good value or too much hassle?
HT: The Points Guy
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
bonus_miles_full
Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
[…] many of you probably have a nice stash of JetBlue points from the Virgin match and Amazon 3X portal payout, this could be a great deal. I love that there are no restrictions and […]
[…] live 3 1/2 hours from Huntington Beach we had originally planned to drive down there, but then the JetBlue points match came through. Since JetBlue flies from LAS-LGB and since the hotel charges quite a bit for parking anyway, we […]
The thing where the screen doesn’t show as the example screenshot – it is because of the browser you are using. I had it happen where on Firefox it would not show my name and points balance at the top right. If you use a very recent version of Internet Explorer, it works just like the pic that JetBlue wants.
Could I buy a jetblue flight using Citi Thank you points?
Would it still count as a Revenue Flight?
I’m wondering the same thing, however I would like to use Ultimate Rewards points….any updates on this?
gosh did not read carefully and transferred 40k SPG to Virgin America for only 50k, short of one point.
don’t want another mistake so is availability for Virgin Australia biz class redemption for 80k good for LAX to either australia and new zealand or is it a very slim chance to redeem using virgin america points
I’m in. Just transferred 40k SPG and am speculating the merge will be approved and my AS balance greatly increased sometime in 2018 (Virgin America & Partners offer little value in Orlando but I have a good mile stash elsewhere). A short getaway JetBlue weekend trip with a free rental car cert and a free hotel cert will do ($200 spent + experience).
Any idea if we have to be the butt in the seat? I’m guessing yes ;( unfortunately I will be away at that time
I transferred 11,400 MR points to get my Elevate balance to 30,090. Now hopefully I actually book the flight and fly to get the 50k!
Can’t get a screenshot which shows both first and last name as well as points value on Virgin website so JetBlue wouldn’t register me. Suggestions?
When you login it shows your first and last name along with the balance on the top right. I would sent that along with the full dashboard where it shows only your first name.
I did exactly that and got an email back saying it was insufficient.
Is there an easy way to search for the cheapest flight possible from your departing city to take advantage of this?
Search the JetBlue route map for your city to see where they fly. http://www.jetblue.com/WhereWeJet/
Then go to Google Flights and search those routes and select JetBlue as the airline. All results will be JetBlue only.
I transferred 40,002 SPG points. Was planning on moving them for the Australia business booking tip for 80,000 Elevate points, so this just moved up my time schedule. Will probably do a R/T from San Jose to Long Beach for $150. Thanks for the post.
I have 500 Elevate points. Had my pending 100K+ MR points accelerated today. Will transfer 100K. Will probably do R/T from EWR – BOS for $52 each way. $115 for 75K JetBlue points is excellent, plus I’m Mosaic.
Are you seeing anything that indicates that you have to buy the jet blue flight. Do you think award flights could work?
Not specifically. I suspect it needs to be a purchased flight and not an award, but I would definitely check with JetBlue.
Only if you wanted to bump up the tier. For example you need 50,001 and points to get 75,000. If you transfer in 50,000 and didn’t have 1 point already, then you would only get 50,000 from JetBlue.
Could I just transfer 40k starpoints and 1k membership rewards and still get the 75k true blue points?
Certainly. You can transfer in any combination. Your bonus will be based on your total mileage balance as is shown in the chart above.
Why do I need 1 point in my Elevate account?
I was wondering the same thing.
Hey Shawn how long does MR or TY points take to transfer to Virgin Elevate?
Also, any options to get at least 1 Elevate point to avoid transferring in excess?
MR is instant I believe, but I’m not sure about TYP although I would assume it is the same. Starpoints usually take a couple of days. I am not aware of any ways to get 1 point that will post in the small amount of time. You could try the portal, although I doubt it would post in time. https://flystore.virginamerica.com/promo.html