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JetBlue Better Than 1:1 Points Match from Virgin Elevate: Here is How to get Huge Value!

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JetBlue Virgin Elevate Points Match

JetBlue Virgin Elevate Points Match

JetBlue announced that they will match Virgin Elevate balances for members who book a flight on JetBlue. I’ll show you why this has the potential to be a huge deal and why you may want to consider transferring over points.

The Offer

Show us your Elevate® Points balance by 7/4/2016, then book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by 08/31/16 and we’ll match (or give you more) TrueBlue points!

How to Request a Match

  • Elevate® members must email a screenshot of their account dashboard to pointsmatch@jetblue.com by 7/4/2016. Screenshots must include first name, last name, and points balance.
  • Please include your TrueBlue number in the email. If you are not a TrueBlue member yet, sign up now.
  • Once we assess your balance and eligibility, we’ll email you to let you know if you’re officially registered for the promotion.
    Then book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by 08/31/16.

You can find the full terms and eligibility requirements here.

How Points Are Matched

The offer sounds good all by itself, but now let’s look at how the points are matched:

JetBlue Virgin Elevate Points Match

They actually are paying 1:1 at worst! This provides for a lot of opportunity. I’ll show you how.

Transfer Points to Virgin Elevate for the Match

This match requires that you send in your account balance before July 4. That gives you time to transfer points to Virgin Elevate. Both Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou transfer to Virgin Elevate at a 2:1 ratio. Not great by itself (although Elevate points are valuable), but it is great with this promo.

For this scenario I’ll assume you have at least 1 Virgin Elevate point:

  • Transfer 100K TYP or MR to 50K Virgin Elevate.
  • Fly on JetBlue and Earn 75,000 TrueBlue points.

Therefore

  • 100K TYP or MR = 50K Virgin Elevate and 75K TrueBlue. 

Of course you do need to actually fly roundtrip, but for those in markets with a lot of shorter JetBlue flights it shouldn’t be too expensive.  My best route would be LAS-LGB which is $133 roundtrip.

Transferring SPG Starpoints

SPG Starpoints also transfer to Virgin Elevate, but at a ratio of 1:1 and you get a 5K bonus with a 20K transfer. This means:

  • 40K Starpoints = 50K Virgin Elevate

So for transferring 40K Starpoints, you could potentially earn 50K Virgin Elevate points and 75K TrueBlue points after completing your flight.

Possibility of Elevate Miles Doubling to Alaska

Virgin Elevate is a dying program as it is set to be shuddered sometime after Alaska Airlines complete their purchase of Virgin America. Since Virgin Elevate points are worth much more than Alaska miles, some have speculated that they will be doubled when the programs are combined. While this is far from guaranteed, this could be a way to end up with 100K Alaska miles and 75K JetBlue points for 100K ThankYou or Membership Rewards or 40K Starpoints. Wow!

Virgin America Points Value

If you are new to Virgin America, then the system works quite simply. For Virgin America flights you redeem points based on the cost of the flight. Virgin Elevate points are often worth up to 2.5 cents each, but never worth less than 2 cents each. They also have international partners where you can redeem your points at a flat rate. You can find their award charts here.

Conclusion

This deal won’t be for everyone, but for those with extra points sitting in their Virgin Elevate accounts or for those with excess TYP, MR or Starpoints, this is one to consider. I know that I am seriously considering transferring over points to take advantage of this deal. How about you? Do you think this is a good value or too much hassle?

HT: The Points Guy

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Shawn Coomer
Shawn Coomerhttps://milestomemories.com/
Shawn Coomer earns and burns millions of miles/points per year circling the globe with his family. An expert at accumulating travel rewards, he founded Miles to Memories to help others achieve their travel goals for pennies on the dollar. Shawn also runs a million dollar reselling business, knows Vegas better than most and loves to spend his time at the 12 Disney parks across the world.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

25 COMMENTS

  1. The thing where the screen doesn’t show as the example screenshot – it is because of the browser you are using. I had it happen where on Firefox it would not show my name and points balance at the top right. If you use a very recent version of Internet Explorer, it works just like the pic that JetBlue wants.

  2. gosh did not read carefully and transferred 40k SPG to Virgin America for only 50k, short of one point.
    don’t want another mistake so is availability for Virgin Australia biz class redemption for 80k good for LAX to either australia and new zealand or is it a very slim chance to redeem using virgin america points

  3. I’m in. Just transferred 40k SPG and am speculating the merge will be approved and my AS balance greatly increased sometime in 2018 (Virgin America & Partners offer little value in Orlando but I have a good mile stash elsewhere). A short getaway JetBlue weekend trip with a free rental car cert and a free hotel cert will do ($200 spent + experience).

  4. I transferred 11,400 MR points to get my Elevate balance to 30,090. Now hopefully I actually book the flight and fly to get the 50k!

  5. Can’t get a screenshot which shows both first and last name as well as points value on Virgin website so JetBlue wouldn’t register me. Suggestions?

  6. I transferred 40,002 SPG points. Was planning on moving them for the Australia business booking tip for 80,000 Elevate points, so this just moved up my time schedule. Will probably do a R/T from San Jose to Long Beach for $150. Thanks for the post.

  7. I have 500 Elevate points. Had my pending 100K+ MR points accelerated today. Will transfer 100K. Will probably do R/T from EWR – BOS for $52 each way. $115 for 75K JetBlue points is excellent, plus I’m Mosaic.

  8. Are you seeing anything that indicates that you have to buy the jet blue flight. Do you think award flights could work?

  9. Only if you wanted to bump up the tier. For example you need 50,001 and points to get 75,000. If you transfer in 50,000 and didn’t have 1 point already, then you would only get 50,000 from JetBlue.

  10. Hey Shawn how long does MR or TY points take to transfer to Virgin Elevate?
    Also, any options to get at least 1 Elevate point to avoid transferring in excess?

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