Send Your Kids to Camp in Maine and Earn JetBlue Points

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Here’s a different way to earn airline miles if you have kids that like to go to summer camp!

Via @lauriekaiden on Twitter, you can earn up to 10,000 JetBlue points if you enroll a 1st time camper for a Maine Camp Experience 2015 summer camp before September 1, 2014.

How Does It Work?

Link:   Maine Camp Experience JetBlue Promotion

Link:   Maine Camp Experience Camp List

You’ll earn 10,000 JetBlue points if you enroll a 1st time camper for a full (7 to 8 week) summer session in 2015.

And if you send your child for a shorter (2 to 4 week) session, you’ll get 5,000 JetBlue points.

If you’ve sent your child to a Maine Camp Experience camp before, you can’t get the bonus points.  But you CAN refer others, and if they sign their child up, you’ll get a referral award of 5,000 JetBlue points (7 to 8 week session) or 2,500 JetBlue points (2 to 4 week session).

There are some restrictions:

• The bonus is valid for 1st time campers only, who are paying full price for camp
• Only 1 bonus per family
• You must enroll your child before September 1, 2014
• Points will post to your JetBlue account within 45 days of enrollment – and if you cancel at a later date you have to pay the camp back for the cost of the points!

Out of curiosity, I checked the prices for some of the camps.  They’re not cheap!  At some, you’ll pay over $11,000 per child for a 7 to 8 week session!

So this is clearly NOT a promotion to do JUST to get extra points.  But if you are planning on sending your child to camp in Maine anyway, you could earn some JetBlue points in the process.

What Are 10,000 JetBlue Points Worth?

Link:   JetBlue TrueBlue Frequent Flyer Program

The cost of JetBlue award tickets in points is directly related to the price of a cash ticket (much like Southwest).  So what you can get for 10,000 points depends on destination, dates of travel, and if there’s a seat sale.

I checked random dates in July for a trip from New York (JFK) to Orlando.  The lowest cash price for a 1-way ticket was $145.

The same flight for an award ticket cost 10,000 points plus ~$3 in fees.

You can get 1-way flights for as low as 5,000 points, and round-trip for as low as 10,000.  But generally you’ll pay more!

So the 10,000 point camp bonus isn’t worth THAT much (best case a round-trip ticket, and likely short-haul).  But again, if you’re already planning on sending your child to camp in Maine, why say no to some extra points?

JetBlue does NOT have blackout dates when you use points.  If there are seats for sale, you can use your points to get them.

Also, you can use your JetBlue points to fly on Hawaiian Airlines.

Other Ways to Earn JetBlue Points

There are easier ways to earn JetBlue points besides shipping your children away to Maine! 🙂

1.   JetBlue American Express Card

Link:   JetBlue American Express Card

You can earn JetBlue points with the JetBlue American Express Card.  With this card, you get:

• 20,000 points after you spend $1,000 in the 1st 3 months
• 2 points per $1 you spend on JetBlue purchases
• 1 point per $1 you spend on everything else
• 50% discount on inflight JetBlue purchases when you use the card
• $50 statement credit each year toward JetBlue Vacations purchases
• Annual fee of $40, waived for the 1st year
• Terms & Conditions apply

20,000 JetBlue points could be enough for 2 round-trip flights.  I like that the annual fee is waived for the 1st year.

2.   American Express Membership Rewards Points Transfers

Link:   The Platinum Card from American Express

Link:   The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN

Link:   The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz

Link:   Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express

Link:   The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN

Link:   American Express EveryDay

You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to JetBlue at a ratio of 250 Membership Rewards points : 200 JetBlue points.  Occasionally there are transfer bonuses.

You can get Membership Rewards points from the American Express Platinum (Personal), American Express Platinum (Business), American Express Mercedes-Benz Platinum, Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express, American Express Business Gold Rewards, and American Express EveryDay cards.

That said, there are LOTS of other and possibly better ways to use American Express Membership Rewards points!

Remember, American Express charges an excise fee of 0.06 cents per point when you transfer points to US Airlines (to a maximum of $99).

3.   Fly on Hawaiian Airlines

Link:   Barclaycard Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard

You can fly on Hawaiian Airlines and earn JetBlue points.  And you can use you Hawaiian Airlines miles to fly on JetBlue.  The number of miles needed depends on the price of the JetBlue ticket, and you have to call in to redeem.  But there are no blackout dates!

And the Barclaycard Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard gets you a sign-up bonus of 35,000 miles after you spend $1,000 in the 1st 3 months.  Here’s my review of the Barclays Hawaiian Airlines card.

Bottom Line

If you’re planning on sending your child to summer camp next year, you can earn up to 10,000 JetBlue points when you sign-up before September 1, 2014 with Maine Camp Experience.

These camps are expensive, so I wouldn’t change your child’s plans just to get a few extra points (which best case will be worth a domestic round-trip ticket).  But if you’re sending your kid to camp in Maine anyway, you might as well sign-up!