seaflyguy

I've been a UA 1K for the last nine years, and also an AS MVPG (since lapsed) for three of those years. I've grown increasingly disenchanted with UA since the merger—it seems that under the post-merger management, it's all about reducing their costs and not at all about creating a better flying experience.

(If you're wondering why I allowed my MVPG status to lapse, it was because I was doing most of my flying on transcons, and my upgrade rate to F dropped to near zero. With no EMS equivalent on AS, and transcon upgrades nearly non-existent, it meant that I was down to a total of eight decent seats per flight (exit row aisle + window), and if I missed out on getting one, I was going to have an awful five or six hours.)

When I saw the announcement about Mint and the new Core experience, I thought to myself, "That's what an airline should be doing: find new ways to improve the experience, not look for every opportunity to pinch pennies at passenger expense." And I'm fine with the idea that elites pay for EMS and Mint. Create a great product and then charge a reasonable price, as opposed to giving away a mediocre product. Also, I have FF friends who swear by B6, and that counts for a lot.

So with all this in mind, I'd switch from UA to B6 tomorrow if they did two things:

• Expand their international airline partnerships. Give me more opportunities to earn and redeem points. AS is the perfect model in this regard.
• Offer Mint service out of SEA. I'd happily pay for a lie-flat bed on transcon flights.

My question is, how realistic are these wishes? Is there any chance of Mint coming to SEA routes in the next year or two? And has B6 given any hints about their plans to expand their international airline partnerships?

bmg42000

I doubt that Mint service will go to Seattle. First they need to get LAX/SFO up to speed with mint before they could think of Seattle.
I suspect you may be more likely to see more opportunities to redeem points.

sbm12

In what time frame?

The partnerships will grow over time but I doubt Mint hits SEA. Only DL is treating those transcons as a premium market and it is not yet clear that they've been successful in driving the yields to sustain that.

seaflyguy

I'm okay with waiting a while on Mint, so I don't have a timeframe for that. On the airline partnerships, they're pretty threadbare right now. I'd want to see progress on that before I switched, which would probably be sometime in 2015. Thoughts?

WheelsFirst

What about crediting to HA then using their partners to redeem?

CDKing

seems b6 is more interested in codeshare/interline partnerships vs point partners.

sbm12

I think it is more about implementation than what they are interested in. But, yes, the partners are mostly coming online as interline and the occasional codeshare.

I hope that there are one or two more partners for earn & burn by 2015 but I'm not betting heavy on that happening.

Orwaid

FWIW, if MINT turns out to be as good as expected ( I am trying it July 9), I will take AS to LAX (SFO later this year ) and connect to the MINT flight.

It will still be cheaper than F on AS or other carriers, and a much more pleasant experience.

seaflyguy

That would mean I wouldn't have status with B6.

I'd be all over that, too, if my travels took me to the NYC area as my final destination—but they hardly ever do. Mint could have a Grand Marnier spigot at every seat and it still wouldn't be enough* to get me to do three legs from SEA to RDU.

* — Grand Marnier Cuvée du Centenaire, you say? Let's talk.

Orwaid

If RDU is your final destination and you want a lie flat and minimum connections, then DL and its reasonable BE fares are your only choice.

bmg42000

I would avoid 3 legs on any airline that goes thru NY if you want to get to your destination. If you want an excuse to miss a meeting then 3 way through NY is the way to go.

WheelsFirst

If you're paying for mint why do you want/need status. B6 status is borderline pointless too. Not trying to be argumentative just wondering if the HA route might be a viable alternative for intl partners.

sbm12

Their redemption charts mostly suck, though.

MPScan

All the others reasons above considered, you also have to factor in that B6 has publicly stated that once the JFK-LAX and JFK-SFO MINT market is up to the capacity they want, their next move will to be BOS MINT.

BOS-LAX and BOS-SFO market is next on tap in mid to late 2015, and onward.

If anything, SEA would be 2016+ at this point --- and that's if, and only if, the product is successful and they expand it to more markets.

Given that I am BOS based and travel to SEA a lot, I would absolutely love a BOS-SEA MINT product, but it's not happening for a long while.

Often1

Do not do your MINT planning around cheap fares. Once B6 gets its currrent MINT service up to par, there is no way that fares will stay where they are. MINT may serve to lower other LAX/SFO TCON premium fares, but not down to bare bones.

I would expect to see more MINT frequencies before SEA.