FliegendesBrot

I'm a semi-frequent traveler on JetBlue with enough travel each year to almost get to Mosaic status (within a few thousand base points), but I have yet to actually get there. Below, I'll outline what I've been doing to try and build as many base points as possible, but I would appreciate any additional tips for other ways to build base points. Maybe there's something I haven't thought of?

Regular travel: I usually make several transcon flights each year (BOS to LAX and SFO) as well as occasional other random flights throughout the year (SJU and AUS this year). The fares can be quite low for these routes, so it's hard to build up enough base points in economy.

Mosaic Promos: I know they've done a couple of different promos over the last several years to help people get to Mosaic more quickly. I just missed the one last year in which you would get Mosaic for earning 3,750 points within a certain window. I had two transcon flights in quick succession that would have gotten me there, but I missed the promo until right after the first of the two flights. So...my bad for not paying attention.

Car Rental: Here's one I didn't expect. I rented a car in San Juan this year that I had booked through JetBlue (while booking my flight). I did it knowing I would get 500 points, but I was expecting them to be Bonus Points. To my pleasant surprise, they registered in my account as 500 Base Points.

Currently, I still need about 10,000 points this year to make Mosaic for next year. I have two transcon flights coming up in June and July. The one for June is already booked (with AMEX points, so I can't change it) and will only net me a little over 2,000 base points if I'm doing my math correctly. I haven't booked the one for July yet, but even if I book a Mint flight it looks like I'll only be able to pick up about another 4,800 base points at the most. I'll need a car rental for that one, so I'll do that to grab another 500, but that still leaves me almost 3,000 points away from Mosaic.

At the moment, I'm sitting tight on not booking the July flight in the hopes they'll run another special like last year. They did one earlier in the year, so my fear is they may not run one this summer.

So I guess I have two questions:
1. Is there a different way I should work this to make sure I can maximize base points with the travel I have left?
2. Are there other ways to earn base points beyond actual travel and car rentals that would make sense?

If all else fails, I suppose my only option would be to find an excuse for another transcon Mint flight, but that seems like an expensive way to go.

Thanks in advance!

MSYtoJFKagain

I got 2300 base points from a recent last minute trip JFK->MSY on a regular blue fare. Total fare cost was $680.00 before taxes.

The Mosaic status is entirely based on dollar spend. There's not many loopholes.

sbm12

Are you sure they count as base points towards Mosaic? My Lyft points entries are listed in the activity report as "Lyft Base Points" but they are not accrued in the Mosaic progress counter. Which is how I expect it to operate.

OEBB

As was said before Mosaic qualifying is based on revenue so not a lot of "tricks" to get there.

There are two ways to get Mosaic - spend $5,000 on tickets (excluding taxes/fees) OR spend $4,000 and take 30 flights.

So one possible "trick" if you take a lot of inexpensive flights, if you are close to $4,000 in spend, is to book connecting routes instead of direct. JetBlue doesn't have a lot of focus cities so this may be wildly inconvenient, but if you are based in NYC you can connect through Boston without adding too much time. For example, if you're at $3,800 in spend and 26 flights, you could fly JFK-BOS-RIC and back. If you spend $200 you'll get your 4 flights and there you go.

Of course, though we often forget this on FT, you have to ask yourself if Mosaic is really worth any extra trouble if you don't travel enough to earn it anyway. I think the most valuable benefits are the ability to SDC and to cancel and rebook whenever with no fees. But, if you're looking at spending a lot of money you want to make sure the benefits outweigh the cost.

Personally, I fly B6 because the people are great, I love their customer bill of rights and I like the legroom. I'd still fly them even if I didn't have status (and I'd rather have no status on B6 than mid-level status elsewhere). I value SDC and the flexibility to cancel, but if I didn't make Mosaic anyway I probably wouldn't stretch for it unless I were really close. That's me - obviously you should decide what is right for you.

Good luck!

Sallycat

I don't know if I've ever seen the definition of a base point. Assuming that $1 in flight spend (outside of taxes) = 3 base points? Does the B6 credit card play into this at all?

OEBB

If you spend $50,000 on the PLUS credit card you can earn Mosaic; however, I don't believe you earn anything incrementally (i.e., with other airlines' cards you earn qualifying points for each dollar, with B6 you get full Mosaic at $50,000 in spend but nothing before that other than bonus points).

sbm12

The Biz card has the same 50k=Mosaic deal.

MSYtoJFKagain

Yeah, they are entirely separate from earning via flights (Except that if you use the CC you'll accrue bonus points MUCH more rapidly.

FliegendesBrot

I'm not 100% sure they accrued toward Mosaic, but they definitely show in my activity history as "Base Points." I had been under the impression that anything listed as a base point would count toward Mosaic, but I could be wrong. Unfortunately, I've had additional activity toward Mosaic since the car rental, so I can't see if that specifically contributed toward Mosaic. Not sure if there's a way to view a breakdown of Mosaic-specific activity. I'm only able to see the visual "wheel" on the website, but it's short on detail.

FliegendesBrot

Now that, is a very good point. Thanks for putting some perspective on this. I think it's still interesting from an academic perspective to answer the question of "are there more ways to accrue points toward status other than straight-up flight spend?", but you make a very good point that it may not be worth the extra effort for me. I would place some value on the early boarding and free drinks, but not really enough to put a whole lot of time into it. I do like the idea of accruing the additional bonus points you get with Mosaic that I can use toward free travel. But yes...not sure it's really that much value.

MSYtoJFKagain

The added mileage bonus is quite nice especially coupled with the CC mile bonus. I am close to a full Mint RT redemption.

I really wish they would just expand TATL so I could burn my miles getting to the continent.

sbm12

There is not. I only have one earning flight so far this year so it was easy to line up the numbers in my activity. The Lyft earning is described on the Activity History page as "Lyft Base Points" but it does not count towards Mosaic and I did not expect that it would or should.

Go through your history for the 5 months and add up the numbers. I'm willing to bet that it didn't earn towards Mosaic.