Posting this so hopefully someone else doesn’t end up in the same situation.
I spent about five years saving Amex points for a long-haul business class trip. Did a ton of research using point.me through Amex Platinum and double-checked availability on both Qatar and JetBlue. Found award space to Sri Lanka and decided to book via JetBlue since they’re a US carrier. Huge mistake.
Transferred 350,000 Amex points to TrueBlue. Went to book and kept getting kicked back to the start of the process. After an hour on hold and another hour on the phone, I was told the award space was real but JetBlue’s website was broken. Apparently multiple people were calling about the same issue and IT tickets were open.
Problem is, once the points are transferred, they’re stuck.
Over the next two days I spoke to six different reps and multiple escalations. End result: JetBlue can’t book the ticket, can’t reverse the transfer, won’t offer a cash voucher, and basically says there’s nothing they can do. Zero accountability.
I was lucky enough to have leftover Amex points to book my outbound flight, but now I have no way home unless I pay $4–7k out of pocket for business class. I have a medical condition that makes long-haul economy not really an option, which is why I saved for lie-flat in the first place.
What really stings is that the award space was advertised as bookable, but their system just… doesn’t work. And now I’m sitting on 300k+ JetBlue points that are incredibly hard to use, with one of the worst booking portals I’ve ever dealt with.
Learn from my mistake. Do not transfer flexible points to JetBlue unless you are 100% certain the ticket can be booked instantly. Once they have your points, you’re on your own.
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