Originally Posted by
diburning
They could, but they also won't, to protect the integrity of the Mint product. This is why they don't do complimentary Mosaic upgrades. The average CASM on the Mint A321 works out to where the flight can still be profitable even if Mint goes out empty, and the Core cabin isn't completely full. So, employee nonrevs get to sit in Mint if they specifically list for it. The strange thing is, most employees don't list for it, because they probably didn't get the memo about the recent change (prior to the change, there was a specific process for employees to nonrev in Mint, and this process actually put them ahead of op-ups in the past. I'm not sure about the hierarchy now.)
I was under the impression that non-revs still had to pay a small fee to sit in Mint. Is that no longer the case?
As much as I don't agree with them not upgrading Mosaics for free, I would have gladly paid 6300 points for a last minute upgrade. I'm pleasantly surprised to hear they were able to do that. I was recently on a substituted Mint plane on a non-Mint route and the Mint section was closed due to the crew not being Mint certified. There were several Mosaics on the flight who inquired about sitting there and everyone was told no. I get it but it was still weird seeing the section go out empty.