A former JetBlue employee has pleaded guilty to scamming the airline for almost $1 million in flights.
A former JetBlue agent is facing up to 20 years in federal prison after helping friends and family with free flights totalling $785,000.
Tiffany Jenkins is accused of first having friends and family purchase inexpensive tickets from the airline (e.g. Las Vegas, NV to Long Beach, CA).
She would then use the involuntary exchange (INVOL) function on the airline’s reservation systems to swap the cheap flight for an expensive international route.
INVOL is typically used for when passengers experience a death in the family or miss their flights.
In the space of 15 months, Jenkins exchanged 505 flights for 100 different people.
According to reports, the scam cost JetBlue $785,000.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said: “Many of those exchanges occurred after the passenger was first booked on domestic flights at one of the airline company’s lowest available fares – often, round-trip flights between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Long Beach, California.”
“A short time later, Jenkins exchanged those tickets for a completely different city pair, generally involving much more expensive international locations, for friends, family, and acquaintances.”
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and now faces up to 20 years in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 2020.
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