25 Airports in 6 Months: The Real Lessons From JetBlue’s 350,000-Point Challenge

Summary

Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways

Episode 25 – Airports in 6 Months: The Real Lessons From JetBlue’s 350,000-Point Challenge

Date: February 25, 2026
Hosts: Sally French & Megan Coyle

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Episode Overview

In this episode, travel experts Sally French and Megan Coyle from NerdWallet take listeners behind the scenes of JetBlue’s epic “25 for 25” challenge, where participants raced to visit 25 different JetBlue destinations in six months for a huge loyalty points payout and elite status. Through interviews with three challenge finishers and analysis of recent travel news, the hosts unpack travel hacking strategies, the evolution of airline loyalty programs, practical trip budgeting, and the vibrant community that emerged from the challenge.

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Key Topics and Discussion Points

1. Breaking Travel News: Loyalty Programs, Fees & Policy Changes

[02:40 – 20:33]

United Airlines’ Loyalty Shakeup

• Big changes roll out April 2, 2026: Mileage earning for United flights now heavily favors cardholders and elites.
  • General flyers (no status/card):
    • Reduced earnings: Now 3 miles/$ (was 5), 0 miles on Basic Economy.
    • “No. I think these airlines are just saying, hey, if you’re going to buy our cheapest fares, you don’t need to participate in our loyalty program. And they're like, you're poor.”
      — Megan Coyle [05:24]
  • Credit card holders:
    • Boosted to 6 miles/$ (previously 5).
    • Combos with Elite status: Up to 12 miles/$ for top-tier.
    • Cardholders get 10-15% discounts on award flights.
    • “You do not necessarily need to pay for the flight with the United card. You just have to hold it.”
      — Sally French [06:32]
  • Comparison to Delta and American: All are restricting rewards on basic economy.
  • Card options: United Explorer Card ($0 intro annual fee, then $150) suggested for higher earning rates; “gateway” cards require $10,000 spend.

Hyatt Award Chart Changes

• Hyatt retains an award chart, expands to five dynamic tiers.
• Low-end nights cheaper: As little as 3,000 points (down from 3,500).
• Luxury peak nights: Huge increase: Up to 75,000 points (was 45,000).
  • “That is Megan, a 67% increase on the top end.”
    — Sally French [12:12]
• New! Points transfers now allowed digitally between accounts.
• Elite/credit card holders: 1-month early access to award nights.
  • “That's huge. Honestly, I spent months looking for availability on points at the Alila Ventana in Big Sur...”
    — Megan Coyle [14:36]

Other Loyalty Announcements

• Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards: Up to 60% off international award tickets, tight booking window.
• Spirit’s “Free Spirit Debit Card” launches (Not free—$6.99/month):
  • Rewards for debit users, priority boarding, points pooling.

National Park Reservations

• Arches, Yosemite, Glacier remove entry reservations for Summer 2026.
  • Spontaneous trips now possible, but expect “crowding, parking congestion” during peak times.
    — Megan Coyle [19:39]

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2. JetBlue’s “25 for 25” Challenge: Inside the Mileage Marathon

[22:39 – 53:11]

How the Challenge Worked

• JetBlue’s 25th birthday celebration:
  • Prizes:
    • 15 airports = 150k points
    • 20 airports = additional 200k points
    • 25 airports = 25 years of Mosaic 1 elite status plus all above points
    • Challenge ran June 25–Dec 31, 2025

Epic Stats

• 2,000+ participants; 90% finished—all 25!
  • “Fastest completion, Sally, was in six days.”
    — Megan Coyle [24:55]
  • 811 million JetBlue points awarded
  • Two marriage proposals during the challenge

Real Travelers’ Stories

Featured Guests:

• Alyssa Mala, travel blogger @ doyoushaveflyfi
• Kathleen Wilson, recent retiree and challenge finisher
• Ben Kim, Detroit-based flight school student

Motivations:

• “It was something I couldn’t turn down.”
  — Alyssa Mala [26:13]
• “No other challenge has ever introduced the concept of having the status for that long.”
  — Ben Kim [26:40]
• “For me it was a timely fit and something that would be fun to do.”
  — Kathleen Wilson [27:14]

Planning & Budgeting:

• “Planning was part of the adventure... I paid for almost all of it on points.”
  — Alyssa Mala [28:14]
• Cost realities:
  • Ben Kim: Spent ~$2,700 (including all transportation, mostly slept in airports to save).
  • “Sleeping in an airport, that is dedication, my friend.”
    — Sally French [30:03]

Unusual Destinations & Experiences:

• Presque Isle, Maine (PQI):
  • Became the "spiritual home" of the challenge due to its remote location and limited service.
  • “The airport itself is part of that history. It's a community that saw its first airfield built...in 1925.”
    — Kathleen Wilson [32:07]
• Carribean island hops (St. Croix, St. Thomas) — dramatic through-airport sprints for tight connections.

Community & Camaraderie

• Chance meetings of fellow travelers on obscure flights.
  • “Chances are, if you were flying to some of these tiny airports, you were probably sitting next to someone else participating.”
    — Megan Coyle [33:12]
• JetBlue employees often participated in celebrations/special treatment (gift bags, hand-written cards).
  • “It really exemplifies a human connection that travel can create.”
    — Alyssa Mala [37:55]

How Digital Community Grew

• WhatsApp group—started as points nerds, evolved to 300+ “just for fun” participants.
• Real-time trip tips, “cookie wars” for favorite inflight snacks, and robust mutual encouragement.
  • “There is huge value in being around people who understand exactly what we've gone through.”
    — Alyssa Mala [46:24]
• Multiple in-person meetups, culminating in...
  • TWA Hotel party at JFK during a snowstorm (50–60 braved blizzard, 275 RSVPed!)
  • “People that showed up, they have dedication. I personally don’t regret going there.”
    — Ben Kim [45:34]
  • JetBlue began hosting their own celebration events after seeing the grassroots excitement.

