Bad news: JetBlue Mint awards not currently bookable with Emirates Skywards
JetBlue and Emirates have a longstanding partnership that's allowed Emirates Skywards members to redeem miles on JetBlue flights. Recently, this partnership was expanded to include Mint business-class flights. However, it appears that this is no longer the case, as Mint awards no longer appear on Emirates' website. This news was first reported by View from The Wing.
Despite Emirates' award chart showing pricing for Mint awards, no Mint award seats are available to book on Emirates' website on any route.
Thankfully, JetBlue economy awards continue to be bookable.
Mint awards have reportedly been unavailable since late June, so while this may be a website error, we won't know for sure until there's an official announcement. TPG has reached out to Emirates for comment, so we hope to have a definitive answer soon.
Mint award seats remain bookable with JetBlue TrueBlue points and American AAdvantage miles. You'll generally get the best deal with American since JetBlue prices all awards based on the cash cost of a flight. However, you cannot book U.S.-to-United Kingdom flights operated by JetBlue with American miles.
If JetBlue shuts Emirates out of Mint award bookings permanently, we'll lose one of the best Emirates redemptions. For example, you used to be able to redeem 64,000 Skywards miles for a Mint ticket between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Heathrow Airport (LHR).
It would also be continuing the practice of consolidating premium product redemptions. For example, Emirates now only allows its Skywards members to redeem miles for Emirates first class. Likewise, only Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members can redeem for premium-cabin Singapore award tickets.
Related: How JetBlue's new Mint business class stacks up against the original
Bottom line
Right now, you cannot use Emirates Skywards to book JetBlue Mint business-class flights. If this is a permanent change, it will devalue the program as Mint redemptions are one of the best ways to redeem Emirates miles. As always, we'll keep you updated and republish when we hear back from Emirates.
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