JetBlue adds Edinburgh-Boston (bookable on Avios), drops Gatwick-New York

JetBlue’s financial woes have been widely documented; the airline has failed to turn a profit since before the pandemic, and a new leadership team was brought in earlier this year to try to turn the ship around.

Whilst the airline has continued with its transatlantic plans, opening up Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Dublin over the past year, it is shuffling its European portfolio.

For Summer 2025 it will operate the same number of daily flights across the Atlantic but there will be tweaks to the routes.

The good news is that JetBlue is launching flights between Edinburgh and Boston.

Flights will begin on 22nd May and operate daily until late October.

It is a 12.10 departure from Edinburgh, landing at 14.22. The return leaves Boston at 22.30, landing at 10.10 the following day.

There are introductory offers of £449 return in economy and £2,199 return in Mint business class.

The bad news is that Gatwick to New York flights have been permanently cancelled. The route had initially switched to summer-only but will now be dropped altogether.

The UK network next summer will look like this:

• Heathrow to New York JFK – 2x daily
• Edinburgh to New York JFK – daily from 8th May
• Heathrow to Boston – daily from 22nd May
• Gatwick to Boston – daily from 22nd May
• Edinburgh to Boston – daily from 22nd May

Elsewhere in Europe, one daily flight between Paris and New York has been dropped, replaced by a new route between Madrid and Boston. This will be the first JetBlue flight from Spain.

JetBlue operates its transatlantic flights with a fleet of A321LRs, including 24 business class seats. You can read our (positive) review of JetBlue Mint Suite (business class) here, image above.

You can earn and spend Avios on JetBlue

It isn’t widely known that you can earn and spend Avios on JetBlue flights.

This is NOT done via British Airways Executive Club but via Qatar Airways Privilege Club. For earning, you need to give your Qatar Airways number and later transfer the Avios across from Qatar Airways to BA via the process here. To redeem, you need to link your BA account to your Qatar Airways account and book via the Qatar Airways website.

Here is an example from Heathrow to New York JFK. The cost in business class is 156,000 Avios + £267.72 of taxes and charges:

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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review