Not Just a Numbers Game—Lasting Connections

• “I think ultimately both communities learned something from each other.”
  — Kathleen Wilson [41:03]
• Finishers included diverse ages: families, senior adventurers, even a six-year-old.
• “It’s the start of many friendships that will continue long past 2025.”
  — Alyssa Mala [48:29]

Quick Note: Loyalty Status Changes

• JetBlue reduced benefits for Mosaic 1:
  • Now only one free checked bag
  • Fewer companion upgrades
  • Fewer free drinks in economy
  • “25 years of elite status...definitely means there are more changes coming.”
    — Megan Coyle [52:09]

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3. Standout Quotes & Moments

• On the adventure:
  “Come hell or high water, I’d have stories to tell for many, many years.”
  — Alyssa Mala [27:01]

• On value vs. experience:
  “If you keep comparing your new destination to the place you’ve just left, you’ll always be disappointed...The way to enjoy travel is to accept a place for what it is, meet it where it’s at, and just enjoy where you are.”
  — Alyssa Mala [52:34]

• On community:
  “It never felt like we were alone because we had in-flight crew to greet us, ATC on the ground...family and friends who were following along, and then finally, we had a group...who braved the heaviest snowstorm in New York City in five years to come and meet other people who had done the same thing.”
  — Alyssa Mala [46:24]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• United/Airline News/Hotel Changes: 02:40 – 20:33
• National Parks Update: 18:01 – 20:33
• Main Event; JetBlue Challenge: 22:39 – 53:11
  • Challenge mechanics and stats: 23:08 – 25:27
  • Participant interviews & stories: 25:31 – 46:24
  • 25-for-25 Party at TWA Hotel: 43:19 – 47:48
  • Reflections and Hot Takes: 52:34 – 53:07

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Final Thoughts: Fun, Friendship & Flexibility

Hosts Sally and Megan wrap up marveling at how the JetBlue challenge turned reward chasing into a shared adventure, with lasting friendships, creative planning, and unexpected discoveries along the way. They note that while loyalty program perks are always changing, the chance to embark on a travel challenge—and make lifelong friends—can be worth far more than just the points.

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For links to Sally and Megan's articles, recommended travel cards, party photos, and more: See the episode description.

Socials:

• Sally: @savewithsally
• Megan: @mileswithmeganco
• Show: @SmartTravelPod

Closing Quote:
“I like that. I agree. I don’t even think this is a hot take. I think this is just good life advice.”
— Sally French [53:07]

Transcript

[Megan Coyle]

Today's episode is sponsored by Fora Travel.

[Sally French]

Megan, have you ever just planned a trip for fun that you weren't actually going to take?

[Megan Coyle]

Wait, I actually do that all the time. I just planned an entire safari for myself.

[Sally French]

What?

[Megan Coyle]

Just to see how fun it would be?

[Sally French]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who does this and finds it fun.

[Megan Coyle]

I think a lot of listeners of Smart Travel do this.

[Sally French]

Okay then. Perfect. This is a sign that we need to talk about Fora.

[Megan Coyle]

Fora is a modern travel agency built for people who love to plan travel and help others travel well. Their tech, platform, training and community give you everything you need to turn a passion for travel planning into a flexible, meaningful stream of income.

[Sally French]

As a Fora Advisor, you get best in class training, powerful booking tech, and a vibrant Google community of experts and fellow advisors. They can share their insider knowledge to help you launch and grow your own travel business with confidence.

[Megan Coyle]

Plus, the perks are real. With access to more than 7,000 preferred travel partners. From iconic brands to boutique gems, you'll unlock VIP perks like upgrades, resort credits, and late checkout, giving you and your clients the kind of elevated travel experiences regular travelers simply don't get.

[Sally French]

And yes, you actually get paid. Every hotel, cruise or activity you book as a for Advisor earns you money in the form of a commission or percentage of the booking cost. Getting started can be as easy as booking trips for people you already know. Become a Fora advisor [e-mail] smarttravel that's

[Megan Coyle]

F O R A travel.com smarttravel and make sure you tell them we sent

[Sally French]

you foratravel.com smarttravel one of my favorite

[Megan Coyle]

things about this show is getting to talk to so many people who love travel.

[Sally French]

Yo. I love these kinds of unhinged people who are willing to do literally anything to travel and most importantly, make it more affordable.

[Megan Coyle]

That's why I Talked to not one, not two, but three travelers who completed JetBlue's 25 for 25 challenge to earn 350,000 points.

[Sally French]

Megan, this really is your new beat.

[Megan Coyle]

I'm obsessed with airline challenges now, but as you'll hear, it's not all about the prizes. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.

[Sally French]

And I'm Sally French.

[Megan Coyle]

And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Today we're talking to three different participants of JetBlue's challenge to visit 25 different airports and Turns out all of these people finished another challenge as well, which was attending a big party for finishers amid a gigantic snowstorm on the East Coast.

[Sally French]

Oh, those east coast snowstorms. But first, our disclaimer, and that is that we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are no real at partners in this episode. That does not influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting. But things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening. For the latest details, follow the links in the episode. Description.

[Megan Coyle]

The news this week kicks off with a huge loyalty program shakeup.

[Sally French]

Huge. This news comes from United and it's looking like United is increasingly trying to put its credit cards front and center of its loyalty program.

[Megan Coyle]

Starting April 2, 2026, United is changing how Mileage plus members earn miles on United flights. That's a really important distinction. It's not how they earn points on their credit cards. So, Sally, would you like to hear the good news or the bad news first?

[Sally French]

Megan I'm an optimist, so let's get the bad news out of the way.

[Megan Coyle]

Okay. If you don't have United status or a United credit card, you're going to be earning fewer miles when you fly. You'll earn just 3 miles per dollar on your United fare once you take the flight. That's down from 5 miles per dollar on United flights. And if you buy a basic economy fare, you won't earn any miles.

[Sally French]

What? Rut Ro I don't have a United card. I don have United status. I do fly United often and when I do, I buy basic economy fares.

[Megan Coyle]

Sally and you live in a United hub. This is going to be really rough for you.

[Sally French]

No, I'm saying ruh RO So just to be clear, general members without status and without a United Card earn 0 miles on Basic economy.

[Megan Coyle]

But if you have Elite status or a United card, you can still earn some miles with basic economy, but even that is reduced.

[Sally French]

Megan I low key feel obligated to get a United card then, but I said I'm an optimist and it does feel like this now means a new benefit for United card holders.

[Megan Coyle]

Yes. Actually, Sally, there is more good news, and that is if you have a United credit card, you'll actually earn even more miles now.

[Sally French]

Hallelujah. They gotta pair the bad news with

[Megan Coyle]

the good news, right? So if you don't have elite status, but you do have a United card, you'll earn 66 miles per dollar. That's up from the old 5 miles per dollar on flights. And then on top of that, you can earn even more miles if you have a card and Elite status. So with a United card and Premier Silver status, which is their lowest tier, you'd earn 8 miles per dollar. And then with Premier 1K, that's the highest tier, you'd earn 12 miles per dollar.

[Sally French]

Just to be clear, that's only if you have Elite status and a United credit card. If you don't have the United credit card, but you do have Elite status, you are still getting a hit.

[Megan Coyle]

It really makes it so that people who fly United a lot probably should get a United credit card.

[Sally French]

So when you look at the big picture here, I think it is obvious that all these airlines are trying to Nerf, especially their basic economy fares. So United is giving it a nerf. But, you know, Delta and American have also made it so you will not earn miles on basic economy fares. I find this quite odd because don't you want to at least give basic economy people a little something something for their flights and then hook them in?

