As of today JetBlue TrueBlue points no longer expire, which is pretty big news. The last airline to make a similar move was Delta, which in February 2011 eliminated mileage expiration. Unfortunately for SkyMiles members, they’ve done everything they possibly can to make active miles as valuable as expired ones, so I’m not sure what to make of that.

What’s interesting about JetBlue is that they’re going from having one of the most strict points expiration policies to not having them expire at all. Previously JetBlue points expired after 12 months of “inactivity,” with activity strictly being defined as a JetBlue flight or a purchase with their co-branded American Express credit card. That’s extremely strict, given that most other miles expire after 18-36 months of inactivity, with a much more liberal interpretation of what qualifies as “activity.”

Look, this is obviously good news and a positive move, though to be honest I don’t get why they’re doing this. I think their policy was too strict. I think points shouldn’t have expired within 12 months, and they should have counted partner activity as any activity.

But there’s a cost to loyalty programs of not having points expire, especially for a revenue based frequent flyer program like JetBlue’s, where there are no hoops you have to jump through to redeem points. I assume there’s some serious liability on their books for unredeemed points, and when miles never expire, who knows how many outstanding points are for accounts of people that have since passed.

In the press release their director of loyalty marketing says:

“Customers can still be loyal even if they’re not traveling every year.” says Dave Canty, JetBlue’s director of loyalty marketing. “Loyalty shouldn’t have an expiration date, and neither should your points.”

And while perhaps there’s some truth to it, could the same be said if the points expiration policy was 24 months and included all partner activity? Could you really still consider that person “loyal?”

So let me be clear, this is an extremely positive and customer friendly change. But there’s a cost to providing it, and I would have rather seen new benefits in other places for at least semi-loyal customers (maybe more TrueBlue points per dollar spent on airfare, for example). If they instead changed the policy to 24 months and included more activity, they’d be giving people the best of both worlds, in my opinion. I’d also be willing to bet that soon enough both Delta and JetBlue will introduce mileage expiration policies, or at the very least mileage inactivity policies.

Am I off base? What do you guys think?

The past few weeks we’ve seen United, US Airways, Delta, and American all raise their change fees. As a consumer this has been extremely aggravating to watch, because change fees in no way reflect the cost of providing that service. We might not like paying for checked bags, but at the end of the day we can rationalize the fact that checking bags costs the airline money. Meanwhile with change fees, if I book a ticket 11 months out and decide to cancel it two days later, what exactly am I paying $200 for? I’m not really costing the airline anything, it’s not close enough to departure that I was preventing someone else from snagging that seat.

So while we’ve seen the legacies match one another, I was kind of curious to see how the low cost carriers would react. JetBlue announced an increase in change fees today, though it’s not a change that really makes my blood boil.

Their change fees used to be $50-100 depending on how expensive the ticket was, though now they’re as follows:

Changes and cancellations made 60 days or more prior to departure date:

• $75 per person fee

Changes and cancellations made within 60 days of departure date:

• $75 per person fee for fares under $100
• $100 per person fee for fares between $100 – $149
• $150 per person fee for fares $150 or more

So do I like the fact that they’ve increased their change fees? Of course not. But I can appreciate the fact that they differentiate between someone making a change more than 60 days out and someone making a change closer to departure, since there very often is a cost to a passenger canceling a seat close to departure, given that they may not be able to resell it.

Also, I can appreciate the fact that they have different change fees for different fare types within 60 days of departure. Now, as you’ll see the fees are structured in such a way that not a whole lot of value will be left over after the fee, but it’s still better than a flat $200 fee, or whatever.

Meanwhile members of JetBlue’s Mosaic program get a pretty nifty new perk as of today — no change or cancellation fees!

This is probably my single favorite perk of being MVP Gold with Alaska — you don’t pay change or cancellation fees, so when you cancel a ticket the funds can go back into your “travel wallet.” Selfishly one of the reasons I’m happy to see JetBlue add this perk is because I think it’s now less likely that Alaska will get rid of the perk.

So while I really hate an airline raising their change fees, I do appreciate the logic behind it here. They’re recognizing that those cancelling far out are costing them less than those cancelling close to departure. They’re realizing that not all fare types deserve the same change fee. And they’re also realizing that elite members deserve a break sometimes.

So in a very backhanded way, I guess kudos(ish) JetBlue?

JetBlue seems to be offering some pretty generous promotions through their TrueBlue program as of late. Recently they were offering up to 15 points per dollar spent for flights booked by April 10, and now they’re offering new TrueBlue members 7,500 bonus points after their first flight when it’s booked and flown by June 13, 2013. You must register before you book your first flight in order to qualify for the promotion.

JetBlue has a revenue based frequent flyer program, and points can be redeemed for roughly 1.5 cents each towards the cost of a ticket. This is more than enough for a one-way in some markets. For example, I see flights between Tampa and New York for just 6,000 points.

So if you’re not already a TrueBlue member and are planning some upcoming travel, this is a promotion that’s pretty tough to beat.

JetBlue is offering quarduple TrueBlue points for all bookings made today or tomorrow (April 1 & 2), for travel April 8 through June 19, 2013. Registration is required prior to booking eligible travel.

TrueBlue members ordinarily earn three points per dollar spent, so through this promotion they can earn twelve points per dollar spent, plus an additional three points per dollar spent on tickets booked at jetblue.com, for a total of fifteen points per dollar.

That’s a pretty good return if you ask me. TrueBlue is a revenue based frequent flyer program on both the earnings and redemption side, and while the exact redemption rates vary, you can get up to ~1.5 cents per point of value.

In the above example between Tampa and New York we’re looking at $86.50 (factoring in that both tickets have a $2.50 security fee) vs. 5,800 points for this ticket, which gets you about 1.5 cents per point of value.

So at fifteen points per dollar that’s a potential “return” of 20%+ on travel. Not bad at all if you have tickets to book on JetBlue!

JetBlue is offering substantial discounts for tickets booked through 11:59PM ET tomorrow (Tuesday, November 20).

For travel between November 27 and and December 20, 2012, they’re offering 25% off roundtrip base fares by using promotion code WINTER25, while for travel between January 7 and February 14, 2013, they’re offering 20% off roundtrip base fares by using promotion code WINTER20.

Just be sure to enter the promotion code on the search page when making your booking.

JetBlue’s website isn’t great about making it clear that a promotion code has been applied during the search process, though once you select your preferred flights the amount of the discount will be displayed with the price total.

Definitely a promotion to keep in mind if you have upcoming travel to plan!

(Tip of the hat to New Girl in the Air)