JetBlue Points Match to Virgin America Elevate and 5 Reasons I’m Not Biting

JetBlue Points Match to Virgin America Elevate and 5 Reasons Not to Match

 

JetBlue is Matching Your Virgin America Elevate Points Balance if You Book and Fly 1 JetBlue Flight by August 31, 2016. This could be a great promotion if you already have Virgin America Elevate points and need to fly somewhere JetBlue flies by August 31, 2016, but in my case it's not worth transferring points to Virgin America for this promotion.

First, here's the offer:

  • Email a screenshot of your Virgin America Elevate account dashboard showing your first name, last name, and points balance and your TrueBlue number to pointsmatch@jetblue.com by July 4, 2016
  • Wait for JetBlue to confirm your eligibility for this promotion
  • After receiving JetBlue's email confirming your eligible for the points match, book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by August 31, 2016
  • JetBlue will match the following increments:

JetBlue Points Matching to Virgin America Elevate

 

For those without any Elevate points, it will make most sense to transfer 41,000 Starpoints in order to receive 51,000 Virgin America Elevate points, and thus be matched to 75,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points. Since TrueBlue points are worth ~1.3 cents each, 75,000 TrueBlue points is ~$975 and should be enough for at least a one way in JetBlue Mint Business Class, although you've also traded in valuable Starpoints for Virgin America Elevate points which in my view are worth quite a bit less.

 

5 Reasons This Offer Isn't Worth It To Me

Since there have been plenty of posts by others about how great this promotion is (and it could be, depending on your existing Elevate points and travel needs) I thought I'd give a contrary perspective on why I don't find it worth it to transfer points to Virgin America for the sake of this offer.

1. Virgin America Elevate Awards on Virgin America Aren't Attractive Enough to Me

I'm probably in the minority, but I just don't find Virgin America awards worth transferring valuable SPG Starpoints or AMEX Membership Rewards points for. It's hard to get any kind of outsize value with Virgin America Elevate points, which, similar to JetBlue True Blue points, are a currency. Each Virgin America Elevate point typically can't be redeemed at more than about 2.5 cents per point, and is sometimes as little as 2.2 cents per point for Virgin America First Class redemptions. That's not exciting to me, given that I want to be able to redeem my miles and points for at least 5 cents per point, and preferably at over 8 cents per mile or point. Plus, to be honest, I wasn't all that impressed the one time I flew Virgin America First Class.

 

2. Virgin America Elevate Partner Awards Are Better, But Come with Surcharges or Aren't Available in Advance

And if you're thinking that you'll be redeeming for Singapore Suites or Singapore Business Class, think again–similar to other Star Alliance partners, Virgin America Elevate really doesn't have access to Singapore Airlines premium class award space. 

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class could be a good bet as a redemption, especially if you want to fly it roundtrip, since it's just 35,000 Elevate points roundtrip NYC to London, or 50,000 Elevate points San Francisco to London, although that comes with $1150 in taxes and fees, similar to British Airways awards. But I rarely fly the same airline both directions, and Virgin America Elevate penalizes you for one way redemptions. Instead of being 50% of the price of a roundtrip, in the case of NYC to London, one way is 25,000 miles, or over 70% the cost of the roundtrip. Plus, to be honest, I'm not that keen on flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. Sure, it “looks” cool, but the onboard bar is actually a huge deterrent to me. I'm a very light sleeper, so I don't want to be in a huge business class cabin with over 30 seats, let alone one with a bar. 

LAX to Sydney or Brisbane in Virgin Australia Business Class is a great deal at 80,000 Elevate points + $130 roundtrip (or 45,000 points + $40 one way) but typically isn't available in advance, only last minute–so not conducive to planning that family vacation to Australia.

A commenter below has said they're counting on Virgin America points converting to Alaska Mileage Plan miles since Alaska bought Virgin America. While this is likely to happen eventually, we still don't know the timeline for this, and what other devaluations Mileage Plan may have undergone by the time that occurs. Keep in mind that Alaska recently increased the cost of Emirates First Class awards by 100% with no notice.

 

3. High Opportunity Cost for SPG Starpoints, AMEX Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou points

Most people won't want to transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points or Citi ThankYou points to Virgin America Elevate since the transfer ratio is 2:1: you only receive 1 Virgin America Elevate point for every 2 AMEX Membership Rewards points or every 2 Citi ThankYou points that you transfer.

That makes SPG Starpoints seem like a better option, since you can transfer 41,000 Starpoints into 51,000 Virgin America Elevate points, potentially getting you 75,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points if JetBlue agrees to match you and you then buy and fly a JetBlue flight by 8/31/16. 

But what about the other uses of those Starpoints? I highly value Starpoints for transfers to Miles & More for Lufthansa First Class redemptions, where I'm getting from 7 to over 10 cents per mile in nominal value for an award redemption. I don't otherwise earn Lufthansa Miles&More miles, since I've already earned the bonus for the credit card and don't fly any paid Lufthansa tickets. Starpoints can also be useful for transfers to JAL Mileage Bank for Emirates A380 First Class redemptions, particularly since Alaska Airlines Increased Emirates First Class Award Redemptioins 100 Percent with No Notice.

I guess if you have tons of Starpoints and 40,000 is a drop in the bucket, go ahead and max out this promotion. But I value my SPG Starpoints too highly to transfer them to Virgin America Elevate. I rarely earn SPG Starpoints from hotel stays, since SPG hotels, even the Luxury Collection and St. Regis hotels, are rarely the top luxury hotel in a given destination. That leaves credit card signup bonuses and spend. Both my husband and I signed up for the 35K SPG Business AMEX offers earlier this year, but these are not great cards for everyday spend, since they only bonus Starwood stays and not any other categories. I'd rather put spend on whichever card I'm working on for minimum spend, or earn a 5X category bonus with the Ink Plus or Chase Freedom, or 2X on dining with the Sapphire Preferred.

 

4. You Have to Book and Fly a Roundtrip JetBlue Ticket by August 31, 2016

Unfortunately, it doesn't count if you've already booked a JetBlue ticket before the promotion; you have to first get approved by JetBlue, then book AND fly a JetBlue roundtrip ticket by August 31, 2016. I don't know about you, but our summer plans were already made months ago, so even if we were to find fairly inexpensive JetBlue tickets, it wouldn't be worth it to us to take an extra trip we weren't planning to and which would eat into the benefit of the new JetBlue points (not to mention having to find a use for the Virgin America Elevate points). Sure, the calculus completely changes if you already have Elevate points and need to book and take a JetBlue flight anyway by August 31. But that's not the case for us.

 

5. JetBlue Could Change or Pull the Offer at Any Time

As often is the case, the terms state “Offer can be cancelled or modified at any time.” That means that if you don't already have Virgin America Elevate points, there is a chance that JetBlue could cancel this promotion or make it much less attractive, before your SPG Starpoints transfer to Virgin America Elevate. Again, not an issue if you already have Virgin America Elevate points that you can get JetBlue to confirm you're eligible for a match, before you book your requisite JetBlue flight.

Do you plan to ask JetBlue to match your Virgin America Elevate points, or do you have other plans for your SPG Starpoints?

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