[Megan Coyle]

No. I think these airlines are just saying, hey, if you're going to buy our cheapest fares, you don't need to participate in our loyalty program. And they're like, you're poor.

[Sally French]

We don't want you anyway.

[Megan Coyle]

You will not earn enough miles to get award flights. I forgot to mention another incentive to get a United credit card, which is that cardholders will get discounts of at least 10% on award flights or at least 15% for cardholders with Elite status. This is pretty similar to the discounts Delta already gives its eligible cardholders.

[Sally French]

One more thing to add. These increased earning rates for cardholders are specifically for flying with the airline. It is in addition to whatever rewards rate you would earn for paying that United purchase with a United card. So let's say you have a United Explorer card and you paid for a flight, you would earn the 3 miles per dollar on the United purchase, plus 6 miles per dollar for being a cardholder that bought the main cabin. Fair. Again, not basic economy with that card.

[Megan Coyle]

That's a lot of miles, especially when you think about how cardholders will be spending less miles now that they get a discount on award flights. So, Sally, what's a United Flyer to do?

[Sally French]

Sounds like you're gonna have to get one of those United credit cards now. Also, to be clear, you do not necessarily need to pay for the flight with the United card. You just have to hold it. So you could technically, if you got a better rewards rate on another card, you could also just charge to the flight to another card, but you do still have to hold a United credit card. If you're wondering what the best United credit card to hold is, we have a big list of them on the NerdWallet website. We'll put that in the episode description. Their lowest annual fee option for cards that do earn this higher mileage rate off the bat is the United Explorer card. It does have a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, but then after that is $150. They also have a range of other cards with higher annual fees all the way up to the United Club card. That card, Megan, has a 695dol annual fee.

[Megan Coyle]

Well, I do want to point out that United does have some $0 annual fee cards like the United Mileage plus debit rewards card. That's actually a debit card and that one has a monthly fee if your monthly balance is $2,000 or less. So it sort of has a fee. And the United Gateway card, that one has no annual fee and that's a credit card. However, with both of these cards you will only unlock the higher earning rates after spending $10,000 on the card within a calendar year. Like you said, all those other cards you mentioned, Sally, which have annual fees don't have that $10,000 minimum spend threshold.

[Sally French]

Sounds like this is your sign to apply for a credit card from United and probably one of those with the annual fee. Unless you're really going to hit that $10,000 spend requirement on the no annual fee ones, we will post a link to the new story I wrote about this in the episode description so you can take a look and decide if any of these United credit cards might be a fit for you, or if you're just like, nah, I'm out.

[Megan Coyle]

Speaking of other things you wrote, Sally Hyatt has made a bunch of changes to their award chart and you wrote the article about it.

[Sally French]

Award chart? What word is that? It's a word you rarely hear these days. Most loyalty programs have ditched their award chart in favor of what we call a dynamic pricing model. This basically just means that points prices are more aligned with cash rates. It can be difficult to predict what property prices will be until you actually go in and click on the booking page for the property for that specific day.

[Megan Coyle]

Hyatt is famous for still having an award chart and the good news is they are keeping it. The difference is that their award chart now has five tiers instead of three tiers for either off peak, peak or standard pricing. That's Kind of like the demand tier. And then they also have tiers for the category of hotel. Those aren't changing.

[Sally French]

So I don't know if the listeners remember, but there was a period not too long ago where Hyatt only had a single price per hotel. So each hotel was given a category, one through eight, and one was probably your hotel in the middle of nowhere. And then the top category is, you know, probably the fancy hotel right in front of the Louvre in Paris. But what Happened is in 2021, Hyatt launched just the three tiers, off Peak and peak pricing, meaning the same hotel would cost one of three rates depending on when in the year you went.

[Megan Coyle]

And this in some ways made it a little bit more fair because some people were traveling in the off season and they got to pay a slightly lower price with points. And then if you were going during peak season, then you would pay a slightly higher price point. And honestly, even that peak season price point in points was still cheaper than what many of the other hotel brands were selling their award nights at. You know, during very high demand nights, such as big sporting events or huge concerts, just times that it was really expensive to travel. The award chart still kind of put a cap on how much Hyatt would charge for their award nights.

[Sally French]

Yeah, and Megan, I said I'm an optimist and the optimist in me appreciates that sort of price variability. I think it incentivizes off season travel. I hate to see a lot of over tourism. So maybe a lower price point is good reason to actually go at that cheaper night. Also, if you go to some of these cheaper hotels on the low, now the lowest of the low off season nights, many of these hotels are actually getting cheaper. So category one, two and three properties drop by about 500 to 1,000 points at the lowest level. In the past, the cheapest room you could book was a category one hotel on an off peak night at 3500 points. Now that rate has actually been reduced to 3000 points. So you are getting somewhat of a deal, especially in these cheaper properties at the really, really off night. So it was easy to remember the names. There was the off peak standard in peak. Now we have five tiers. The names are lowest, low, moderate, upper and top.

[Megan Coyle]

Okay, great. I mean, it's a little self explanatory, but Sally, what are the ranges between all of those?

[Sally French]

Well, the good thing is that we are seeing at the bottom end some points prices are getting cheaper. So before the lowest you would possibly pay is 3, 500 points. That would be for a category one off peak night. And then the most you would pay is 45,000 points. That would be for your category 8 peak night. Now the difference we're seeing instead of 3500, the cheapest night is 3000 points. But then I got really bad news. Megan, are you ready for this?

[Megan Coyle]

Oh, no. Is it like 50,000?

[Sally French]

Oh, not even close. So I said the most expensive peak night category eight was 45,000 points. Now it is 75,000 thousand points. So especially on the top end, my people out there are going to be paying a lot more.

[Megan Coyle]

That is terrible news, but also not that surprising compared to what other hotel brands have been charging for their luxury tier properties during peak nights.

[Sally French]

Yeah, I mean, you used to find those amazing redemptions and now I'm not so sure because that is Meghan. A 67% increase on the top end.

[Megan Coyle]

What about for some of those more middle categories? Are, are the pricing tiers also increasing?

[Sally French]

What I think we'll see more with the middle categories. So Hyatt hasn't actually revealed their award chart. We'll see changes coming out in April. But I think what we're going to see is especially you look at something like a college town where you have maybe a Hyatt place, which is a nice mid tier hotel during those really peak football games or homecoming weekends. We're going to see that really top tier pricing in what's called the upper or top price categories. But I think you'll see more relaxed pricing. If you just want to go visit your kid in the college town at a random weekend, you might actually score a better deal.

