JetBlue Adds Japan Airlines Award Redemptions [Full Details]

If you’ve tried searching for business class flights to Japan lately, you’ve likely seen that award availability can be quite sparse.

Fortunately, thanks to the JetBlue TrueBlue program, award travelers now have one more option for booking awards to Japan aboard Japan Airlines.

Here is a full look at this new redemption offer, whether the redemptions are competitive, and how you can boost your balance of JetBlue TrueBlue points.

Award Chart for Japan Airlines Tickets

Before we get into the details, here’s a quick overview of how many JetBlue TrueBlue points you’ll use on Japan Airlines (JAL) flights, per passenger, as first reported by AwardWallet:

As you can see, for U.S.-based flyers, flights between the U.S. and Japan will cost between 30,000-39,900 points in economy, 40,000-59,000 points in premium economy, and 55,000-79,900 points in business class.

Not only is it great to have more options to book award flights to Japan, but these rates are quite competitive compared to booking Japan Airlines flights with partners like American Airlines AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

You can use a tool like Seats.aero or even the JetBlue low fare award calendar to help you locate dates with award availability.

While you can use American Airlines miles to book a one-way business class ticket with Japan Airlines for just 60,000 miles from any destination in the U.S. (and Vancouver), American Airlines miles are quite difficult to earn outside of using American Airlines credit cards.

On the other hand, JetBlue TrueBlue’s pricing is a bit higher at 64,000 points per person for West Coast flights, but you have significantly more options for quickly increasing your JetBlue balance.

How To Earn More JetBlue TrueBlue Points

For starters, there are 4 JetBlue credit cards with which you can earn a welcome bonus and earn more JetBlue points via your daily spend.

Beyond that, JetBlue is a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards at a 1:0.8 rate, Capital One miles at a 5:3 rate, and both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards at a 1:1 rate. You’d definitely want to prioritize transfers from Chase and Citi here, as their transfer rates are the most competitive.

Beyond that, JetBlue occasionally offers promotions where you can purchase points for as low as 1.47 cents per point, which we just saw recently.

This means that if you’re short on JetBlue points, you could purchase the 64,000 points needed to book a business-class ticket from the U.S. West Coast to Japan for just $940.80 (using the pricing from the last promotion to buy JetBlue points), which is far less than the $4,000 to $6,000 that Japan Airlines often charges for these tickets.

Final Thoughts

This is a welcome addition to the JetBlue TrueBlue program and gives U.S.-based flyers another great option to book award flights to Japan. That said, while award pricing is competitive right now, devaluations are a regular occurrence in the points and miles space.

If you find award flights that work for you, it is better to book now and figure out the other details later, as you can always cancel and have your points deposited back into your account if needed.