United Airlines has revealed a new partnership with JetBlue that includes reciprocal benefits for frequent flyers of both carriers, a new interline agreement, and slot sharing at New York JFK and Newark airports.
The announcement comes just weeks after United made an SEC filing stating that it was not in discussions with an airline over a “strategic transaction,” although in late April, JetBlue said it was close to finalizing a significant new partnership with a major US carrier.
The partnership will not see United make any form of investment in JetBlue, although it could bring the two airlines much closer together and set the stage for an acquisition or investment at a later date.
Thursday’s announcement was all about touting the various passenger benefits from the partnership, which include:
- Members of United’s MileagePlus frequent flyer club will be able to earn and burn miles on JetBlue flights, and members of JetBlue’s TrueBlue club will be able to do the same on United flights.
- Frequent flyers with elite status of either United or JetBlue will get various benefits when flying with the other airline–although these won’t exactly match the benefits they receive when flying their home airline.
- Passengers will be able to search and book flights for either airline on the JetBlue and United websites.
United will also acquire six daily slots from JetBlue out of Terminal 6 at New York JFK, while JetBlue and United will exchange eight flight timings out of Newark–this is, however, subject to approval from regulators and isn’t expected to start until 2027 at the earliest.
The partnership, dubbed Blue Sky, aims to avoid the regulatory hurdles that JetBlue faced with its extensive collaboration with American Airlines through an interline agreement rather than a codeshare agreement between the two carriers.
As such, each airline will sell and market its flights independently and will not operate flights with a flight number belonging to the other carrier.
“Blue Sky reflects our airlines’ shared focus on innovation and the customer experience,” commented United CEO Scott Kirby on Thursday. “We’re always looking for ways to give our MileagePlus members even more value and benefits and this collaboration gives them new, unique ways to use their hard-earned miles and find options that fit their schedule.”
Kirby added: “Plus, our employees are really excited about United’s return to JFK for the longer term, and we’re all looking forward to starting up flights very soon.”
Reciprocal frequent flyer benefits
One of the biggest changes that frequent flyers will see is the reciprocal earning and burning of airline miles on either JetBlue or United. In addition, there will be reciprocal benefits for elite-status members, such as priority check-in and boarding, access to preferred seating, free checked luggage, and same-day flight changes.
The exact timing of when these reciprocal benefits will come into force is yet to be revealed, and an announcement with further details isn’t expected until later this year.
United is moving ancillary services to JetBlue’s Paisley platform
As part of Thursday’s deal, United also announced that it plans to move its ancillary travel booking sites to JetBlue’s Paisly platform, consolidating various websites that United currently offers for hotel bookings, rental cars, cruises and holidays.
Thursday’s announcement will come as little surprise to airline industry observers who had been expecting some sort of tie-up between JetBlue and United for some weeks.
Initially, it was believed that United was looking to make an investment in JetBlue, although today’s announcement might be more about testing the waters with regulators to see whether a ‘lite’ version of any future deal will face opposition from competition authorities.
