JetBlue is known for its excellent Mint business class product, which is available on select transcontinental flights, plus all of the carrier’s transatlantic flights. Historically, the best way to book this product has been using partner miles, particularly with Qatar Airways Privilege Club, but also with Etihad Guest. However, as of recently, that no longer seems to be so practical…
JetBlue Mint awards not bookable with Qatar & Etihad miles?
In recent weeks (since early May 2025), it has become increasingly difficult to redeem partner airline miles for travel in JetBlue Mint. This seems to have been a somewhat gradual process, with Qatar Airways Privilege Club first not having access to the award space, followed by Etihad Guest.
At first, it wasn’t clear if this was simply a tech glitch, or an intentional change to how award space is made available. While I haven’t been able to get any meaningful, official explanation of what’s going on, it sure seems like this is a deliberate move on JetBlue’s part.
Around the middle of May 2025, JetBlue reportedly changed the fare class that’s needed for Mint award space to be available. Previously, the carrier used the “I” fare class for business class awards, which was the same fare class used for revenue discounted business class tickets. Now the carrier is reportedly using the “A” fare class for Mint awards, which isn’t used for anything else (it’s standard for airlines to have fare classes specifically for awards).
So for now we’ll mark this as “developing,” and I’ll be sure to report back if there are any updates. However, it does seem certain that the lack of availability isn’t simply a tech glitch that the various parties aren’t aware of.
Redeeming Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios for travel in JetBlue Mint has been a valuable redemption option. The program has charged 74,000 to 78,000 Avios one-way for Mint awards, without carrier imposed surcharges. What has made this opportunity so exciting is the amount of award availability, as awards were often readily available.
My guess as to what’s going on with JetBlue Mint awards
Logically speaking, I was expecting that JetBlue would change its approach to Mint awards sooner or later. The way I view it, there were two issues (from the perspective of JetBlue — certainly not from the perspective of us miles & points maximizers):
- It doesn’t make sense to use the same fare class for discounted Mint revenue tickets as it does for awards, since the former is much more lucrative for the airline than the latter
- With TrueBlue being a revenue program for redemptions on JetBlue, it didn’t make sense to have much better value redemptions through partner programs than through TrueBlue
Let me be clear, I love that both of the above things have been happening, as it has been great for us. But we’ve also seen airlines get savvier with the ways the release award seats and monetize their loyalty programs, and neither of those policies made much sense from JetBlue’s perspective.
So I suspect that what we’re seeing represents a bit of a restructuring to how JetBlue releases Mint awards. After all, JetBlue wants to increase engagement in its own TrueBlue loyalty program, rather than essentially having other airline loyalty programs act as a consolidator of sorts for Mint business class tickets.
Bottom line
JetBlue seems to have changed how it releases Mint business class award seats to partner programs. Historically, the best way to book these seats has been through Qatar Airways Privilege Club, but in recent weeks, that availability has largely dried up.
There’s not much transparency here as to what’s going on (which isn’t surprising, since agreements between airlines are typically confidential, in this way). However, one would certainly assume that JetBlue is smartening up with how it’s monetizing Mint, as it increasingly rolls out reciprocal frequent flyer agreements.
If there’s any additional update, I’ll be sure to share it…
What do you make of the current JetBlue Mint award situation?
