Updated on January 10, 2019
Source: Barclaycardus.com
Last year I wrote about a highest ever 60k bonus offer from JetBlue. One year later it’s time to decide: Should I keep or cancel the JetBlue Plus Card? The annual fee is $99 – is it worth it? We both got the card as did a family member so I’m deciding for 3 people.
The short answer is, if you plan to fly JetBlue at least one time, yes, keep the card. If you have multiple cards within the family which travels together, just keep one card.
Reasons to Keep the JetBlue Plus Card
- The biggest benefit is the free checked bag for up to 3 companions. That’s worth around $23 per person. JetBlue's website says a checked bag costs $30, but I've noticed the cash rate for “Blue Plus” which includes a checked bag, costs $23 more. When traveling with a kid this becomes even more valuable due to all the extra stuff you need to bring.
- 5000 bonus points when you renew: this is worth $50 conservatively
- 10% back on award redemptions. We booked award tickets to Cayman Islands last year for 2 people for 60,400 points which means I get back 6,040 points. Value at least $60.
It’s easy to see how you can more than cover the $99 annual fee if you plan to fly JetBlue at least once.
Reasons to Downgrade to the JetBlue $0 Fee Card
Another option is to downgrade to the no fee JetBlue card. Maybe you used up all your points or aren't sure when you plan to fly JetBlue again. You'll won't get any of the perks above but you'll get to keep the 1 main perk below. If you don't have any other Barclays cards it might be good to keep one card to maintain some relationship with the bank.
- 50% off in flight purchases – this has a low value to me but high value to a friend. You’ll keep this perk even if you downgrade to the no fee card.
Calling the Retention Team To Cancel or Downgrade
I didn't get any retention offer other than the option to downgrade. Same for a few other cases I heard about. One of the comments below says someone got the $99 fee waived plus another 5k bonus points with an additional spend of $1k in 90 days. On the account I was planning to downgrade, that was not an option available when the call was made. As a result that account was cancelled. YMMV.
Final Decision
What to do? We will do one of each. I will be keeping my JetBlue Plus credit card because we still have lots of JetBlue points, plan to travel on JetBlue this year and the perks listed above more than cover the annual fee. We will cancel our 2nd card (her's) since these benefits apply to both of us when we travel together. The family member will downgrade because there was no downgrade offer available. What are you going to do?
Keep it is a winner
You omit the biggest reason for some to keep the card – the ability to get Mosaic status for up to 2 years through spend (you only need to qualify every other year). Mosaic has the best benefit of any program hands down, which is the ability to cancel flights for free (money not refunded, but becomes travel credit).
How often do you fly JetBlue? Nice perk however $50k is a lot of spend to get Mosaic. With that amount of spend, I think a lot of things are given up (such as hitting bonuses on other cards). Perhaps if you fly exclusively and very often, maybe, but then again if you fly that often, you’ll probably hit Mosaic anyway even without the card. All you need is 15k flight points ($5000 spent on JB x 3 points per dollar) or 30 segments + 12k flight points.
You never mention calling Barclay before cancellation. I called retention and was offered a $99 fee refund + a 5k point bonus for $1k spend in 90 days. Did not affect my 5k annual bonus. Only spend beyond initial bonus spend was minimal spend on JetBlue flights.