And then Mosaic happened...

-
As I said in the post yesterday, status is best earned when someone else is paying. Well, my hubby's most-recent work flight on JetBlue Mint posted this morning and he crossed the threshold into JetBlue "Mosaic" elite status. While he's United gold until Feb 2016, he left them for JetBlue at the start of 2015 (more information on why he left United here). The other big development driving his move is that his company changed their rules and started paying for Business Class for transcontinental red-eye flights. Since policy also requires him to pick a flight within $100 of the lowest fare offered, Mint is almost always going to be his only choice.

JetBlue's loyalty program is entirely revenue-based, so you earn status based mostly on how much you spend. Likewise you redeem points for a fixed amount of money (≈1.4¢ each). The Mosaic benefits are covered here, but I think the most exciting one is that you immediately get 15,000 bonus points (a $210 value) when you reach status.

15,000 bonus points for this Mint flight!


The 3 extra bonus points per dollar when booking might be nice, but with the corporate travel desk booking most of his flights we'll miss out on a bunch of the potential point bonuses from booking directly on JetBlue.com and using our personal JetBlue Amex. 

When we're flying domestically on our own dime, we usually aim for a Premium Economy seat unless there's a cheap First Class fare or a Saver-level First Class award seat available. Mosaic allows you to upgrade to a Premium Economy seat with points, but sadly not to Mint class. It's also unclear if they'll let you upgrade with points if you've paid cash for your ticket. According to this chart over on the Points Guy, it sounds like the "upgrade with points" option isn't priced particularly well (only 1.25¢ per point compared to paying cash to upgrade). UPDATE: For 2016, JetBlue improved Mosaic to include discounted point redemptions for Even More Space – up to 9¢ per point versus the normal 1.5¢ valuation for their points! In addition, they also added free drinks for Mosaic members flying in Economy. 

The rest of the options are pretty standard (early boarding, free bag, ticket changes with no fee). And on a Stockholm Syndrome-esque note, one of the best things about being United Gold is the dedicated customer service number... But our experience with JetBlue so far is that everyone who calls in gets handled quickly and fairly regardless of status. The quality of the Big 3 airlines has fallen so far that we just accept that only top and mid-tier elites are worthy of decent service. Though during a big east coast snow storm or summer hurricane, the elite line might come in handy for rebooking. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding and collecting Japanese Railway station stamps

-
Image
From Pokemon to Neko Atsume to shuinchou temple books , Japanese people love collecting things. If you've ever taken a ride on the glorious shinkansen bullet trains or ridden one of their extremely clean and punctual urban lines, then you know there's also a national obsession with great trains. The Eki stamp ("station stamp") is where those two obsessions meet . Most Japan Railways stations (including urban metro ones like the Yamanote line) have a unique stamp reflecting that station's history. Kids and train nerds (called "Tetchan") buy cute little books to collect the stamps of all the stations they've been to. The USA has a similar program with the national parks . One of my favorite stamps… All train-nerdiness aside, an Eki stamp book makes a great souvenir : it's flat, small, cheap, and light... and shouldn't take but a few moments to do when you're out and about. Special Eki stamp books are usually available at booksto
Read more

Where to find TOTO Washlets outside of Japan

-
Image
( updated Apr 2024 ) I love Washlet bidet toilets. I've had one in my house since my first visit to Japan 20 years ago and I love it when my hotel room or my plane has one. And it's not just me, the NYTimes wrote about them , and several competing brands have appeared in the US in recent years. If you want a Washlet in the sky, you don't have much of a choice – only ANA and JAL have them, and only in the premium cabins. (I think they have an exclusive arrangement with Toto, as we've not seen the Washlet appear even in the super luxurious middle eastern airlines that have butlers and onboard showers).  ウォシュレット! But what about hotels? As the spokesmodel in this commercial says, "I can't go on vacation anymore". A few of us were discussing this the other day and I said that yes, in fact, the presence of a Washlet would be a slam dunk for me when choosing a hotel. So I went poking around to find places outside of Japan that have them and started
Read more

Southern Vermont's Frog Meadow Farm – a perfect getaway

-
Image
(updated Mar 2023) As I've said many times before , I'm not a big hotel person – I'd rather be out seeing the sights and meeting up with people than ensconced in the stylishly-bland, comfortable nowhere of a posh urban hotel. There are exceptions, though. Visiting a traditional Japanese ryokan inn immediately comes to mind. While they're often located in beautiful settings, the hotel itself is the primary destination. Beautiful seasonal food, soaking tubs and onsen baths, and lots of quiet time for just chilling out for a couple of days. For experiences like these, I'm very much a hotel snob. Wood-fired hot tub bliss Our first-ever trip to Vermont back in 2010 was specifically to visit Frog Meadow Farm in Newfane. A friend in San Francisco was describing it to us and it sounded a lot like an American ryokan for gay men: seasonal breakfasts, a wood-fired soaking tub, a massage studio, miles of private hiking and cross-country skiing trails, orchards and honey
Read more