Blue Sky Links Loyalty Programs And Operations

The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved the Blue Sky partnership that will link United Airlines and JetBlue, the companies announced jointly on July 29. The airlines will link their respective loyalty programs, booking, and hub slots to benefit passengers on both airlines.

The joint statement said they “appreciate” Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy, Assistant Secretary Daniel Edwards, and the team at the department for the review of their proposed agreement.

The airlines said they will “share more details in the coming weeks as implementation of the Blue Sky collaboration begins.”

United’s MileagePlus customers will be able to earn and use miles on most JetBlue flights while JetBlue’s TrueBlue members will be able to earn and use points for flights on United’s domestic and international routes.

Through an interline agreement, each airline will offer flights on one another’s booking platforms on their websites and apps to enable simple and easy booking across the two airlines’ complementary networks.

The benefits of each airline’s loyalty program ? priority boarding, complimentary access to preferred and extra legroom seats and same-day standby/switch ?  will be available when customers travel on the other airline’s aircraft.

The airlines will also share slots at two major east coast airports, with JetBlue providing United access to slots at New York-JFK International Airport (JFK) in New York for up to seven daily round-trip flights out of JFK Terminal 6 to begin as early as 2027. Conversely, United will do the same with eight slots at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). And as part of a net-zero exchange, JetBlue and United will exchange eight flight timings at Newark.

United will move its website and mobile app’s interfaces to purchase hotels, rental cars, cruises and travel insurance, on both a stand-alone and package basis, to the new technology and services provided by JetBlue’s Paisly platform.

FMI:  www.jetblue.com/ , www.united.com/