United-JetBlue Blue Sky Cash Bookings Are Live: How to Earn, Redeem, and Find the Best Deal (2026)

As February 2026, the United-JetBlue Blue Sky partnership now lets you book flights on either airline’s website with cash, not just miles or points. United.com shows JetBlue flights you can buy with a credit card, and JetBlue.com shows United flights the same way.

This is the biggest update since the partnership launched in October 2025, and it means both websites now function as full booking engines for both airlines: cash, MileagePlus miles, or TrueBlue points: your choice.

But more options also means more complexity. On any given route, you now have up to four ways to book: cash on the operating airline’s site, cash on the partner’s site, miles on United, or points on JetBlue. The prices aren’t always the same across those options, and some fare classes don’t even show up on the partner site.

Here’s exactly what changed, what the restrictions are, and how to figure out which booking option gives you the best value.

What Is the Blue Sky Partnership?

Blue Sky is a collaboration between United Airlines and JetBlue that lets members of either loyalty program earn and use their miles or points across both airlines. It’s not a merger, codeshare, or alliance, both airlines still operate independently and market their own flights. But the partnership creates reciprocal benefits that are expanding in phases throughout 2025–2027.

The idea is straightforward: United’s strength is its massive global network (especially international routes through hubs like Newark, Chicago, and San Francisco), while JetBlue dominates East Coast leisure markets, the Caribbean, and transatlantic routes from New York and Boston. Blue Sky gives each airline’s loyalty members access to the other’s network.

How to Book, Earn, and Redeem Across Both Airlines

Here’s what’s live as of February 2026 across both airlines’ websites and mobile apps:

Book with cash:

• Buy JetBlue-operated flights on United.com or the United app
• Buy United-operated flights on JetBlue.com or the JetBlue app

Earn miles or points on partner flights:

• Earn United MileagePlus miles on JetBlue flights (5 miles per dollar base, up to 11x for Premier 1K)
• Earn JetBlue TrueBlue points on United flights (5 points per dollar base, plus 3x bonus for Mosaic members)
• TrueBlue members can earn tiles toward Mosaic status on United flights
• MileagePlus members cannot earn PQPs or PQFs on JetBlue flights (no status qualification)

Redeem miles or points:

• Use MileagePlus miles for JetBlue flights (booked through United)
• Use TrueBlue points for United flights (booked through JetBlue)

Vacation packages:

• United-operated flights are now bookable inside JetBlue Vacations (Flight + Hotel packages), opening up destinations like Japan, Brazil, Italy, and Greece. Cruise packages are coming later.

Where Cash Fares Don’t Match: The Pricing Gap You Need to Know

This is the most practical thing to understand about the new cash booking feature: the fares you see on the partner website may not include the cheapest options.

Specifically, JetBlue’s Blue Basic fare (their lowest fare class) doesn’t always appear when you search for JetBlue flights on United.com. AwardWallet tested this on the same routes and dates and found cheaper options showing only on JetBlue’s own site. The same may apply to United’s Basic Economy when searched through JetBlue.

This matters because the price difference between Blue Basic and the next fare up (Blue) can be $30–$80 or more per segment. If you’re comparing cash vs. miles, and the cash price you’re looking at is artificially high because of a missing fare class, you might overestimate the value of a miles redemption.

Cash vs. Miles: How to Find the Best Deal on Every Route

With cash and award options now live on both platforms, the real question on every route is: should I pay with money or use miles?

Before Blue Sky, this was simpler. You’d search for award availability in one program and compare it against cash fares on that airline. Now, for any JetBlue-United route, you could be comparing four different prices: the cash fare on the operating airline’s site, the cash fare on the partner’s site, the MileagePlus miles price, and the TrueBlue points price.

That’s a lot of tabs. This is exactly the kind of problem AwardFares solves: you can search MileagePlus and TrueBlue award availability in a single search, get the award price instantly, then do one quick check of the cash fare to make your call.

Here’s what we’re seeing in AwardFares right now.

When Miles or Points Tend to Beat Cash

• JetBlue domestic routes booked with United miles: We’re seeing redemptions around 20,000 MileagePlus miles for routes like BOS–FLL and IAD–FLL. If the cash fare on those routes is $350+, using miles gets you above 1.5 cents per mile in value, a solid redemption.
• JetBlue Mint booked with United miles: JFK–LAX in Mint is pricing around 80,000 MileagePlus miles. Cash Mint fares regularly run $800–$1,200+ on that route, making this one of the better uses of partner miles in the entire program.
• United long-haul economy with TrueBlue points: Routes like IAD–HND (Washington to Tokyo) are showing around 60,000 TrueBlue points, plus taxes. Depending on the cash fare, this can be worthwhile for TrueBlue members who wouldn’t otherwise have access to Tokyo.

When Cash Probably Wins

• Short domestic flights under $200: The miles required often represent poor value, below 1 cent per mile/point, when the cash price is low.
• Routes where Blue Basic or Basic Economy doesn’t show on the partner site: The displayed cash fare may be $50–$80 higher than what’s actually available, making the miles option look better than it really is.
• United international business class with TrueBlue points: Early reports show rates like 129,000 points for DEN–MUC in Polaris business. That’s a steep ask for a partner redemption, especially since United historically releases very limited business class inventory to partners. At that rate, you’re often better off paying cash or transferring credit card points to United directly.

Try It: Search Blue Sky Awards on AwardFares

1. Search both programs at once. Select United MileagePlus or JetBlue TrueBlue (or both) and enter your route. You’ll see every available award seat with the exact miles or points required, across both airlines.

2. Use Timeline View to find the cheapest dates. Award prices shift daily. The Timeline View shows you the miles or points required across an entire month, so you can spot when redemption rates dip below your threshold, and whether they’re likely to beat the cash fare.

3. Set alerts for better pricing. If the award rate isn’t great today, set up an alert. AwardFares will notify you when availability opens up or prices drop on your route, so you don’t have to keep checking manually.

Search BOS–FLL on United and JetBlue right now →

Restrictions and Exclusions

Several limitations remain from the October 2025 launch and haven’t changed:

Blue Sky Partnership Timeline: What’s Live and What’s Coming

Here’s the full status of every announced Blue Sky feature: