JetBlue and United announce partnership

Today, United and JetBlue have announced a new partnership that they’re calling “Blue Sky,” a name that’s sure to raise some digital eyebrows over at the social media app, “Bluesky.”

The short-rumored partnership will begin implementing benefits later this year, including things like reciprocal elite perks, mileage earning, and mileage redemption. Perhaps most importantly, it will finally get United back into JFK, where it completely ceased operations in 2022.

There are some key differences between Blue Sky and the previously-kiboshed “Northeast Alliance” joint venture between American and JetBlue, which drew government ire. The biggest one is that there are no codeshares or pricing collaboration involved here, something that was a part of the previous dalliance with American. It will be interesting to see if that makes these regulatory skies a little more…blue.

The News

• JetBlue and United have announced that they will be forming a partnership called, “Blue Sky.”
• Benefits will begin later this year and will include
  • Reciprocal mileage redemption and earning
  • Reciprocal elite benefits
  • Starting in 2027, United will have access to up to seven daily JetBlue slots at New York (JFK), while JetBlue will have access to up to eight daily United slots at Newark (EWR)
  • Cross-channel booking (Book Jetblue flights via United and vice-versa)

Blue Sky Elite Benefits Table

The two airlines have released the table below which describes reciprocal elite benefits. Note that there’s no mention of either premium upgrades or lounge access (perhaps unsurprisingly). However, all elites receive free checked bags, preferred seats at booking, extra legroom seats at check-in and access to free same-day changes, which is better than what I would have expected:

Quick Thoughts

Let’s be honest, JetBlue has been around the block these last few years. The airline hasn’t turned a profit since 2019 and has been searching for a global partner to hitch its primarily North American-based wagon to. That led to the Northeast Alliance with AA, which was dissolved by court order in 2022. Then JetBlue tried to buy Spirit Airlines, a deal which was also blocked by a federal court.

This year, while AA was attempting some sort of reincarnation of the Northeast Alliance, rumors of JetBlue playing footsie under the table with United continued to grow. This eventually resulted in American finally throwing up its arms, saying “uncle,” and overtly trying to woo JetBlue elites over to its own program. Now, the United partnership is official.

Based on the few details we know, Blue Sky seems intriguing enough. JetBlue says that it anticipates having redemption access to most/all of United’s routes, and United says the same thing about JetBlue. Reciprocal benefits, while somewhat modest, generously apply to all elite members of both airlines. Most importantly for folks like Greg the Frequent Miler, you’ll finally be able to fly into JFK and connect with other Star Alliance airlines internationally, something that hasn’t been possible since United stopped service to the airport.

One possible downside, for people like Nick who are within striking distance of JFK, is that the ability to easily and seamlessly connect with Star Alliance partner flights might eat into what is currently easily-found award availability. Previously, the necessity of flying into Newark or LaGuardia and then hoofing it over to JFK probably dampened most folks’ willingness to book those awards. Now, there might be less friction.

The prevailing assumption is that Blue Sky won’t be blocked by regulators, United will finally get back into JFK and JetBlue will get its wish to expand it’s global reach without having to add long-haul aircraft. Without seeing what redemption rates will look like, that seems like cause for cautious optimism on the part of both program’s customers.

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