[Megan Coyle]

Oh, so sad for all those parents trying to visit their kids in college

[Sally French]

only during the top football weekend.

[Megan Coyle]

But I think there are going to be places that I know people who have points are going to find sweet spots within this new award chart. So if you want to read more about it, read Sally's article on NerdWallet. We'll put a link to it in the episode description.

[Sally French]

I do want to give a few more changes, just a little nod. One of the other positive changes is that you can now send your world of Hyatt points digitally to someone else. I think this is really convenient. I've totally done the thing where I've tried to book a hotel using my Hyatt points for a friend and it was just a pain to get their date of birth and all that. So I'm happy I can just now send my points to a friend.

[Megan Coyle]

Oh, that's so great for families too who are trying to combine points from maybe two parents or help book something with their kids points that is going to be key. And then secondly, I think there's some changes with availability. Right.

[Sally French]

This is interesting. So if you have a world of Hyatt credit card or if you have elite status in globalist, explorist or lifetime globalist tiers, you will actually get one month of early access to award night availability. I know some of these top tier hotels book up so fast and it's toug to even find a night to book. But now Hyatt is kind of giving you a reason to hold their credit card. This seems like United Energy over here, but they want you to hold their credit card and then at least the benefit is you get to book early. And then of course if you don't have the credit card, you could also do it through holding certain levels of elite status.

[Megan Coyle]

That's huge. Honestly, I spent months looking for availability on points at the Alila Ventana in Big Sur. I would have loved to just be able to book it a month early before all those nights were taken up. But maybe that's for this year. All right, moving on. Alaska just launched its Atmos Rewards global getaways promotion.

[Sally French]

Alaska is offering up to 60% off award tickets to select international destinations. User cities like Copenhagen, Helsinki, Hokkaido, Munich, Prague and Vienna.

[Megan Coyle]

Award tickets start at just 17,500 points one way for transatlantic routes and 20,000 points one way for those Japan routes. If you can find availability.

[Sally French]

Is that the key word? If you can find availability always with

[Megan Coyle]

these point sales and then you got

[Sally French]

to jump on is fast. There's a tight booking window. It is just February 17 through February 27 and then also you have to actually complete the travel between February 27 and May 12. Maybe at least good for those upcoming shoulder season travels.

[Megan Coyle]

We'll post a link to the article on Atmos Rewards in the episode description. If you don't know how to earn those types of points, but they are super valuable. Sally and I have talked about how much we love them.

[Sally French]

This is turning into the debit card show. Megan, we mentioned the United debit card and I also have news for you around Spirit Airlines they are launching a debit card. It is called the free Spirit debit

[Megan Coyle]

card and it launches in mid March. And again this isn't a credit card. It's a debit card tied to a checking account and it costs 699 per month to enroll.

[Sally French]

It's called the free Spirit debit card but it is not free. So here's what you get for holding this card and for paying that 699 monthly fee. In your first year, you will earn 200 bonus points every month just for being enrolled. And then based on what your average account balances, you can earn up to 4,000 free spirit points. Those are the points tied to Spirit loyalty program per month. Of course, you earn more points depending

[Megan Coyle]

on the higher balance, and you'll also earn more points if you spend more on the card. So you'll earn 1 point per dollar spent with Spirit and 1 point per dollar 2 spent on everything else.

[Sally French]

This is kind of interesting because we often don't see a lot of debit cards that offer rewards. So if you're in a situation where maybe you couldn't have a credit card, then this is a way to earn Spirit points. Of course, though, do be aware of that monthly fee because you don't necessarily see debit cards that charge monthly fees. Other perks of this card that make it a bit unusual is that they offer actual benefits. When you fly with Spirit, you don't see this a lot with debit cards. So for holding this card, you get Group 2 priority boarding, which is pretty good. You also get access to priority check in where available. Not every airport offers this. And then you also get the ability to use points pooling. That means you can combine your points with other friends or family members.

[Megan Coyle]

Like you said, this card is clearly designed for travelers who maybe prefer debit over credit cards or who maybe don't want to get a traditional airline credit card. Although Spirit does offer those as well, and one has an annual fee, one doesn't, and they offer even more perks.

[Sally French]

Yeah, and I just really want to hammer home the point about this fee. It's a $7 or $6.99 monthly fee that comes out to about $84 a year. So just make sure if you are applying for this debit card that the bonus points and the perks will outweigh that fee.

[Megan Coyle]

And last thing for today, we're talking about a big change that impacts people going to some of the most popular national parks. Three big ones are removing reservation requirements for visitors.

[Sally French]

The National Park Service said at Arches, Yosemite, Glacier National Parks, you no longer need an advanced reservation to enter. This kicks in in the summer of 2026. On the bright side, this means you could make a spontaneous visit to one of these parks. You don't need to be on your computer to plan ahead and actually get that reservation. Now, there are still some parks that are keeping the Reservation system. I'm thinking Rocky Mountain national park, they have that timed entry reservation system. This is in effect during the peak months, which for them is late May through mid October.

[Megan Coyle]

And just a reminder, these parks had a reservation system since COVID because it helped them manage crowd sizes, reduce congestion, especially during those peak months visiting those parks. But now that policy is being phased out and people can visit whenever they want without a reservation.

[Sally French]

Yeah, pros and cons to this one. On the bright side, it's nice that you don't have to plan. Sometimes it can be so stressful to realize maybe you didn't make a reservation because you didn't even realize you needed one. Or again, if you want to take that spontaneous visit. At the same time, though, there is that risk. Especially for those peak days. I'm thinking July 4th weekend where it could possibly get really, really crowded because everyone's going to want to go. And there's no way to really clamp down on how many people can be there. So if you are going during a peak day like July 4th, maybe don't one. Or if you're going to go anyway, just expect crowding, parking congestion. So definitely get there early.

[Megan Coyle]

Yes, you really have to weigh the costs of maybe going when it could be super busy. I want to remind everyone that honestly, parking can be the biggest problem because you might be circling a parking lot near a hike you want to do for maybe 30 minutes or something, waiting for someone to come back out. So you might not really get as much time in the park as you want. Also, the entrances to enter the park, especially the ones that have entrance fees, that can be another place where the crowding really adds up. And you might wait up to an hour sometimes to get into a park. So these are things you want to check. Although remember, there are some reservations that you might still need to make even though the timed entry reservations are going away. I'm thinking campground reservations and some activity permits. So of course, double check all of that before you go to a national park this summer.

[Sally French]

We're back in a minute. Stay tuned. Today's episode is sponsored by Claude.

[Megan Coyle]

I gave an AI assistant the ultimate problem. Planning a trip for 14 people.

[Sally French]

14 people planning group trips is so complicated.

