Act Fast – JetBlue Award Sale

With no published award-price charts to refer to, members of Delta’s SkyMiles program don’t know when award prices are higher or lower than normal. That’s because there is no baseline to use as a reference point; there is no normal. Or rather, normal is whatever Delta chooses to publish as the price for an award ticket on a particular flight.

Need a pre- or post-flight nap, or just a little quiet time in the midst of the airport’s hustle and bustle?

It’s a fact of loyalty-program life: Airline and hotel programs periodically adjust their award prices. Of course, those adjustments amount to price hikes more often than not. And, all things being equal, higher award prices amount to an overall devaluation of the program.

As changes to hotel-program award prices go, the latest for InterContinental’s IHG Rewards are decidedly modest: Prices for award nights at 400 hotels will change by either 5,000 or 10,000 points, half moving up, half moving down. If it were just that 50-50 split, Rewards members might dismiss it as a wash and count their blessings. After all, “It could have been worse.”

With the high probability of Virgin America’s being folded into Alaska Airlines within the next two years, Virgin loyalists are in the market for an alternative. And JetBlue wants to be that alternative.

In February, when Starbucks announced it was converting its frequent-drinker program to a revenue-based scheme, there was a collective groan from the caffeinated crowd. As with similar conversions by the major airlines, Starbucks’ new earning rules would mean fewer rewards for most customers.

I’m not a fan of flash sales or flash promotions. I understand the motivation from the travel suppliers’ standpoint, but snooze-you-lose offers are manipulative and disrespectful.

Somebody had to be first. And when it comes to the relaunch of scheduled flights between the U.S. and Cuba, following the normalization of relations between the two countries after more than 50 years, it appears that JetBlue is set to snag those bragging rights.

Marriott has just published its list of award-price changes for 2016. As Marriott Rewards members have come to expect from these annual pronouncements, the news amounts to yet another decrease in the value of their points.

Overall, Delta’s SkyMiles program has established itself as one of the industry’s least generous loyalty schemes. To play, you’ll pay. But with this limited-time award sale, you can at least pay less.

Update from IHG, including effect date for new prices: “All reservations booked beginning Jan. 16, 2018, will use the new Reward Nights point prices. This is part of an annual review into the number of points needed for a Reward Night, and we’ll communicate to members through our regular channels, including email and our website.”

Hilton this week posted upcoming changes to HHonors award prices. While such announcements are almost never good news—and are sometimes positively gut-wrenching—this round of changes is so modest in scope that it’s practically a non-event.