Originally Posted by themicah

I did a roundtrip with family members on Blue Basic fares over the last couple weeks and wanted to report back.

Pax

Our party included one AA Plat and two AA/B6 plebes.

Booking

We booked the tickets using Chase UR points at travel.chase.com. Pricing was the same as jetblue.com but we could use UR points. My recollection is that Chase's interface didn't allow adding the AA#, so I left the FF# field blank. I had no problem adding the AA# to the reservation when I pulled it up at jetblue.com.

Note that if you have both a B6# and an AA#, you should avoid putting in your B6# as I don't think you can change it to AA online once it's in the reservation (I assume they can do it over the phone). This may also make reservation management a little annoying for AA elites booking for themselves, since the reservation won't show up in "My Trips" if your B6# isn't in there. "

There was no indication at jetblue.com prior to the 24 hour mark that one of the passengers in our record was elite. By all appearances it looked like a regular Blue Basic booking, except that one of our passengers had an AA# instead of a B6#.

Seat Selection

Prior to the 24 hour mark, we could pick seats ("Core" or EMS), but would have to pay for them. I checked multiple times in the hours leading up to the 24 hour mark and (like with OLCI) the switch doesn't seem to flip until exactly 24 hours prior to flight time.

At the 24 hour mark for both flights, I was able to pick any available seat (EMS or Core) for $0 by checking in, or without checking in by going to Manage Trips:Assign Seats. Only about half of the EMS seats were taken on each flight at 24 hours, although all but one of the aisle seats were gone. These were mid-week flights to a leisure destination. Outbound we were able to get 2D and 4EF and had no problem trading 2D for 4D when we boarded. On the return we were able to get 5ABC. Both on the A320.

Luggage

When we checked in we were able to add checked bags at no extra cost. The system allowed us two bags per person (we checked four bags for three people).

If you score an EMS seat, you can bring a personal item and a carryon. If you don't score an EMS seat, you're technically allowed only the personal item, even if you have status. But practically it's not clear to me that they enforce this. I think they do it by boarding group and AA elites (or anyone traveling with them) get to board relatively early in the process (our boarding group said "AA ELITE" rather than one of the A-F letters that most people had). We waited to board last for both of our flights (we'd checked our bags and had no desire to sit on the plane longer than necessary), and didn't see anybody turned away with a carryon. Folks who fly B6 more frequently may have more insight into this.

IRROPS

Our return flight had a bad WX delay. After 4+ hours we were pretty sure it would cancel, so we rebooked on a flight the next day. I didn't get the feeling that we were treated worse for having Blue Basic fares, or treated better for having AA elite status. They seemed to treat everyone the same. They weren't able to get us EMS seats on the rebooked flights, but did manage to get us Core seats together. Our boarding group on the next day's flight was GROUP B instead of AA ELITE. I'm not sure why, although it's possible that our FF#s got dropped from the reservation in the rebooking process (miles still haven't posted for that return flight) and we got Group B because they rebooked us on a full fare? Or maybe AA ELITE only shows up if you have EMS seats?

Conclusion

Booking Blue Basic as an AA elite is a really great deal! While it's annoying to not know whether you're technically allowed a carryon or not, having the ability to check bags for free makes that less of a concern, and the free EMS seats are a fantastic benefit. B6 is also a pleasure to fly with generous legroom even in the Core seats (I'm 6'1" and have flown UA, AA, DL and WN this year, and B6's Core seats are noticeably more comfortable than any of the others), free snacks, free high-speed wifi, and empty precheck security lines.

Originally Posted by fastflyer

More learned AA/ B6 data points:

TL;DR highlights:
o Codeshare flights, when AA is not both the ticketing (and also the operating carrier), are not available for advanced upgrades of any stripe (e500s, BXP1s, even SWUs), only Day of Departure and At Airport.
o Get all boarding cards printed or screenshotted through a working link from the ticketing carrier. Keep these handy.
o Know your entitlements (fees, seating, etc.) and be ready to gently remind the codeshare carrier that your status "conveys"
o Use the local lingo. AA elites are instead "Mosaic with JetBlue's codeshare partner" -- that seemed to work
o If you want an "e500" upgrade, give yourself a long layover so you can get on the AA list before final processing

I bought two, one-way tickets from MVY to MIA for the Labor Day return to Florida. This was the final set of flights in a long series during our summer travels. These were purchased online, and it is important for some of the travel story to understand that the issuing carrier was JetBlue. The operating carriers were JetBlue (MVY-JFK) and AA (JFK-MIA).