[Megan Coyle]

So of course my friends sent out a survey and we all ranked these different places that we had on our destination list. And then I had Claude analyze the results and not just choose the destination, but create the itinerary for whole trip with maps and everything broken out by day.

[Sally French]

So where y' all going?

[Megan Coyle]

We're doing Puerto Rico. I think everyone in the group is going to be thrilled because there are beaches, hikes, and it's all so affordable. Claude even gave me budget estimates and called out which restaurants need reservations key now.

[Sally French]

How are you getting around?

[Megan Coyle]

Claude gave me recommendations for that too. So we could stay in the walkable areas of San Juan or even rent a 15 passenger van. Claude did the cost analysis of renting multiple cars or even hiring a driver which was fun. Little dream I had Clawd.

[Sally French]

That is the kind of travel cost comparison we do for smart travel episodes.

[Megan Coyle]

Claude is the AI for minds that don't stop it. Good enough. It's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks with you. Whether you're debugging code at midnight or strategizing your next business move. Claude extends your thinking to tackle the problems that matter.

[Sally French]

Ready to tackle bigger problems? Get started with Claude today at Claude AI SmartTravel. That's Claude AI SmartTravel. And check out Claude Pro. That includes access to all of the features mentioned in Today's episode. Claude AI SmartTravel. Your little one grew three inches overnight. Adorable.

[Alyssa Mala]

Also expensive. Sell their pint sized pieces on Depop and list them in minutes with no selling fees because somewhere a dad refuses

[Sally French]

to pay full price for the clothes

[Alyssa Mala]

his kids will outgrow tomorrow and he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now. Consider your future growth Bird budget secured. Start selling on Depot up where taste recognizes taste. Payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details.

[Sally French]

All right, Megan, let's get to the main event. And it is a party.

[Megan Coyle]

All right, Sally, Airline mileage challenges, like you said, are now my beat. I've interviewed some of the finishers of the JetBlue 25 for 25 challenge, including one of the organizers of the Blue did it 25 for 25 community celebration. That's the name of a party that was held at JFK Airport exactly one month ago that was a grassroots celebration and it was put together by some of these participants.

[Sally French]

Well, so it was not a JetBlue official party. It was just these JetBlue fans decided to party together.

[Megan Coyle]

Yeah, I really love that they had such a great time that they wanted to have a celebration for the community.

[Sally French]

This is so cute and wholesome. So we should set up what this celebration challenge is. So JetBlue celebrated its 25th birthday last year. They put together this challenge for customers. So if you flew to 15 JetBlue destinations, you would earn 150,000 bonus True Blue points. Those are the points in their loyalty program, if you flew to 20 destinations, you got an additional 200,000 bonus points. 25 destinations also got you 25 years of Mosaic one. That is one of their elite status tiers. And then of course, you got all of the above bonus True Blue points. You had to take all the flights between June 25 and December 31 of 2025. So people had, if they wanted to take on this challenge, about six months

[Megan Coyle]

to do it right. And each destination is technically an airport. It's not necessarily like a completely new city. So I talked to a lot of people who went to all three New York area airports and tried to take flights from there. And JetBlue found that this challenge was so exciting for people that tons of people decided to participate. I have some really fun stats for you. Let me just fire them off. More than 2,000 total participants and 90% completed all 25 destinations. That's crazy. JetBlue awarded 811 million points. Customers came from 43 states to participate in this challenge, which is really interesting because JetBlue is definitely concentrated in the Northeast. The fastest completion, Sally, was in six days.

[Kathleen Wilson]

What?

[Ben Kim]

Yeah.

[Sally French]

So 25 destinations in six days.

[Megan Coyle]

I don't know how they did it. Maybe they didn't sleep. I have no idea. And then there were 254 participants who had taken zero JetBlue flights prior to starting the promotion. So they really got to know and love JetBlue after this.

[Sally French]

Well, I hope they loved it.

[Megan Coyle]

And speaking of love, there were two marriage proposals. I'm not entirely sure what that means. Was it on an airplane?

[Sally French]

On the flight?

[Megan Coyle]

I have no idea.

[Sally French]

Walk down that aisle, baby.

[Megan Coyle]

All right, let's meet some of the challengers and why they wanted to do it.

[Alyssa Mala]

Alyssa Mala, travel blogger at do youo have Fly Fi and co host of the blue did it 25 for 25 community celebration.

[Kathleen Wilson]

I'm Kathleen Wilson. I completed the JetBlue 25 for 25 challenge this summer and became part of an online community which which resulted in attending a big celebration in New York in January.

[Ben Kim]

I'm Ben Kim. I'm Detroit based. I was one of a participant that completed the JetBlue 25 for 25 promotion. Also I did the SAS challenge in 2024 and last year I did JetBlue, Turkish and ETI challenge and currently I'm a student attending flight school pursuing to be a pilot.

[Alyssa Mala]

The JetBlue 25 for 25 challenge was this once in a lifetime travel adventure where any traveler who flew to 25 airports so airports and not cities meant I got to travel and go to places that I never would have thought about going to during the challenge. And then there was the promise of doing even more travel in style for the next 25 years with Elite status and with miles to boot. So for me, it was something that I couldn't turn down.

[Ben Kim]

Jebel, in particular, is interesting because they introduced the idea of having 25 years of status with Mosaic. Juan. And I think that's interesting because no other challenges has ever introduced the concept of having the status for that long. I think it's going to come handy for, like, status matching to the other airlines or things like that could come handy and partnership with United also, I

[Alyssa Mala]

felt like, you know, come hell or high water, I'd have stories to tell for many, many years. And I think that most people who did it felt the same way, that we created a lifetime of memories.

[Kathleen Wilson]

I recently retired from the federal government and started reading about the challenge in some of the points and awards blogs. And it seemed like a timely fit and something that would be fun to do. There are lots of places where you say, oh, I'd like to travel to such and such someday, but you don't have a particular reason to go, so you never schedule it. So the way I planned the trip was really to be able to make a number of short vacations to different places I hadn't visited before. And I've been parts of different airline frequent flyer programs before, but not JetBlue until this summer. In the challenge, I talked about this

[Ben Kim]

challenge and, hey, what do you think about it? And one of my buddy, he was like, hey, dude, if I were you, I would have gone for it. You're single, you have flexible jobs, you're in a perfect situation to be in. And that really struck me. Do you think I would have a better chance to do this again, given that, you know, in a future prospect, I might have significant others, getting married or have families, things like that. And the answer was no. So. So the only conclusion was that it's really either now or never.

