JetBlue Mint Business Class for 50K Points

Book JetBlue Mint Business Class Transcontinental Flights for 50K Points each way, by taking advantage of the current 20% AMEX transfer bonus to Etihad Guest available to targeted card members, available until April 30, 2025.

JetBlue sometimes charges over 120,000 TrueBlue points each way for nonstop transcon awards in JetBlue Mint, so depending on the flight in question, this can be a good deal.

Caveat: Because Etihad Guest is one of the most restrictive and punitive frequent flyer award programs, only reserve if you're sure you plan to fly the award. That's because from the time you book until 22 days prior to departure, any cancellation will forfeit 25% of the “fare,” which involves multiplying your award miles redeemed by 1.8 cents per mile and adding the taxes. In the case of an award that costs 60,000 miles + $50 in taxes, that gives a “fare” of $1080 + $50 = $1130, so a 25% penalty would be $282.50, meaning we'd lose all of the $50 in taxes + $232.50 worth of miles, or 12,917 miles. Cancelling 8-21 days prior to departure incurs a 50% of the “fare” penalty, cancelling with 7 days of departure forfeits 75% of the “fare,” and within 24 hours prior to departure no refund is provided.

We recently redeemed 100K AMEX Membership Rewards for two JetBlue Mint one way awards, although there were a few hiccups. Here's what we did:

1. Transferred 100K AMEX Membership Rewards to Etihad Guest

After checking on Etihad Guest that there was JetBlue Mint award space for our desired flight, we transferred 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points to our Etihad Guest account, leveraging the 20% transfer bonus. While AMEX warns that it can take up to 48 hours to transfer, the transfer was instant. We logged out of our Etihad Guest account, then logged back in, and the 120,000 miles were there.

2. Attempted to Book Online with Etihad Guest

Unfortunately, we were unable to book online. It could have been a temporary glitch, but even though we were already logged in, when it came time to book, it prompted us to log in and sent a security code to our phone. Even after entering it, it prompted us to log in again, so at that point I called Etihad Guest.

3. Called Etihad Guest

I got through to an agent quickly, who helped make the booking. It turned out that we needed to redeem 120,250 for the two tickets, so I quickly transferred an additional 1000 AMEX points. Even the agent was stymied at the last step, however, because the booking wasn't going through. In the end, he asked for our passport number and the booking was able to be completed. Be sure to ask the agent for the JetBlue record locator, which is different from the Etihad Guest booking code.

4. Attempted to Select JetBlue Mint Suites Online

Strangely, the JetBlue record locator, while correct, didn't allow me to get through to seat selection, because after entering it, it prompted entry of passenger last name and date of birth, and insisted that the passenger date of birth was incorrect (it wasn't, as this was triple verified with the Etihad agent, who confirmed that others have also had this issue with JetBlue).

5. Called JetBlue for Seat Assignments

I called JetBlue and was able to select closed door suites at no extra cost (a nice benefit of booking JetBlue Mint well in advance), with the seat assignment confirmation emailed to me.

While this isn't the most aspirational booking and should only be for flights you're sure you'll take, for our particular redemption we got 2.9 cents of value per AMEX Membership Rewards point redeemed. The 100K points we transferred were earned, however, on my AMEX Blue Business Plus card, which earns 2X on all spend, and there were some spending bonuses as well, so at the end of the day, the value of the awards equated to ~7-8% back on my AMEX spend.

What's your favorite way to book JetBlue Mint Suites?