Those who are members of JetBlue TrueBlue will soon have more opportunities to redeem upgrade certificates. The airline is revamping the program, designing the previous Move to Mint certificates as Premium Upgrade Certificates and introducing new methods to earn certificates via its Perks You Pick program.

Now's how you can get them, the additional options come at a high price and how you can utilize them after you have acquired them.

What Changed With JetBlue Upgrade Certificates 

The certificates used to be known as Move to Mint certificates. Now that JetBlue is offering first class, they are being renamed Premium Upgrade Certificates, and can be used for either Mint business class or BlueFirst first class.

Mosaic 3 and Mosaic 4 members continue to receive four certificates for each threshold passing. The difference is that there are now more opportunities to earn certificates via Perks You Pick.

How Mosaic Members Earn Certificates

• Like before, certificates are connected with the status to which you can get in.
• The Mosaic 3 (150 tiles) comes with 4 Premium Upgrade Certificates!
• Mosaic 4 (250 tiles) has 4 Premium Upgrade Certificates.
• Mosaic 4 members receive 2 more certificates for each 100 Tiles above 250 Tiles.

If you spend $100 at JetBlue, you get one ticket. If you spend $1,000 at JetBlue with your JetBlue credit card, you get one ticket. That means that if Mosaic 3 can't spend $15,000 on JetBlue, it must spend $150,000 on credit cards.

Perks You Pick

Another benefit offered by JetBlue is its Perks You Pick program, which includes the ability to choose other benefits that pass certain levels. Members who meet the Mosaic 2, Mosaic 3 and Mosaic 4 levels can opt for a further Premium Upgrade Certificate at each level. The result is 3 additional upgrades all together. It also opens the opportunity for Mosaic 2 members to obtain these certificates for the first time.

Note that there is a tradeoff for every option as you will be sacrificing one benefit for another in order to receive the certificate. Here are the choices for each tier.

• Mosaic 1 rewards will include 10,000 bonus points, 10 tile bonus, 10 tile bonus head start or 1 BlueHouse Lounge pass.
• Mosaic 2 rewards with 10,000 bonus points, a 10 tile bonus, a 10 tile bonus head start, 1 BlueHouse Lounge pass or 1 Premium Upgrade Certificate.
• There are 5 different mosaic 3 options: 20,000 bonus points, 20 tile bonus, 20 tile bonus head start, 1 BlueHouse Lounge pass, 1 Premium Upgrade Certificate.
• There are 30,000 bonus points, a 30 tile bonus head start, a BlueHouse Lounge pass, a Premium Upgrade Certificate, a gift of Mosaic 3 status and a gift of a BlueHouse Lounge membership in Mosaic 4.

The true price of upgrading

The higher the level of the elite, the higher the opportunity cost. In each case you get one certificate but the amount you forgo increases from 10,000 at Mosaic 2 to 20,000 at Mosaic 3 to 30,000 at Mosaic 4.

For ease of math, a Mosaic 4 member would be eligible to receive eight certificates and would be eligible for three more upgrades via Perks You Pick. Whether the additional ones are worth taking or not depends on how many points you value versus having the opportunity to fly up front.

Please refer to the instructions for redeeming certificates

With the arrival of first class, certificates can be redeemed for both Mint business class and BlueFirst first class. They are usable to confirm an upgrade when booking, and until 2 hours before take-off.

These upgrades are different than the other U.S. carriers because they do not impose any kind of capacity limitations. You may use a certificate as long as seats are still available for sale to obtain a seat. The trick is the amount of certificates required will vary based on the expected occupancy of the premium cabin.

A Certificate for how many?

A one segment upgrade will take anywhere from one to four certificates, depending upon the cabin. JetBlue hasn't stated or divulged any information about whether its BlueFirst upgrades will be limited to the maximum of four certificates. It remains to be seen whether some domestic BlueFirst flights might need to be as numerous as a transatlantic Mint flight.

That uncertainty matters. Should the cost of sending a short route within the country be the same as the cost of sending a long route internationally, the value of each certificate might diminish rapidly. It will be interesting to see how many certs will be needed for BlueFirst flights.

Do you feel that Mosaic is becoming more valuable?

Earning TrueBlue Mosaics is certainly getting more profitable! The value is in the fact that there is unlimited complimentary upgrading to first class, plus the increased possibility of confirmation of upgrades. This number of confirmed upgrades may seem low, but the absence of a cap on the number of upgrades is something that many will wish to avoid.

The Bottom Line

JetBlue is revamping their upgrade certificates, previously known as Move to Mint certificates, and now called Premium Upgrade Certificates. These can be used with both business class Mint and Business class BlueFirst.

Mosaic 3 and Mosaic 4 members continue to receive four certificates for completing each of these thresholds, and additional opportunities to earn certificates via our Perks You Pick program. The big question is how many certificates will be needed for BlueFirst flights and that will determine the value of the new options.