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In May, I wrote about a partnership between United Airlines and JetBlue Airways. It’s not a codeshare, joint venture, or merger, but a unique collaboration called “Blue Sky” that is without shared pricing, branding, or coordinated schedules. The interline agreement part of this announcement means that passengers will be able to book flights on both airlines on one ticket. This partnership also includes reciprocal benefits between the two programs, mileage earning and redemption, as well as slots at New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for United to run up to seven daily roundtrip flights. Today, the two airlines announced that they have completed the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) review of their Blue Sky collaboration and are able to proceed to implementation.
Both airlines thanked Secretary Duffy, Assistant Secretary Edwards, and the entire team at the DOT for the review.
JetBlue and United will share more details in the coming weeks as implementation of the Blue Sky collaboration begins, but here is what we know is coming this fall:
- United MileagePlus customers will be able to earn and use miles on most JetBlue flights. JetBlue’s TrueBlue members will be able to earn and use points for flights across United’s network.
- Through an interline agreement, each airline will market flights on the other’s website and app to make booking across the two airlines simple.
- The benefits of each airline’s loyalty program including priority boarding, complimentary access to preferred and extra legroom seats, and same-day changes will be available when passengers travel on the other airline’s aircraft.
- JetBlue will provide United access to slots at New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for up to seven daily round-trip flights out of Terminal 6 to begin as early as 2027. As part of a net-neutral exchange, JetBlue and United will exchange eight flight timings at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
- United will move its website and mobile app’s ability to sell hotels, rental cars, cruises, and travel insurance, to new technology and services provided by JetBlue’s Paisly platform.
In June, Spirit cried foul and asked the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to stop this partnership. This seems to have had no impact on the partnership even though Spirit claimed that this deal is anticompetitive and will lead other large carriers to pursue similar deals. It went on to demand an extension to the review period and requested that all details be made available for public review before being approved. This is not unheard of and when American and JetBlue formed the Northeast Alliance in 2021, United wanted the same thing that Spirit is asking for now.
Anthony’s Take: It’s exciting to see this move one step closer to implementation. United has done a good job of cozying up to the current administration and it now looks like it has gotten its way with this partnership.
(Image Credits: United Airlines and JetBlue Airways.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
