The great thing about JetBlue’s loyalty program, TrueBlue, is that your points never expire. Sign up, fly once and years later the points will still be in your account (assuming you haven’t redeemed them yet). That means you always have a foundation on which to start building your points balance and get closer to your next award redemption — at your own pace. When you’re ready to get serious about racking up TrueBlue points, you have a number of ways to earn them.

Fly with JetBlue

JetBlue’s loyalty program awards points based on how much you paid for your ticket, rather than distance flown. The number of points per $1 depends on the type of fare you book and your status with the airline. All fares earn 3 points per $1 spent, except for Blue Basic, which earns 1 point.

Make your reservation directly on jetblue.com or the JetBlue app (as opposed to elsewhere on the Internet, such as online travel agencies like Expedia) and you’ll get an additional 3 points per $1. Blue Basic fares booked on these platforms earn an extra 1 point per $1 spent.

Aside from the lagging TrueBlue earnings rate, the drawbacks of Blue Basic fares also include no advance seat selection and no cancellations.

Fly a JetBlue partner airline

When you fly on a JetBlue partner airline, you can choose to earn JetBlue points instead of the miles of the airline flown. Those partner airlines include the following:

Emirates.

Hawaiian Airlines.

Icelandair.

JSX.

Silver Airways.

Singapore Airlines.

South African Airways.

Provide your TrueBlue member number when you book your flight on one of these partners to earn points for your flight. Payouts vary by airline, but in most cases expect to earn about 1 TrueBlue point for every 1-2 miles flown. For American, earnings are based on fare price, not distance.

Earn elite status

JetBlue offers four tiers of Mosaic elite status, which you can earn by racking up Moasaic tiles over the course of a year. Flight points are simply the 1-3 points per $1 you earn when booking JetBlue tickets.

Once you’ve qualified for Mosaic status, you’ll earn an extra 3 TrueBlue points for every $1 you spend on all JetBlue fares, except Blue Basic. There are other perks to Mosaic status, like free checked bags and early boarding.

Book an Even More Space seat

Booking an Even More Space seat earns you even more points. On top of up to 7" more legroom (for a total of 38" of legroom), booking these seats also gets you early boarding and access to a fast lane at airport security. Plus, booking these seats gets you 200 TrueBlue points on top of the points already earned from your airfare. The cost to book an Even More Space seat varies by route and day.

Fly with a pet

With the JetPaws program, you can bring a small dog or cat into the flight cabin with you, provided you and your furry friend meet certain (generally) criteria, including that the combined weight of your pet and its carrier do not exceed 20 pounds, and no other species dogs and cats are allowed.The cost is $125 each way and members earn a flat 300 TrueBlue points.

Considering NerdWallet values one JetBlue point at 1.5 cents, that's basically only just $4.50 worth of TrueBlue points. It's certainly not going to make you Jet Blue-rich, but it's an easy way to pad your points when you must travel with your pup.

Apply for a JetBlue credit card

As is true for just about every loyalty program in existence, the fastest way to earn TrueBlue points is by applying for a co-branded credit card and earning a welcome bonus. With the JetBlue Card, you get the following welcome bonus: Earn 10,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.

The card earns 2 points per $1 spent at restaurants and eligible grocery stores. Plus, every time you use the card to make a reservation on JetBlue, you’ll earn an additional 3 points per $1 spent. For those keeping score at home, that means regular members who book flights on the JetBlue website or app using this credit card will earn up to 9 points per $1 spent. And there’s $0 annual fee.

The JetBlue Business Card earns 6 points per $1 spent on JetBlue purchases. Restaurant and office supply store purchases earn 2 points per $1 spent. Here's the welcome bonus: Earn up to 60,000 bonus points! Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. Plus, earn 10,000 bonus points when a purchase is made on an employee card in the first 90 days.

And the JetBlue Plus Card offers the following: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days. Cardholders also earn 6 points per $1 spent on JetBlue purchases and 2 points per $1 at restaurants and grocery stores.

Both of these cards carry a $99 annual fee.

Rent a car from Avis or Budget

This one’s simple: Every time you want to rent a car from Avis or Budget, book through the JetBlue partners page. You’ll see a field where you can enter your JetBlue member number to earn 100 TrueBlue points per day — and an even higher 200 points if you're a Mosaic member. Plus, you'll typically find other discounts including up to 35% off base rates, simply by booking as a JetBlue member.

Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points

Have some points gathering dust in a Chase Ultimate Rewards® account? Transfer them to your TrueBlue account at a 1:1 ratio. This might not be the most exciting way to use Chase points, but it offers a decent value given that NerdWallet values JetBlue points at 1.5 cents each.

To transfer, log into your Chase account, navigate to the Ultimate Rewards® portal, then to “Transfer Partners” and finally to the JetBlue transfer page.

Transfer AmEx Membership Rewards points

American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to JetBlue at a 250:200 ratio, so this option only makes sense if you’re trying to get rid of a few remaining Membership Rewards points or have a specific JetBlue redemption in mind.

To transfer, navigate to the “Transfer Points” tab in the Membership Rewards portal, select “View All,” then look for the JetBlue option.

Transfer Citi ThankYou points

Finally, you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to JetBlue TrueBlue at a 1:1 ratio for Citi Chairman, Citi Prestige® Card and Citi Premier® Card holders, and a 1,000:800 ratio for Citi ThankYou® Preferred and Citi Rewards+® Card holders.

Shop through JetBlue’s virtual mall

TrueBlue Shopping is a shopping portal that lets you earn TrueBlue points at participating online retailers. You’ll earn 3 points per $1 spent by clicking through the TrueBlue Shopping portal. You can also earn points on in-store purchases.

Most big-name stores participate, including Macy’s, Gap, Apple and Bed Bath & Beyond. The points will usually appear in your account within 30 days.

Shop on Amazon (while flying)

If you're planning a big purchase on Amazon, you might want to wait until your next JetBlue flight to click checkout. When you shop on Amazon and you're connected to Fly-Fi (that's JetBlue's inflight Wi-Fi), you can earn 3 TrueBlue points per dollar spent.

In order to earn points, you must click the Amazon banner ad in the Fly-Fi portal on your browser, and you must be simultaneously logged into your TrueBlue account.

There are some exclusions (including gift cards, alcohol and items purchased through Amazon Fresh, to name a few), and it typically takes at least a month after your purchase ships for the points to post to your account.

Dine out with TrueBlue Dining

Many airlines offer their own dining rewards program, and JetBlue is no exception. With TrueBlue Dinning, you can earn 3 points per $1 spent at over 10,000 participating restaurants — and earning is easy and automatic. Simply registering your credit or debit card with TrueBlue Dining (it doesn't have to be a JetBlue credit card, either). Simply use your card to pay for your meal, and points will automatically be credited to your account — no need to check in or activate anything.

Even if it doesn’t seem like a lot of good participating restaurants are in your area, you can still sign up, link your card, then be pleasantly surprised when the points appear in your account.

Plus, you can double dip on rewards by paying with a dining rewards credit card. That way, you can collect both credit card rewards for your spending and TrueBlue points. Oh, and you can register multiple cards into the TrueBlue Dining program too.

Pool points with friends

While not technically a way to “earn” JetBlue points, TrueBlue does offer a unique “pooling” option that lets you add points to a mutual pool with up to seven other friends. Each pool has a “leader” who manages members and points. (To our knowledge, there are no checks and balances on this potential tyrant, so choose your leader wisely.)

Keep in mind: Once you join a pool, you contribute all your points to it. So those with a big stash should think twice before plunging in.

Book a JetBlue Vacation

You can earn a few extra points by booking a JetBlue vacation, which bundles airfare with hotels, car rentals and other activities. Most people earn 6 points per dollar spent on the airfare portion of the bundle (twice the usual earning rate) and 1 point per dollar spent on the hotel and car rental portions. Mosaic members earn 9 points per dollar spent on airfare booked as part of a JetBlue Vacations package.

Book with Paisly

Paisly is an online travel agency run by JetBlue, that allows you to add hotels, car rentals and other activities like theme park tickets to your purchase when booking a flight with JetBlue. It promises to serve you deals including 35% off rental cars and hotel price matching. Plus, you'll earn 1 point per dollar spent on stays, activities and theme park tickets. For rental cars, you'll earn 100 TrueBlue points per day, up to five days (and Mosaic members earn 200 points per day).

Take surveys through Jet Opinions

If you're looking for a relatively mindless task to do as you tune into your billionth Zoom meeting, this one can at least earn you TrueBlue points. Fill out surveys through Jet Opinions. Earnings rate varies by survey, but JetBlue promises you'll get 400 points for completing your first survey. That's only worth about $6 in value, but it's also minimal effort.

The information related to the Citi Chairman card, Citi Prestige® Card and Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product or service.