JetBlue & Brightline Launch Partnership, But It’s Kind Of Lame

In the airline industry, we’re increasingly seeing intermodal partnerships, particularly with trains, given that planes can’t get you everywhere. This is logical enough in places where rail connectivity is good. Along those lines, JetBlue and Brightline have just introduced a partnership, which sounds interesting on the surface, but disappoints with details, if you ask me…

How the JetBlue & Brightline collaboration works

JetBlue and Brightline have unveiled a partnership, offering customers an air-and-rail booking experience for travel across Central and South Florida. For those not familiar with Brightline, it’s the United States’ only privately owned, operated, and maintained passenger rail system, and currently operates between Orlando and Miami, with stops along the way.

With this partnership, customers can book Brightline tickets directly on jetblue.com, as part of a combined itinerary, providing more options. JetBlue Mint customers will get Brightline’s Premium cabin, while economy customers will get Brightline’s standard Smart product.

Brightline has stations in Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and Orlando. The Orlando station is located directly at the airport, while Brightline offers shuttle service between airports and nearby stations. Note that you have to collect bags when transferring, as there’s no luggage transfer between JetBlue and Brightline.

This agreement also expands options during irregular operations, as JetBlue will be able to incorporate Brightline segments into JetBlue tickets, to provide more flexibility during flight delays and cancelations.

Here’s how Dave Jehn, JetBlue’s VP of Network Planning and Airline Partnerships, describes this:

“As we continue to grow in Florida and offer more flights to and from cities like Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, our partnership with Brightline helps us deliver even more value and convenience to our customers. JetBlue and Brightline share a commitment to innovation and great service, and together we’re expanding transportation options for all of our customers to get to where they want to go, whether they’re starting their journey, heading to their final destination, or adjusting plans along the way.”

This partnership sounds great in theory, but…

I of course like to see more airline partnerships, and I think there’s huge value to these kinds of intermodal agreements. However, the execution here just leaves a bit to be desired, if you ask me. The two biggest issues are as follows:

• There’s no opportunity to earn or redeem TrueBlue points, so there’s no loyalty angle here
• The pricing just isn’t attractive; I’ve pulled up three itineraries, and for all of them, the intermodal option as one booking costs more than just booking the flight and train ticket separately

For example, take the $271 ticket from New York to Aventura via Orlando. If you were to book separately, the flight would cost $159, while the train ticket would cost $54, for a total of $213. So you’re paying an extra $58, while not even getting any loyalty benefits.

So I’m not really sure I see much value here? It would be nice if there were some loyalty angle, or if pricing were actually more attractive. But based on what I’m seeing, I’m not impressed.

Bottom line

JetBlue and Brightline have launched an intermodal partnership, allowing air-and-rail bookings directly through JetBlue’s website and app. While more partnerships are always a good thing, I don’t see much value here, sadly. There’s no TrueBlue angle, and the pricing doesn’t seem advantageous.

What do you make of this JetBlue & Brightline partnership?