JetBlue Adds Another International Partner

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Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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Though JetBlue planes only fly as far afield as the Caribbean and Latin America, the airline has been busy expanding into the international travel space. In the past two years, JetBlue has created worldwide route partnerships with Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, American, and now, South African Airways (SAA).

With this newest partnership, passengers will be able to book a single itinerary using both carriers between the U.S. and southern Africa starting May 12. Domestic JetBlue service will route through JFK to connect to SAA’s 40-city network.

JetBlue stands out in the low-cost carrier space in its aggressive pursuit of international routes. While not as extensive as JetBlue’s efforts, Virgin America is about to launch service to Toronto, has a partnership with V Australia, and has just announced it will link its loyalty program with the programs of Australian carriers V Australia and Virgin Blue. Meanwhile, Southwest has been slow to develop its partnerships in Mexico and just terminated its planned partnership with Canadian carrier WestJet.

Does this news expand your travel plans at all? Leave a comment below.

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