JetBlue Airways and Qatar Airways intend to expand their existing partnership to offer their customers even more benefits than they currently enjoy — including more codesharing of flights in additional markets in the coming months, enhanced benefits for members of both the JetBlue Airways TrueBlue and Qatar Airways Privilege Club frequent flier loyalty programs, expanded marketing opportunities, and refinements to flight schedules in order to create new and convenient connections across both carriers.
JetBlue Airways and Qatar Airways to Expand Existing Global Partnership
One of the reciprocal benefits which is anticipated in the future is the ability for members of both the JetBlue Airways TrueBlue and Qatar Airways Privilege Club frequent flier loyalty programs to redeem points on flights which are operated by either carrier.
“Already, Qatar Airways is one of JetBlue’s top partners for connecting customers across the Americas to its global network, with traffic expected to grow further through new enhancements within the partnership. This new agreement will provide more options to travel between JetBlue’s 100+ destinations across North America and the Caribbean and Qatar Airways global network of 82 countries. JetBlue places its code on Qatar Airways flights in – or offers connections through – nine U.S. gateways”, according to this official press release from JetBlue Airways. “In addition, the airlines plan to develop an integrated airside transfer option for customers connecting at New York-JFK, JetBlue’s largest focus city and Qatar Airways’ most served U.S. destination.”
Customers of JetBlue Airways currently enjoy travel options via Hamad International Airport in Doha to greater than 80 destinations in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and South Asia — while customers of Qatar Airways simultaneously benefit from access to greater than 60 destinations across the entire network of JetBlue Airways, which is the sixth largest airline in the United States.
JetBlue Airways operates nearly 1,000 daily flights to greater than 100 destinations in greater than two dozen countries throughout the Americas. In 2021, the airline added all-new transatlantic flying between New York and London — and the airline will launch its first-ever service in Canada with Vancouver flights sometime this coming summer.
Controversial Government Contracts Awarded to JetBlue Airways
Although JetBlue Airways and Qatar Airways have been partners since 2011, Emirates Airline has also been one of the official codeshare partner airlines of JetBlue Airways for years — and some people were outraged pertaining to the announcement from the General Services Administration of the United States that it awarded the government contract for 2016 on the Washington-Dubai route to JetBlue Airways because JetBlue Airways does not actually offer service to Dubai from the United States. Rather, Emirates Airline was solely operating this route carrying an estimated 15,000 government employees of the United States, which includes active duty military personnel whose official travel is funded by taxpayers of the United States.
Moreover, a second government contract was reportedly awarded to JetBlue Airways for service between New York and Milan — even though JetBlue Airways does not actually offer service to Milan from the United States — and once again, Emirates Airline was actually the beneficiary of that contract, as it is the airline which operates service for that route as an official codeshare partner with JetBlue Airways.
Final Boarding Call
JetBlue Airways is engaging in some interesting partnerships in recent years — such as its Northeast Alliance with American Airlines, with which new enhanced benefits were recently announced — which potentially increases the value of loyalty to the airline and its TrueBlue frequent flier loyalty program…
…but this official announcement was rather vague and did not offer much information. We will hopefully find out more details in the upcoming months…
All photographs ©2014, ©2015, and ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
