JetBlue lets you use Points + Cash when you’re short on miles—how generous. All you have to do is accept a lousy redemption rate and pay nearly full price anyway. I discovered this the hard way when I tried to rebook two tickets and got hit with a surprisingly bad deal.
Why We Rebooked Instead of Using a Same-Day Change
JetBlue allows same-day flight changes for a $75 per person fee—unless you’re a Mosaic member, in which case changes are free. Since we weren’t flying as Mosaics and didn’t want to spend $150 just to take an earlier flight, we canceled our original booking (made with TrueBlue points) and looked to rebook the new flight with points.
However, I encountered a snag: I was 900 points short.
JetBlue Offered a “Convenient” Solution: Points + Cash
To bridge the gap, JetBlue offered me a Points + Cash option: 22,300 points + $156.10 for both tickets. That sounded tolerable—until I saw the breakdown.
Of the $156.10:
- $90.10 was nonrefundable base fare
- $66.00 went to taxes and fees
That means 22,300 points only covered $199.90 of the ticket cost—less than 0.9 cents per point, which is far below the average TrueBlue redemption value.
And here’s the real kicker: JetBlue charged all applicable taxes and fees, not just the $5.60 September 11th Security Fee that normally applies to award tickets.
How I Fixed It (and Why You Should Too)
Once I realized what was happening, I canceled the Points + Cash booking. Then I transferred 1,000 Citi ThankYou points to my JetBlue account—transfers from Citi are usually instant. With the extra points, I was able to rebook the exact same flight using 23,200 points and just $11.20 out of pocket (that’s the $5.60 fee per person, the only one that applies on a true award booking).
Even better? That redemption came out to about 1.49 cents per point, which is a great value for JetBlue. Compare that to the 0.9 cents per point I would’ve gotten with the Points + Cash option. Huge difference.
The Bottom Line
JetBlue’s Points + Cash system looks flexible, but it’s anything but a good deal. You’re not only getting a poor value for your points—you’re also on the hook for full taxes and fees, which defeats the whole point of using miles in the first place.
If you’re short on points, consider transferring them from Chase, American Express (Amex), or Citi. If that’s not an option, it may be smarter to pay fully in cash and save your points for when they’re worth more.
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