[Alyssa Mala]

It was challenging to think of 25 places to go and stay within budget and handle time constraints. But I think that was part of the fun. Planning was part of the adventure. I really, really enjoyed it, though, thinking about where I wanted to go, who I wanted to see, and how to use my miles really well. I paid for almost all of it on points, and I had 260,000 points that I could use for the 25. For 25, rather than looking at maybe the hard number of Points like keeping it below a certain one. I just wanted to feel like I was getting a good deal no matter where I went. So if a flight seemed expensive relative to the time of year or the route, maybe I opted out. But if it seemed reasonable, then just booked it and went. And then finally, if there was something really special going on, like the Albuquerque Balloon Festival or the Water Lily Festival in Washington, D.C. i made sure to find the cheapest flights around those times and head on over.

[Megan Coyle]

Do you know how much money you spent on the JetBlue challenge? Like, all those flights?

[Ben Kim]

I think the ticket itself costs about $2,100. $2,200 for 25 destinations. And there's obviously a transportation cost because sometimes you got to take a bus to the airport and all that and foods and whatnot. I think I was coming out total of about 26 to $2,700.

[Sally French]

Wow.

[Megan Coyle]

I feel like that's really good.

[Ben Kim]

Yeah, it is good because I didn't spend anything for acc, meaning that I was sleeping in the airport. However, I had these inflatable lounger that is a very big lounger that you can set up like in five minutes and you just basically sleep in the airport. But, like, it's very comfortable. And I tried many different solutions like hammock, cot or those air mattress and whatnot.

[Sally French]

Oh, sleeping in an airport, that is dedication, my friend. So I need to know, where did all these people actually fly to during the challenge?

[Megan Coyle]

Honestly, it would take like 30 minutes to hear the entire list. But I'll play for you some of my favorite answers, starting with Alyssa and Kathleen. And then in a moment, Ben think

[Alyssa Mala]

this took me to several states, several places I hadn't been before, like Bozeman, Montana, a place that I'd always wanted to go to London, where I have been before, but where I met up with friends I hadn't seen in about 10 years.

[Kathleen Wilson]

I wound up going to St. Croix for a couple of days. I had never been to the Virgin Islands before. I went to Providence, Rhode island, and I spent a great day in Newport and another day in Providence going to places like the Rhode Island Institute for Design. I went to two places that JetBlue flies direct from D.C. that I'd never been to were Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. And here in Washington, especially in the summer, you always hear people talking about, like, oh, I'm going to be on the Vineyard for some amount of time. So I decided I would go visit the Vineyard. I did it in the off season, so it was less expensive. I Went to Martha's Vineyard in September.

[Alyssa Mala]

One of the biggest sources of curiosity for us, or as my event co host Brian Geller calls it, the spiritual home of the 25 for 25 challenge, is this tiny airport in Maine called Presque Isle, or PQI for those who have been there before. It's at the northern tip of Maine, practically can wave to Canada from this part of Maine. And the flight lands around midnight. The airport shuts down. There's one taxi driver in town. People are passing his number around. And so a bunch of us were just so fascinated by this tiny, seemingly adorable airport and town in Maine.

[Kathleen Wilson]

I also went to Presque Isle, Maine, and I had spent a lot of time in Maine before, but never that far north. And it was great to see that this small airport and learn more about the history of aviation in that community.

[Megan Coyle]

What is it about that destination that has everyone so intrigued?

[Kathleen Wilson]

It's really okay. For lack of a better word, it's cute. There is only one flight a day in and out of that airport, and it's the JetBlue flight. And it leaves from Boston every day at, I think, around 9pm and then overnights in Presque Isle, and then it flies out at like five o' clock in the morning. And for people on the challenge, it was attractive because it was very cheap. This is a route that is subsidized, my understanding is, by the federal government because it's trying to get air transportation to people who need it. For people doing the challenge, a lot of people just stayed overnight. Some of them spent the night in the airport because they didn't want to spend any extra money. I'm a big fan of Maine, so I actually rented a cabin nearby. And the scenery is gorgeous. There's great history there, but the airport itself is part of that history. It's a community that saw its first airfield built, I think in 1925.

[Megan Coyle]

And Sally, I think this airport really gives you an idea of how small some of these flights were. Chances are, if you were flying to some of these tiny airports, you were probably sitting next to someone else participating in the challenge.

[Ben Kim]

I was doing the JetBlue challenge and one of the participants, I happened to, you know, see multiple participants on a random flight. It just happened so randomly that I had to start with the small talks with the seat mate next to you and have those chances are that you're talking to fellow challengers. And I can think of like eight people on top of my head that I just have to meet like that and still network. I still keep in touch with them. And, yeah, it just gets crazy. I think this is some JetBlue thing that I couldn't replicate the other challenges, because JetBlue in particular is still, you know, not going Asia or not flying to Australia or anything like that. Right. So because the limited route, that could be also the reason why you just happen to see a lot of people.

[Kathleen Wilson]

Many people on the Challenge did flights down in the Caribbean, down to the Virgin Islands, because, again, they were relatively short and inexpensive. You could fly from San Juan to either St. Croix or St. Thomas. The flights are about 15 minutes to a half hour. But the way most people wanted to optimize these flights was to fly to the island and immediately back on the same flight. However, both of those islands, even though they're part of the United States, they're on customs territories. So you have to deplane and go back in through the airport. And eventually, over the course of the Challenge, my understanding is that the flight crews and the ground crews down there got very used to people doing the Challenge, and they were able to facilitate. Sometimes they would let people just step off the plane, onto the tarmac and back on. But when I did it back in August, that wasn't the case. So it was a real race to go through the airport in St. Thomas, and I made it off the plane and outside the airport, back in the airport, through security, through customs, and arrived at the gate in 13 minutes, which I thought was pretty good record. I had time for.

[Alyssa Mala]

For a.

[Kathleen Wilson]

A smoothie before I got back on the plane.

[Megan Coyle]

We're back in a minute. Stay tuned. Monster Energy.

[Alyssa Mala]

Everybody knows White Monster Zero, Ultra, that's the OG it kicked off this whole Zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian, Sunrise in Vice, Guava, and they all bring the Monster Energy punch.

[Sally French]

So if you've been living in the

[Alyssa Mala]

white can, branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is Zero Sugar

[Sally French]

Tap the banner to learn more.

[Megan Coyle]

And actually, Sally, a lot of people not just talked about the other participants that they met, but also JetBlue employees that were there to help them along the way.

[Kathleen Wilson]

That, to me, was one of the most surprising and enjoyable aspects of flying. The crews, the flight attendants and the pilots, to the extent I met them, so friendly and helpful. And when they Learned about the 25 for 25 challenge, sometimes they might come up in conversation or I eventually had a little luggage tag that said 25 for 25, they were also enthusiastic and really supportive. And then I saw pictures. I mean, there were flight attendants who, like, made paper crowns for people, wrote special cards, things like that.

