Maximizing Chase reward travel with jet blue card?

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I'm a JetBlue Plus cardholder so can answer some of these questions, but my first general piece of advice is that this forum may not be the best for your needs -- it's mostly European-focused and while JetBlue now does fly to some select European destinations, I don't get the sense most posters are experienced with JetBlue. I would recommend Flyertalk or possibly the JetBlue subreddit for a larger community with more experience.

That being said to your question:

Would being a card holder allow me the perks of the blue fare for the price of the basic blue fare?

The only Blue Basic "condition" that is waived is the checked luggage -- i.e. Blue Basic fares come with 0 checked bags, but if you're a JetBlue Plus cardholder you always get 1 checked bag, even if on a Blue Basic fare. (Note that Blue fares also don't come with a checked bag either, unless you are flying to Europe).

Otherwise all the other Blue Basic restrictions hold -- no carry-on domestically (although if you are flying to UK/Europe then you do get one), $100-$200 change fee, no free seat selection, fewer points per dollar, and boarding at the end.

You can check for yourself here, toggling back and forth between "TrueBlue or guest" and "JetBlue Plus/Business Cardmember" at the top of the page.

Wong forum for these kids of questions. Get thee over to flyertalk.

Using Chase points as the equivalent of cash for purchasing a ticket is a straight ratio
($.01 to $.015 depending on what Chase card you have).

As Tom_MN points out, transferring Chase points into airline miles on a specific airline
can yield much more value. But it is a game that takes a bit of time to master.

For instance, 17500 points can get you $175-$250 on a ticket on any airline. But, if you
transfer 17500 points into an Iberia account, that can be enough to acquire a one-way
transatlantic ticket, which is worth a lot more than $175. The value can be even greater
for premium cabin redemptions.

There are gotchas everywhere, though. In most cases, you have to have an account with
the airline to search for award tickets. And you can still get hit with non-trivial taxes and
fees. But it can be a great option to fly in PE or Business class.

For the more specific question on one credit card vs another, unless you have one of the
airline branded cards that have a high yearly fee, you are not likely to get very much in the
way of perks. All I see for the Jet Blue Plus card is 1 free checked bag.

If you have 120,000 Chase points (or more), which I am inferring from your comment about
having $1200 of value, you could get 2 or 3 transatlantic RT tickets on certain airlines, depending
on where you are flying from and to. I know you said your trip is in April, so it depends on how
much time you have to get up to speed on the game.

Points Guy, View from A Wing, Flyertalk, etc.

Not RS.