This morning I got an email from JetBlue, literally out of the blue. It informed me that I had a flight credit of some $4,000 that would expire in two weeks unless used. The flight does not have to occur in that timeframe, but I must book the flight by then or lose the credit. If this was a few hundred dollars, I might ignore this and consider it a come-on to get me to spend more money traveling than I needed to. But at this amount, there should be something I can do with that credit so as not to lose it. For the life of me, I cannot recall what brought about the credit, but I’m sure there was some changed plans that created it and dumped it into the e-credit bin at JetBlue. One of the problems is that we have been using JetBlue much less than Delta and Alaska Air, both have had better schedules, equipment and pricing for our preferred destinations and needs. That has left JetBlue out in the cold in our travel program, but I suddenly need to reconsider that for the sake of this credit.
The first thing I did was to check all the3 existing travel arrangements I have to see if there is anything that can get substituted with a JetBlue flight and still get me a refund. We are booked up with various travel arrangements from here to March and while there are plenty of trips to consider, after looking them over I am not convinced that any of them would allow me to do the old switcheroo very easily. So, I threw out the idea to Kim that we consider squeezing in an otherwise unplanned trip somewhere guided by the $4k amount and how far that will take us in First Class on JetBlue. To begin with, it seems that during my hiatus from JetBlue, they had partnered up with United Airlines. JetBlue and United have a partnership called “Blue Sky,” that was announced in May 2025 and rolled out in phases since then. TrueBlue (JetBlue) and MileagePlus (United) members can earn and redeem miles across both airlines as part of a full-blown loyalty partnership. there are other benefits like reciprocal elite perks, reciprocal cash booking and better access for one another at JFK (something with particular value to us as NYC regulars). It’s a loyalty and commercial partnership, not a merger but it looks like it will work nicely for us in this instance. What it does for us is extend our reach on where we can use this found money eCredit.
It just so happens that just two days ago I got a renewal notice from Homeland Security for my Global Entry (TSA Pre Frequent Traveler Program). In that application, they ask for the foreign countries I have travelled to over the last five years. See against the narrative I have touted for a few years now that we are trying to travel less, that was a very revealing exercise for me. The list included, Egypt, Jordan, Italy, Andorra, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Ireland, England, Scotland, Finland, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands, Canada and Uruguay…so not an inconsequential array of places.
My initial thoughts were that the three places I might be willing to take a quick 4-5 day trip to were Mexico City, Vancouver or Oahu. We have talked about a Mexico City trip to visit our friends John & Elaine, who keep a home in a hillside village an hour outside of the D.F.. Our other friends Mark & Laura live in Vancouver and they have said many times that we should go for a visit. We’ve been to Vancouver, but only spent a short time there and we have an interest in getting back there and exploring it more thoroughly. As for Oahu, we’ve recently agreed that next summer we will take the granddaughters to Hawaii for a visit, but we have unanimously agreed that will likely either be to Maui or the Bid Island and specifically not Oahu. I’ve been to both Mexico City and Vancouver many times before, but I’ve never gone to either just to get to know the city. But Hawaii is a place that I have mostly steadfastly avoided over the years. I’ve only been there once and it was to the Kona Coast on the Big Island in 1998 for all of 36 hours. As a big fan of WWII movies (most notably the latest version of Midway), I have hankered to see the Pearly Harbor Memorial for many years. In addition, places like Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head, the Pipeline at Waimea Bay, Ala Moana and Hanauma Bay have all been places that I have wanted to visit. As you can tell, I seem to have a hidden desire to see Hawaii in the most traditional sense. My friend Claude tells me that I should stay at the traditional Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, which is right on the sand of Waikiki Beach and an easy walk away from almost everything.
I’ve spoken to my friend John and if he comes back with a workable plan for mid-November, we will probably take up that option. If not, we will choose the Oahu option and make Mexico City happen at another time. Vancouver is actually a pretty easy place to make happen at almost any other convenient time.
I think I need to stop talking about scaling back our travel. One or both os us have been on a plane in July, June, April and March, with February and May having motorcycle trips instead. One or both of us have travel plans where we get on an airplane in August, September, October, December, February and March. The only gap months were November and January and it looks like we will be filling that in with a trip to Mexico or Hawaii. It’s too soon to count out January, but that’s not usually a travel month for us as we recuperate from the holidays. As for the rest of 2027…give it time…who knows where the next found money might turn up?