If you’ve canceled a flight with JetBlue and received a travel credit for the value of your ticket, you might be wondering how to find and use that credit. The answer is the JetBlue Travel Bank. It’s a special account issued to the airline’s customers to hold their travel credits until they can be applied to a new flight or JetBlue Vacations package.
But when it comes to using your credits, there are several tricks and pitfalls to be aware of. Here are all the details you’ll need to ensure you can use your JetBlue Travel Bank account when you need it — and with the fewest headaches.
Most JetBlue tickets can be canceled without paying a fee. The only exception is the airline’s Blue Basic fare, which can be canceled for $100 per person on routes to and from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and $200 per person on other routes.
That means you can get at least some value from almost any JetBlue ticket as long as you cancel your flight before it departs.
However, you don’t get the money back when you cancel a nonrefundable JetBlue ticket. Instead, you’re issued a travel credit that can be used for a future JetBlue flight. That credit is automatically deposited into the JetBlue Travel Bank and linked to you either by name or to your JetBlue TrueBlue frequent flyer account, which also contains any points you’ve earned from flying or with the JetBlue credit cards.
Like most airline travel credits, there are several rules and restrictions on JetBlue Travel Bank credits that you’ll need to know.
While you cannot transfer a JetBlue Travel Bank credit to someone else, you can use it for a friend, family member, or anyone you’d like by booking a new ticket in their name.
As long as you’re booking the flight with your Travel Bank, the passenger name on the ticket doesn’t need to match the name on the account. You don’t even need to be traveling with the person to apply your credit to their ticket.
Travel Bank credits can be used to pay any type of JetBlue fare. But if you want to use it to pay the taxes and fees on award tickets, the credit must be enough to cover the entire amount. That’s because you can only use 2 forms of payment on a single ticket. So if one of those is points, the other form of payment has to cover the entire cash amount.
This is a particularly annoying limitation when you’re trying to change an award ticket. With JetBlue, the only way to change a ticket booked with points is to cancel the original ticket, get the points back, and then book a new one.
But while the points from the original ticket will instantly go back into your JetBlue TrueBlue account, any taxes and fees you paid will go into your Travel Bank instead of back to your original form of payment. Then, if the new flight you want has higher taxes and fees, you can’t use the credits in your Travel Bank to pay for them. Instead, you’ll have to pay the cash portion again.
JetBlue Travel Bank credits have a hard expiration date — 12 months after your original ticketing date. That’s the day you booked the original ticket, not the date you were scheduled to fly or the date you canceled.
That means you’ll likely have less than 12 months to use the credit. So, it’s important to be aware of the calendar to make sure you use your credit before it expires.
Hot Tip:
You only have to book a new ticket using the credit before it expires — you don’t have to actually fly before that date. JetBlue opens its schedule nearly a year in advance, so if you’ve got a trip planned for months in the future, you can still use your Travel Bank credit for it. Just book far enough in advance to apply the credit before its expiration date.
There are only 4 things you can use JetBlue Travel Bank credits for:
That means any other fees you might be charged during your travels with JetBlue, such as checked bags, in-cabin pets, seat selection, and the like, cannot be paid using credits from the Travel Bank. Essentially, you can only use it for forms of airfare for you or others and nothing else.
When you cancel a JetBlue flight, if you don’t already have a Travel Bank account, a new one is created automatically. Then, if you have a JetBlue TrueBlue frequent flyer account, the 2 accounts are linked. You can see your balance anytime by logging into your TrueBlue account on JetBlue’s website and clicking on the account menu in the upper right corner.
If you don’t have a TrueBlue account, the login info for your Travel Bank is sent to you after you cancel your ticket in 2 separate welcome emails, one of which has a temporary password that you’ll need to change within 48 hours. You can use that info to log into your Travel Bank account to see your current balance and expiration date.
Can’t find one of the emails or forgot to change your temporary password? You can use JetBlue’s Login Lookup Form to find the information.
If you’re booking a ticket with cash, using your Travel Bank credit is relatively easy. All you need to do is search for the new flight you want to book using JetBlue’s website or app.
Then, when you get to the payment page, you’ll have the opportunity to log into your TrueBlue account to apply your Travel Bank credit (if you aren’t already logged in) or to access your Travel Bank with the login info that JetBlue previously provided.
You don’t even have to use up your entire Travel Bank credit all at once. If your ticket costs less than the credit, the remaining amount will stay in your Travel Bank to be used later.
Or, if you’d simply prefer not to use your entire credit on 1 ticket, you can set the amount you want to use as partial payment. Then, if your credit doesn’t cover the entire cost of your new ticket, any remaining amount due can be paid for with any major credit card.
If you’re booking with points, you’ll have the same opportunity to use your Travel Bank credits toward the taxes and fees on your award flight. But again, in this case, the credit must be able to cover the entire amount.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to extend the expiration date on a JetBlue Travel Bank credit. While you can use the credit for a flight as far out in the future as JetBlue has available, you must book that new ticket with the credit before the 12-month clock expires, or you’ll lose it. Even having JetBlue Mosaic elite status won’t exempt you from this policy.
Also, unlike other airlines, if you book a new ticket with the credit and then cancel that new ticket, the credit will retain its original expiration date. And if the original expiration date has passed, you won’t get the credit back.
This is one of the less customer-friendly airline policies regarding travel credits. Many airlines will reset the date on your credit if you book a new ticket and then cancel it, but JetBlue doesn’t. And some airlines like Southwest don’t have expiration dates on their travel credits.
So, when booking JetBlue tickets, keep in mind that canceling the ticket later will mean less flexibility with JetBlue than it does with other airlines.
As long as you’re booking a ticket with cash, or the taxes and fees on your award ticket are fully covered by your existing credit, you should be able to access and use your JetBlue Travel Bank right during the booking process. That’s good news since you have such a limited amount of time to use it, with a 12-month expiration clock starting from the date you booked the original ticket.
Finally, remember that if you cancel a reservation with multiple passengers, each person will receive their own separate Travel Bank credits. So, it’s important to keep track of all the Travel Bank logins and TrueBlue accounts to ensure you’re not leaving any of your hard-earned money on the table.
Boutique Travel VC raises investment cap from $1.5M to $10M to lead rounds and support portfolio companies through growth Travel...
Read moreDetails
