Upgrading to Mint closer to flight
 

I've got a wedding in Monterrey in October and I need to book my flights JFK->SFO fairly soon to lock in a seat.

My question is:

I'm slated for a bonus in the interim period (Possibly) and was going to treat myself to another lovely Mint experience. What are the rules governing upgrades from base fare (Basic Blue, non-ref) to Mint? Is it just fare difference? I'm a Mosaic member if that makes any difference.

Mosaics don't pay any change fee. You just pay any fare difference.

Awesome, thanks for the prompt answer.

Yes, even if not Mosaic.

I double-checked the prices today and every flight is now $1,199 for a 10/6/2016 departure in Mint. They were between $599-$999 about 2 weeks ago. Is it common for the price to jump this far out? I'm definitely going to stick with my previously purchased seat and probably just upgrade to EMS with points.

EDIT: A quick dummy booking reveals two seats (3C and 3D) booked on one of the flights. Would that trigger a broad price increase?

EDIT2: I'm getting 3 different prices from different browsers. I hate their website.

I'm new to JetBlue and maybe there are booking tricks of which I'm unaware, but I've noticed what seem to be big Mint price increases over the past week for travel in June/July/August. There were some scattered deals on various routes I checked, but they're all gone. I haven't seen a single three-digit price for a Mint flight in days.

(Update: Checking again, two hours after posting the above, I'm seeing some fairly good Mint fares from LAX to JFK in July.)

This is entirely a website problem. I confirmed with a rep via phone that the flights are still $599-$899 for the most part. All of their results in Kayak and other search engines are showing incorrectly as well.

FWIW, I've been price checking for Labor Day weekend for a while now. JFK-LAX/LGB

At one point it was well over $500 on all airlines. A couple weeks ago I caught it below $400 and grabbed it immediately. I'm not sure if that was a glitch or just pure luck but seems like a big price discrepancy since they're back in the $500 range now. I'm flying JFK-LAX and then LGB-JFK. All EMS seats.

Their website is to blame for almost all the issues I've seen. 400-500 for LBDW sounds about right. I've already booked my RT JFK->SFO in regular seats and am going to splurge for the Mint upgrade on the way out. EMS on the way back with points.

If there are mint seats available before boarding, you can purchase an upgrade at the gate for $499, regardless of the current fare.

However, you are taking the chance that no mint seats are available by the time you get to the gate.

I have done it twice.

499 minus current fare or a 499 upgrade fee?

$499 upgrade fee.

Suppose s/he paid $199 for the the Y fare in June, and by August the Y fare jumps to $399, but Mint remains at $599. The upgrade price in August is $400 ($599-$199), not $200 ($599-$399), correct?

That is correct if you are mosaic and do not have a change fee.

This is correct if you are doing the change prior to getting to the airport.

However it is rare that a mint seat stays at $599 that close to the day of flying.

On the day of flying at the airport, the upgrade cost is a flat $499, regardless of what Y fare you paid and what regardless of what the current Mint fare is.

So if s/he paid $199 for the Y fare and on the day of flying Mint costs $1299, the upgrade at the airport gate costs not $499, not $1,100.

I understand now, thanks for clarifying.

I booked Mint on the way out already as I confirmed my bonus earlier than expected.

Sitting in 2A on the way out, quite excited for the experience.

I just booked my 1st Mint experience too. I turn 40 this week and decided to treat myself. I had booked a RT JFK/LAX/LGB/JFK and it was a pain to upgrade to Mint over the phone. The agent basically cancelled the original outbound leg and rebooked it as a separate reservation with Mint rather than simply upgrading the seat. I thought that was odd.

With about two weeks to go until departure this July, and what appeared to be four or five sold Mint seats, the one-way fare to the West coast dropped to $649. I upgraded my Economy seat on the JetBlue website, paying the applicable fare difference. Based on my observations over the past few days, they are willing to sell three or four seats at the $649 rate if the number of seats sold is four to five or lower.

After completing the transaction, including selecting seats, the website advised that the payment went through, but that the ticket needed to be reissued. The seat I had selected continued to show as available for fresh bookings, so I eventually called B6 to inquire. The phone agent managed to grab my original seat, but it was never clear whether this required her to reissue the ticket. Her view was that the website could be a little buggy for these things and that the upgrade is better handled over the phone, but the experience of the prior poster suggests that phone, too, has its challenges.

I gathered that unless booked initially as Mint, the whole itinerary has to be changed and rebooked with the Mint added. The tickets are reissued as well.

Not an ideal system.

There should be no change fee for anyone to up-fare to Mint, regardless of status.

This is correct, it's an upgrade not a rebooking (although they do rebook the tickets in their system).