[Alyssa Mala]

For my final flights, I am a really big fan of inaugural flights. So the first flight, the first time an airline flies along a specific route, that's called an inaugural flight. And I always find them fun because they're festive and celebratory, and it's maybe what airline travel used to be like. Just feels very celebratory when you're in the air. So my final two flights, stops number 24 and 25, were both inaugural routes for JetBlue. Number 24 was from JFK to Daytona Beach, Florida. And then number number 25 was from JFK to Vero Beach, Florida, where both places had crews and local politicians come to greet us and continue the party on the ground. Because both of these flights were in Florida. They were overseen by the same regional manager. Her name is Gloria Santiago. And I met her in Daytona beach because she saw me hanging around the airport like a very normal person. And when I told her that I'd be on the next inaugural flight the following week, she said, okay, I'll see you there. And, Megan, I was the last person off the plane because I was taking pictures in the cockpit and doing my own little celebration. And as soon as I set foot off the plane, there she was, waiting for me with a gift bag that she herself had made. And this is a woman who had planned two inaugural flights in eight days and managing a staff of hundreds across Florida and still had time to put together a gift bag. That was so, so, so touching to me. And it really exemplifies a human connection that travel can create.

[Megan Coyle]

So maybe it's no surprise that the human connections formed online as well, because these participants were scattered all over the

[Kathleen Wilson]

U.S. i am a member of FlyerTalk, and someone on the FlyerTalk board had posted that he was starting this chat for people who were doing the challenge. And so I reached out to him, and he added me to this group. And it started out as a group of mostly like, like, points and miles nerds, for lack of a better. Oh, nerd wallet perfect points and mile nerds. I want to say there were about maybe 40 people when I joined the group, and the conversation was very much focused. It wasn't focused on travel. It was very much focused on optimizing the challenge. People trying to figure out if the payoff was worth the amount of time and money and points that would be invested in the flights. Then what happened over a short period of time is that as people who were doing it met other people on the flights, they started adding other people to the group. And the character of the group eventually changed. It kind of morphed from more points and miles nerds to what I'll call the sort of TikTok group. People who were learning about the challenge from seeing other people's social media accounts and really doing it because they thought it would be a fun thing to do, not so much doing all the intricate calculations about how many cents per mile and how much would it cost. But this will be an adventure. And I give a lot of credit to the group moderator, Brian. He was very low key in his moderation style and was just kind of, even though it wound up going in a direction that I think he wasn't expecting, just kind of letting it flow that way. So you had some people very experienced with miles and points and elite status, and some people for whom this was very, very brand new, but both of those groups interacting and helping one another and in the meantime, cultivating enthusiasm for flying and I think just for the creation of community. What was interesting in this group from my perspective was seeing this transition of who was participating and then how it kind of changed the dynamics of the group. Because as I mentioned at the beginning, you had people that were very focused on the math of this and squeezing every cent that they could out of the proposition. But over time you had more people joining who were doing it for fun, either to be able just to say that they did it. You know, I went to these 25 destinations or to actually enjoy the places that they were going. And I think ultimately both communities learned something from each other.

[Alyssa Mala]

I found this WhatsApp group that was created by Brian Geller, who is a Virginia based aviation enthusiast. And so I joined all these communities actually. But because WhatsApp is on my phone, found it easy, or for better or worse, easy to text people every day. And so I don't know what started as a bunch of strangers getting together slowly grew to a group of 300 people. In the WhatsApp group alone, we talked about everything from, from routes to prices to ground reports, tips on the ground. Like if there's a delay at jfk, we would post that in the group. If people were meeting up at the airport or wanted to invite friends or guests to lounges, we would post that in the group. And slowly we started talking about things beyond flights as well. Like, won't get into it now, but I have two words for you. Cookie wars. People have opinions about in flight snacks. And they were all posted in the group.

[Kathleen Wilson]

What?

[Sally French]

Megan, do you think she knows you hate Biscoff?

[Megan Coyle]

Oh, my gosh. I had to tell her after she said Cookie Wars, I was like, I must come clean about this. And, yeah, she did not agree with me at all. Although of course she loves JetBlue, so she's partial to Tate's.

[Sally French]

All right, I think Biscoff is better.

[Alyssa Mala]

So in September, maybe about halfway through the challenge, a bunch of us have been texting every day, every day for about two, three months. So we said, hey, how about if we meet up in real life? And because I'm New York based and JetBlue is New York's hometown airline, and a bunch of us are also from the New York metro area, I think that's the biggest maybe geographic demographic inside. Our 300 person group said, why not do a small party in New York? So we picked January 25th because so Sunday. And it was the first 25. After the end of the 25 for 25 challenge, slowly we started making plans for a party. We figured we'd have it at the T double TWA hotel, which is right next to JFK's T5, where a lot of the JetBlue flights fly out of. And so the TWA hotel seemed like this great nexus for locals to get to, easy enough for locals to get to, and then easy enough for people flying into T5 to just walk on over to the hotel and meet us.

[Kathleen Wilson]

The TWA hotel is in the old TWA terminal that was designed by Eero Saarinen, who's a very famous Finnish architect. He also designed the gateway arch in St. Louis, which is my hometown. So I already have a bit of an affection for that architecture. But it's filled with these sweeping spaces that are designed to sort of mimic, like big curves, bright red carpets, like, come straight out of the. Out of the 1960s. Huge windows, a lot of 1960s decor.

[Alyssa Mala]

And so eventually our party became almost as big as the WhatsApp group itself. We invited people from all the online communities. So from our WhatsApp group, the Discord, the dedicated 25 for 25 Facebook group, and we eventually had to close the guest list at 275 people.

[Sally French]

Wow.

[Alyssa Mala]

There were folks flying in from all four time zones. Canada, somebody from Grenada reached out to confirm that she'd be flying in. And then of course, on the day of the party itself, we had a little plot twist. So to rewind a little bit. The 25 for 25 challenge itself happened during weather delays, just regular mechanical issues. During the Largest government shutdown in United States history. So of course a party that we planned would also come with its own plot twists. A few days before, we got word that winter storm Fern was on its way. And so as we were at the TWA Hotel, New York was getting 11 to 14 inches of snow. The heaviest snowfall in about five years.

[Ben Kim]

Taking the air train, one of the door wasn't opening and I think it was just because the weather was so cold that the, the door was keeping shut. It's frozen. And the people working there spent like good half an hour dealing with it because without the door, you know, operating properly, I think the train just automatically don't leave for safety reason. So good half an hour spent and then eventually like everybody had to do board and had to take Uber to get to TWA because there's just no way to get there. So it was a lot of hassle to get there to begin with. People that showed up, they have dedication. I personally don't regret going there.

