Amex For Children Of Africa

When flying with a SO, is it worth getting suites alone, or is it better to sit together in the suite? Would we really be missing out if we don't get the individual suites?

sbm12

If you take separate singles you won't be sitting together. You'll be across the aisle from each other, 3-4 feet away. If that's how you prefer to travel with your significant other then you should take that approach. If you actually want to be able to talk or otherwise interact, however, take a pair. Those are very good seats as well.

anc-ord772

Booked XXX-JFK-LAX in Mint. XXX-JFK has complimentary Even More Speed, but I have to pay for Even More Space. I very much think it should be complimentary. I flew JFK-CDG on DL in full Y and as a non status passenger could acces EC for free.

weirdlyndon

It's no different than if you had purchased, say, FAT-SFO-JFK on UA with SFO-JFK in C, and FAT-SFO on a CRJ-200 or EMB120 in Y since no F cabin. You'd still have to pay for E+ if you wanted it on the FAT-SFO segment.

It's an opportunity for B6 to upsell and get incremental ancillary revenue, so I wouldn't expect this to be a benefit in the future.

anc-ord772

There is no E+ on the AC you mention.

While UNITED does it one way, DL does it another. I would appreciate B6 adhering to a policy similar to DL.

sbm12

True, but if it were an E45 you still wouldn't get E+ for free.

I don't think DL does what you're describing, though.

A full-fare Y customer is different from a biz customer on a connection.

weirdlyndon

Row 9 on the EMB120 and Row 1 on the CRJ-200 are sold as E+ by United...

anc-ord772

Oh the poor soul that thinks row 1 on the cr2 is E+

I still say there is no E+ on those aircraft. Despite what marketing says.

jaloola

DL offers complimentary Economy Comfort and Preferred Seats to passengers in Y, B, or M. To clarify, it does not offer complimentary Economy Comfort or Preferred Seats on the connecting flight of a through First/Business ticket with no First/Business Cabin by definition. Rather, if you are booked on a First/Business ticket with a First/Business fare basis (F, P, A, G, J, C, D, I, or Z), you will book into Y on the segment(s) in question and thus qualify for complimentary Economy Comfort or Preferred Seats.

However, the majority of discounted First/Business fares offered by DL are UP fares, an Economy fare with an instant upgrade at the time of purchase to First/Business. If you are booked on a First/Business ticket with an UP fare basis (Y, B, M, S, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X, V), you will book into the corresponding Economy fare class on the segment(s) in question and only qualify for complimentary Economy Comfort or Preferred Seats when on a Y, B, or M fare basis. The same concept applies to AA, but only when on a Y fare basis.

This is also why when you book an UP fare on AA or DL, who both offer complimentary Main Cabin Extra/Economy Comfort and Preferred Seats to full fare customers, and a segment either does not have seats available in First/Business Class or, in the case of B6, there is no First/Business Class Cabin available, you would be booked on that segment into the corresponding Economy fare class of the UP fare rather than in Y as with UA, who does not offer complimentary Economy Plus or Preferred Seats to full fare customers.

In the eight domestic markets that B6 has currently loaded through Mint fares, all of them are on par in terms of pricing with UP First/Business fares and not actual First/Business Fares of the legacies. Yet AA and UA will not allow routings through JFK in First/Business on a through ticket, requiring separate fares from ***-JFK and from JFK-LAX/SFO, and DL will allow routings through JFK in First/Business on a through ticket only with a $200 surcharge over their UP First/Business fares on any given day. The lowest First/Business ticket with a routing through JFK on DL that qualifies for complimentary Economy Comfort or Preferred Seats is $900.

Furthermore, even though the through Mint fares are all loaded with a Mint fare basis (J, C, D, I), they book into a wide range of Core fare bases (Y, E, K, H, T, Q, B, L, V, R, W, M, Z, O, U, S, P) on the connecting flight with no Mint cabin. With the lowest fares booking into Z, it leads me to believe that they are B6's version of UP fares. As a result, while I agree that it would be nice to have complimentary EMS on the connecting flight of a Mint ticket, it is unfortunately not something I see happening in the near future.

anc-ord772

You are right, there is a difference between a full-fare Y and a business customer with a connection. Nonetheless it feels misaligned because its not unreasonable to assume the bold portion below.

Anyway, it may make fare logic sense, but paying business at 3x the price only to be asked for $25 on a connecting flight for better seats can leave a strange taste in one's mouth.

jaloola Excellent post. Your section about UP fares deserves more consideration. To be continued.

diburning

I took a trip to LAX a couple weeks ago. Flew out on United p.s. in BF (BOS-EWR-LAX) and returned on JetBlue Mint (LAX-JFK-BOS).

Mint was superior in every way.

On my EWR-LAX flight on United's p.s. BF cabin, the seats were nice, but weren't long enough (footwell was quite restricted) so I wasn't able to actually lie flat (I'm 6'1). AVOD was limited (not exactly, it's just that there wasn't much that I wanted to watch), and the food was just marginally better than domestic F.

On my LAX-JFK flight on JetBlue Mint, I had one of the suites, and was delighted to have a seat where I could actually lie down. The TV was huge, and I appreciated the fact that it was actually a TV and not AVOD. With a TV, at least the channels broadcast shows on a schedule, so that if I didn't like what was showing, all I'd have to do is wait half an hour and check again. The food was good although I felt like the "taste theme of the day" was bitter (which, if paired with the right beverage, is pretty good). The seat kept punching me in the back (the lumbar support kept alternating between firm and soft, and the I made sure that the massage feature wasn't on), but a pillow between my back and the seat solved that problem. (I've tried wiping down the seat controls with the hot towel to see if it would help, it didn't) I told them about it so that they could fix it and they gave me a $200 voucher for the inconvenience.

The amenity kit felt more like a box of samples, but they seem to have listened to people's complaints about there not being anything useful in it, and have added individually wrapped toothbrushes and travel sized tubes of toothpaste in the lav. They were also "testing" a new product (Gold Bond lotion for aging skin) and had that in the lav as well. Near the end of the flight, they handed out bottles of the lotion to everyone on the plane, including Economy.

I'll definitely fly in Mint again once they start the service to Boston!

Gig103

I haven't flown Mint yet, but I have two B6 flights under my belt and like everything except the fact that their only departures from PHX are redeye. I feel like that makes us a great market for Mint, but I'm not holding my breath. Hopefully they'll eventually equip more/all planes and give us the chance!

My wife actually wants us to drive/fly to LAX, so we can then fly LAX-JFK in Mint.

DA201

I wouldn't bet on getting Mint service to PHX soon. I would think B6 would put Mint on more popular routes first where it has a stronger presence, such as LGB-BOS, LGB-JFK, JFK-LIR, BOS-AUA, etc.

RWPrincess

I would like to see PDX get it too. I know it's a "secondary" city but flights are always full and pretty much every major airline has operations there now. I also think they need a 2nd daily flight between JFK-PDX before Alaska jumps on this route which I think is only a matter of time.

WheelsFirst

I need to fly LAX/BOS redeye in May, looks like the cheapest option would be to use another airline to fly LAX/SFO and then book Mint SFO/BOS, although that makes me somewhat uncomfortable compared to booking LAX-JFK-BOS all on B6. I really wish they'd roll out Mint to LAX/BOS faster, surprised that SFO got it first. Oh well.