2025 is shaping up to be the year of the premium travel card. With a premium Alaska Airlines card on the horizon and rumors of an incoming top-tier Citi card, competition in this market is strengthening.
JetBlue is planting its flag in this space with the launch of the JetBlue Premier World Elite Mastercard® issued by Barclays. With a $499 annual fee, the card is positioned as the premium option for JetBlue loyalists.
Whether it’s a good fit depends on how much you fly JetBlue. So, let’s look into the new product to see if you should apply.
The information for the JetBlue Premier Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Welcome bonus
New JetBlue Premier cardholders can earn 70,000 bonus points and 5 “tiles” toward Mosaic elite status after spending $5,000 in the first three months of account opening.
According to TPG’s January 2025 valuations, those JetBlue TrueBlue points are worth $910.
The JetBlue Business Card has a more modest $99 annual fee, with a welcome bonus currently offering just 10,000 fewer points, so we would’ve expected a higher bonus for the Premier’s launch.
The five tiles you’ll receive as part of the welcome bonus get you 10% of the way to Mosaic status, which requires $50,000 in spending in a calendar year. It seems that the five tiles included in the welcome offer are earned through regular spending rather than as a separate bonus, as per the terms and conditions:
“Earn 70,000 bonus TrueBlue points and 5 tiles after spending $5,000 on purchases. …The bonus TrueBlue points will be reflected on the billing statement after you have qualified to earn the bonus. Please allow 1-2 weeks for the tiles and 4-6 weeks for the bonus TrueBlue points to be deposited into your Membership account.”
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If you get this card and want to enjoy Mosaic status through the end of 2026, you’ll need to spend an additional $45,000 on this card in 2025.
The information for the JetBlue Business Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Card benefits
For a card with a $499 annual fee, the JetBlue Premier needs to come out of the gate with strong perks for its cardholders — and it struggles to do so.
For starters, the card has a $300 annual statement credit — but it’s only applicable toward Paisly purchases. Paisly is JetBlue’s travel portal, through which you can book hotels, car rentals and activities.
This credit is difficult to maximize given that it is offered as six separate $50 credits and you must spend at least $250 in a single transaction to trigger each $50 credit.
The card offers a Priority Pass Select membership, which many other premium cards do — but with two guests instead of the one that the Premier card offers.
The card also offers access to JetBlue’s recently announced lounges at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) — expected to open in late 2025 — and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) — the opening date of which is unknown — for the cardholder and one guest.
JetBlue lounge access is a key perk of the card. However, with lounge openings often subject to delays, it’s worth noting that cardholders won’t have access to these lounges for most of this year. Given this, some may wonder if it would have made more sense to launch the card closer to when the lounges open.
Cardholders receive an up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck statement credit every four years, which is common on cards of this calibre.
Additionally, they can add authorized users for a (quite high) fee of $150 each.
Other notable benefits include:
- Group A priority boarding (for you and up to four companions on the same reservation)
- A first checked bag free on JetBlue-operated flights (for you and up to three companions on the same reservation)
- A 10% points rebate on award redemptions on JetBlue flights
- A 50% inflight food-and-drink discount
- 5,000 anniversary bonus points
For semifrequent JetBlue flyers, the JetBlue Plus Card is the better choice, as it offers the perks in the list above for a much more palatable $99 annual fee.
The information for the JetBlue Plus Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Earning rates
Cardholders will earn 6 points per dollar spent on JetBlue and Paisly purchases, 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants and grocery stores and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.
Sound familiar? That might be because it has the same earning structure as the JetBlue Plus Card. The only difference is that the JetBlue Premier card earns bonus points on Paisly purchases.
In our opinion, at the very least, the JetBlue Premier should have offered 8 points per dollar spent on JetBlue and Paisly purchases. That would make the $499 annual fee more tolerable for JetBlue loyalists.
Cardholders can also earn 1 tile toward Mosaic status with every $1,000 spent on the card. That means you’ll need to spend $50,000 on the card to hit the first level of Mosaic status through card spending alone.
Application restrictions
Note that those who currently have or have previously had the JetBlue Plus Card are not eligible for this welcome bonus. Rather, Plus cardholders are encouraged to log into their Barclays account to see if there is an upgrade offer.
If you don’t have the Plus, you should be OK to apply for this card, as Barclays has relatively lax application restrictions compared to the other issuers.
Bottom line
If you’re a die-hard JetBlue loyalist — especially one based in New York or Boston — this card is worth considering. However, it may be worth holding off on applying until the carrier’s lounges open later in the year to get maximum value from the first year of having the card. That said, the welcome bonus might be lower later on.
If you’re a semifrequent JetBlue flyer, we think the JetBlue Plus Card offers much better value for a lower annual fee — especially if you already have Priority Pass access through another card.
If JetBlue isn’t one of your primary airlines, a general travel rewards card or another airline’s cobranded card is the way to go.
Related: The best premium credit cards: A side-by-side comparison