UpgradeMe3

Is it feasible for JetBlue to create a higher mosaic tier? With perks like free EMS seats instead of paying with points, and maybe 2-4 Mint upgrade certs. 30k True Blue points instead of 15k. Thoughts?

AutoSlash

Anything is possible but why would they want to do this? Mint seats go for like $600 each. You're talking about potentially adding thousands of dollars of value to Mosaic+ or whatever. I'd be thrilled but I highly doubt there is enough of an incentive for them to do this.

moulder3

I personally think it's more likely that they give 2x or 4x Mint certs a year to Mosaics who have maintained status for 3 or 5 years.

I also wish they'd allow Mosaics free online EMS seat selection at -48 hours. Don't know why they can't/won't.

AutoSlash

You know you can just ask at the ticket counter and they will give you a free upgrade to EMS if they can right? I've been successful every time I've tried except for once and that was because the EMS seats were sold out.

moulder3

Of course, but getting free EMS seats 2 hours before a flight isn't a great benefit. I understand (somewhat) not allowing free EMS seats to Mosaics at booking, but not making the seats available for free 2 or 3 days in advance is crazy, IMO.

AutoSlash

I'd beg to differ. From JetBlue's perspective, they are trying to upsell passengers at OLCI to EMS seats. If they are allowing Mosaics to lock them in 48 hours prior (before anyone is able to check in), then they are losing out on potential revenue.

As a Mosaic, I'd love nothing more than to be able to lock in a Mosaic seat prior to OLCI, but I can understand why this might not make good business sense from JetBlue's perspective.

At the end of the day, they have to design a compelling enough program so that it is aspirational for people to want to achieve status. Is the current offer compelling enough? It probably depends on who you ask. I'm sure they've got reams of data that would answer that question that none of us are privy to. My point here is to just answer the question of why they might not want to do this.

MSYtoJFKagain

I would hate any further tiers in the Mosaic program. Mint seats are affordable and very easy to book. This isn't a legacy airline and I'd really prefer to keep it that way.

sbm12

I'd bet heavily on IT systems limitations, at least for the "can't" part.

When Mosaic launched it included 6 (I believe) free EMS advance upgrades. But they had to be processed and tracked manually because the systems didn't support anything more than that. If an agent waives a fee there's a text box to explain why (or used to be; I haven't looked at the system in a couple years but I'd bet it is very similar). It is easy for an agent to type "mosaic" in there or whatever. Automating that is harder.

That said, they did just enable fee-free SDC on the app for Mosaic so it seems like they're getting closer.

As for why they won't, I agree with the others that the value proposition of the benefits is pretty well aligned right now.

BbTrumpet

I can't see more tiers coming to Mosaic, they'd have to offer too much to make the additional level worth getting, or it would just be a straight give-away to those who are already spending above the $5k level. I wouldn't be surprised to see the qualifications pushed up though, maybe to $6000 or $7500 at some point.

JetBlue already has the best First class lie-flat product for transcons, they can compete with product alone, and don't need to lure people into flying them by way of FF program as a side benefit the way the legacies do.

All that said, I wouldn't mind a few little perks like maybe Mosaics being served first in Mint. I've waited a _long_ time for meals in a full Mint cabin where I know there's only one or two Mosaics. Not a big deal. Definitely 1st-world problem, but would be a nice gesture. Other than that, the best thing that could happen to Mosaic is for the airline to actually expand to more usable routes for those of us on the west coast.

dtremit

I'd beg to differ. From JetBlue's perspective, they are trying to upsell passengers at OLCI to EMS seats. If they are allowing Mosaics to lock them in 48 hours prior (before anyone is able to check in), then they are losing out on potential revenue.

As a Mosaic, I'd love nothing more than to be able to lock in a Mosaic seat prior to OLCI, but I can understand why this might not make good business sense from JetBlue's perspective.[/QUOTE]

And most of the non-middle EMS seats have been gone way ahead of 48h on recent flights I've been on -- meaning a lot of Mosaics would probably end up disappointed with that benefit.

The one thing that bugs me about the current Mosaic program, from a revenue perspective, is that there's not much incentive for a Mosaic to book a Blue Plus fare. I'd think JetBlue would want that revenue from frequent travelers. One potential small tweak might be offering some kind of a Mosaic-specific bonus for Blue Plus purchases, be it an EMS seat, extra bonus miles, or something similar.

They can certainly sell Mint seats on their merits -- but I would wager that the majority of Mosaic members are business travelers who can't expense those seats no matter how nice they are. Raising the qualification without increasing benefits would probably alienate a lot of those travelers. At $7500 you're getting into the territory where the legacy airlines provide tangible benefits that JetBlue doesn't (extra legroom seats at booking, and an occasional F upgrade).

MSYtoJFKagain

I would argue the first point that most business travelers are required by their companies (I know I am) to book refundable fares regardless of status allowing SDCs so I wouldn't expect much revenue based off of that

I don't think the B6 is looking to heavily compete with the legacies for business travelers outside of JFK/BOS-LAX/SFO. While Mosaic soaks up a lot of the possible business travelers in the B6 system, they are NOT the main demo of B6 fliers, that would be leisure travelers.

Mosaic is an afterthought to me and I'd fly with B6 anyway because they suit my needs. Any small benefit is fine but I hate the ridiculous state of legacy frequent flier programs and would rather B6 continue their current program.

dtremit

Refundable booking requirements are becoming pretty scarce among the business travelers I know, but my sample may not be representative. Does JetBlue even offer refundable fares? Blue Flex are changeable, but not refundable.

I am based in BOS (and have moved travel to B6 almost entirely because of their schedule here) so my perspective may be skewed on the Mosaic population.

MSYtoJFKagain

My current job requires Y fares on legacy airlines and Blue Flex on B6 from someone at my level. There are no cash refundable fares but Blue Flex is refundable to the Travel Bank and that's enough for them (at the moment). My days of constant traveling for work have slow considerably recently but my observations are from the last 3-4 years. As I've said, I put almost no value on FFPs personally and am really only Mosaic because of my old work route. I'll be dropping out of status this year and wouldn't push to regain it. I like where JetBlue is at the moment. The fares are competitive, the transcon product is fantastic, the Y product is enjoyable. I'm really hoping for them to make the push to TATL so I can burn out my miles on some Mint returns to LHR/LGW.

diburning

This is still the case.

sbm12

Agreed.
Yes, it does. Even for a Blue fare, though. Refundable isn't tied to one of the fare families so much as an add-on fee to whichever family you choose.