[Alyssa Mala]

And so despite all of that, about 50 to 60 people made it anyway. And we just had our cookies, donuts, drinks and coffee in the lounge and just met each other in real life, many of us for the first time.

[Kathleen Wilson]

It was great to put faces to names and I guess unsurprisingly, because it's a group of people who like to travel and have flexibility and openness, it wasn't surprising I got along with, you know, a lot of them. So it was fun to make those in person connections too. The party wound up being concentrated in one of the restaurants, which is called the Paris Cafe. And it was basically an open bar cocktail party. There were donuts served that were provided by one of the sponsors and a lot of prizes that were raffled off.

[Alyssa Mala]

The airline was kind enough to sponsor two incredible prizes. So for seven challenge completers who had gotten the 350,000 miles and Mosaic 1 status were upgraded to Mosaic 2 for the first of the 25 years of status and then for any other attendee. So anybody who had come, regardless of whether they'd done the Challenge or not, two other attendees also won 25,000 points. These are huge, huge, huge gifts, both status and miles. These are gifts that aren't even always awarded at airline sponsored events, much less third party events organized by people that they've never met. People just showed up in their best blues. Some people wore their custom made JetBlue attire, people wore their 25 for 25 T shirts, sweatshirts, things they'd gotten off the store, things that they had made Something that really, really stayed with me was how travel as a community. A lot of us were doing this challenge on our own, but it never felt like we were alone because we had in flight crew to greet us. We had ATC on the ground guiding us safely. We had other challengers who were texting us their well wishes, family and friends who were following along and asking us whether we were sick of traveling yet. And then finally, we had a group of 50 or 60 people who braved the heaviest snowstorm in New York City in five years just to come and meet other people who had done the same thing. There's huge value in being around people who understand exactly what we've gone through. We all joke that even our best friends and our family members don't understand what it was like to fly through 25 airports in under six months. But we all did. And so we have this community that I think will last well beyond this challenge. Some of us are already planning to meet up all around the world the next weeks and months and year to come. And so I think that even though this is the end of the challenge, it's the start of many friendships that will continue long past 2025.

[Sally French]

Megan, this was so sweet. It makes me want to do one of these challenges just for the friendships, not even the points. Although I want the points.

[Megan Coyle]

Yes. And Elisa was telling me about how many people who attended this party and it was super diverse. I feel like anyone could find a friend there, there. So some of the people who showed up to the party were a family of three, which included two senior citizens and their adult son. And they did this challenge together. So it was kind of like a family adventure, family vacation to all these different places. And then the youngest finisher at the party was a six year old boy who visited 25 different airports with his dad.

[Sally French]

Very well traveled child, definitely.

[Megan Coyle]

And lastly, they had to some former New York Police Department and Boston Fire Department members. And I thought that was interesting because these are people who have jobs that probably don't involve so much travel since they're so city focused. But they made the most of it and took on this challenge.

[Sally French]

I remember seeing this challenge when it launched and I thought for like two seconds if I should do this and was like, nah, I'm not doing this. But now I kind of feel FOMO that I didn't do it. This is so sweet.

[Megan Coyle]

Okay, some quick notes before we wrap up here. It turns out that this wasn't the only party for 25. For 25 challenge strangers. Many customers hosted different Meetups, including one that originated from a 1000 person Facebook group. And JetBlue saw all these parties happening and jumped on the bandwagon, put together their own. So on February 5th, there was a JetBlue hosted party in Boston at Benway Park. So fun. And then March 2nd, which is coming up this weekend, there is another party for finishers in New York City at the Barclays Center.

[Sally French]

All right, we're crashing. Sounds like Barclays Center's place to be.

[Megan Coyle]

Yes. And here's what Ed Putier, vice president of loyalty and personalization at JetBlue, had to say about those parties. He emailed me about it. The quote is, once we saw the community that 25 for 25 created, we knew we wanted to provide an event where participants could gather to celebrate with JetBlue leaders and those who created the promotion. It's another way in which we're saying thank you to our customers who took on the challenge and will now be in our loyalty program for 25 years. We chose Boston, New York as they're our biggest focus cities with the most service. And as such, most 25 for 25 participants are also located in New England and the greater New York areas. In fact, nearly a third of participants were based in Boston. That was kind of interesting. JetBlue also released their own merch after they saw a ton of customers create their own 25 for 25 merch.

[Sally French]

That's so sweet. Now I love the sweetness. However, I'm going to be a little bit of a dippy downer. Megan, you and Ben talked about about some changes to JetBlue's elite status loyalty program a few weeks ago, and I do want to recap some of these changes here because there's a lot of people who are about to get elite status through this competition and it's not as good as it once was. So as of February 1, many benefits did get cut, slash rolled back. Some of the things I'm thinking include that now Mosaic one members only get one free checked bag. That's down from two. So y' all gotta pack lights. However, all other members and Mint bookings do get two free checked bags. Still another thing. Previously you could upgrade up to eight travel companions with your elite status. Now you can't bring the whole posse. You gotta be choosy. Mosaic 1 and 2 members can only upgrade two travel companions now and then. Finally, if you like to get lit on the flight, that's gonna be cut back because all Mosaic members flying in standard economy now just get one free alcoholic drink. That is down from three. Yeah.

[Megan Coyle]

The tough thing is that JetBlue announced these changes in October, so that was, like, halfway through the challenge. Some people were already done before knowing that their mosaic one benefits would be changed. And honestly, you know, 25 years of elite status, that definitely means there are more changes coming.

[Sally French]

So instead of us giving the hot take for today, our friend Alyssa is providing the hot take for the show. So let's play.

[Alyssa Mala]

One of my hot takes is that if you keep comparing your new destination to the place you've just left, you'll always be disappointed. I think the way to enjoy travel is to accept a place for what it is, meet it where it's at, and just enjoy where you are instead of thinking about what else it could be. I think that's one of the best ways to enjoy travel.

[Megan Coyle]

Alyssa is just so sweet. I love that she did this whole challenge and then still found a way to be present and really enjoy the vacations that came from it.

[Sally French]

I like that. I agree. I don't even think this is a hot take. I think this is just good life advice.

[Megan Coyle]

In true. If you want to see some of the people you heard on the show today, follow Smart Travel pod. That's all one word on Instagram and TikTok. You can also follow Sally and me on social media as well. I'm at miles with Megan Co. And

[Sally French]

I'm save with Sally. And make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast app, like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio. That way you automatically download new episodes. Episodes. And on Spotify, you can drop us a comment right on this show.

[Megan Coyle]

This episode was produced by Tess Viglin and edited by Nick Karisimi. Claire Socie and Hilary. Georgie helped with fact checking and that disclaimer.

[Sally French]

We are not financial or investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes. It may not apply to your specific circumstances.

[Megan Coyle]

We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next time.