Almost immediately, I noted a fairly complete itinerary on my AA phone app, but nothing on my JetBlue app. I was able to choose exit row seats on the AA flights, free of charge as it recognized my status. I had used our AAdvantage numbers for frequent flyer credit, which I assumed was the reason why the seatmap showed on AA and not on B6. Right up until the flights, no seats appeared on the JetBlue app, and it took several tries to get JetBlue to check-in online through their e-mailed link. It did work in the end, after at least three attempts, choosing different variables each time.

At T-100 hours, I checked the AA app to see if upgrades had cleared for JFK-MIA, but I got instead a feeling that I wasn't on the upgrade list. Phoned the EXP desk, and after speaking with several agents, I learned that codeshare flights, when AA is not both the ticketing (and of course also the operating carrier), are not available for advanced upgrades. Only day-of-departure R class at the airport. Not even C class BXP1s are allowed. This was problem #1

At this point, I used the AA EXP "pass through" phone connection to JetBlue to confirm we had seat assignments (because still nada on the JetBlue app). The agent confirmed we had decent coach seats, although not "Even More Space" seats (the agent was unaware we were entitled to those, but apparently they are available online at T-24). We were ticketed in Blue class on B6 and G class on AA. I never could check-in online via the AA app -- and even after I got the JetBlue link to work, the AA app still didn't show us as checked in. That could be problematic in certain cases.

The JetBlue e-mailed check-in link, as mentioned above, did finally work. It took several tries. I was also able to choose Even More Space seats at T-24 during check-in (we are AA elites, which showed on the B6 boarding cards as AAELTE. This notation is important to see. If it doesn't show, phone JetBlue for remediation. The JetBlue check-in process also provided PDF boarding cards for our AA flights, with our pre-selected AA exit row seats. Make sure you print or screenshot all boarding cards at this point in time. More about this later.

Next was the actual Day of Departure visit to the tiny Martha's Vineyard (MVY) airport. The AA counter is seasonal there, so we were dealing only with B6 at this point. The flight had a one-hour delay, which did not endanger our 3-hour connection in JFK (or at least not yet). The B6 ticket agent checked us in, but could not print our AA boarding cards (fortunately I had them screenshotted). She also asked for payment of $105 for our three checked bags. After looking at the B6 boarding cards she had just printed, and noting the AAELTE remark, I reminded that checked baggage fees for two bags per elite pax were waived. We went around on this for a while, until she made a phone call and "agreed" to waive the checked baggage fees. Bags were checked through to Miami, and the baggage status showed on the AA app immediately (but still not the AA boarding cards lol).

The B6 gate agent did preboard "AA elites" with their own elites (Mosaics), before general boarding began. Onboard, the flight attendant did not know our status, but when she asked for payment for a beer, I mentioned that I was AA EXP, which was met with a frown. I then said, I am Mosaic on AA -- that got a smile and a free drink. When I asked her if there was an airside link to Terminal 8 (which I had some vague memory about from something I read, probably here), the F/A said No, you must exit the terminal and take the JFK SkyTrain. When we landed we had a long taxi, and I asked the arrival gate agent the same question. She corrected this information -- there is an airside bus to AA terminal 8 near JetBlue (JFK terminal 5) gate 26 -- a huge timesaver.

By this time, we were down to one hour, and the airside bus saved our bacon. But the bus entry dragons twice demanded to see the AA boarding cards before we would be admitted to the bus -- this was important, because nowhere along the way had we any access to an AA kiosk or agent to print them. Thankfully I had screenshotted those initial boarding docs upon JetBlue link check-in. The bus was quick, and at this point (we had still not seen an AAgent to get on the day-of-departure upgrade list), we made a quick walk to the Admirals Club. The AAngel there immediately put us on the list at T-45, where we were #1 and #2, and we got the two open J seats in the nick of time, as T-40 is now the final processing of the upgrade waitlist. One other note, no one could print a ticket receipt, including the JetBlue airport ticket agent nor the Admirals Club AAngel, and I didn't tarry as we had a flight to catch and I wanted the GAs to know we were present at the gate and at the top of the upgrade list.

The AA flight was uneventful -- the AA app did show our bags transferred correctly, and they arrived in Miami in fine shape. The service in domestic F remains a cold meal, but I was glad to have attentive F/As who served the cabin throughout the 3 hour flight home.