mfolf

I have a flight in July going from SFO-BOS-PIT. The SFO-BOS segment is on Mint, getting in at 5:05 with the BOS-PIT segment leaving exactly one hour later. Naturally as one can't book Mint and Core on the same reservation, these two legs are their own reservation. This wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't checking bags, but me and two others will be checking bags. The BOS-PIT flight is the last one of the day, so if we miss it it'll be an issue.

What would be the logistics of claiming our bags, rushing to recheck them and heading back to gate in time? We all have precheck, but I'm worried about potential cutoff time. Is there a way to combine the reservations so the bags are through-checked to PIT?

Carfield

I actually had a similar situation before. JetBlue's still not publishing any decent thru fare on these Mint flights, which frustrates me and many passengers.
My flight was LAX to Boston on Mint and then Boston to Pittsburgh on Core. Connection time is about two hours because I like to play it safe and totally expect to recheck at Boston.
I arrived at LAX a bit earlier than usual and the counter was not busy. I had also printed out both itineraries and just decided to try my luck. The agent did not even blink his eyes. He said that he would try. It took him a few minutes longer but he was not only able to check through my bags but also gave me both boarding passses. I am not sure if my Mosaic status gave him the extra incentive to check through me, but if you arrived within a reasonable time frame and had the itineraries printed out, I did not see the reason why they could and would not do so. Most Mossic agents (except Seattle) were pretty friendly and would go out of his or her way to help you.

However I only tried it once and didn't face a similar situation since then. Maybe you could share with us your experience, after flying these flights.

Carfield

Often1

I would call B6, ask and then ask the agent to enter a remark in the PNR notes for the first ticket.

mfolf

Just did this. They said to ask at the counter when checking in. I could try again a later time, or I guess see how things work out in July, haha.

Repooc17

I understand the loyalty part, but there are nonstop flights from West coast to PIT (e.g. SFO, LAX).

On top of the potential bag issue, there are also the larger issue of potential delays or cancellation out of SFO.

mfolf

Okay, I'm curious as to what happened in Seattle that proved otherwise.

Yeah, I'm aware about SFO and hoping for the best there.

Loyalty/Convenience-wise, I'm actually an Alaska MVP 75k but said airline only has 1 nonstop from SEA at 7am, requiring an overnight stay. I'd rather not take United out of SFO or Southwest out of LAX, and I really wanted to do Mint... okay not the best logic, but I do love a challenge!

DaWhirledTraveller

No need to call in, have the Mint check-in agent handle the request. I believe the limitation is - the connecting time must be less than 4 hours, if it's longer, than you have to claim/re-check your bags. Based on your flight info, you won't encounter this limitation.

I had done the same thing you did, booked two separate tickets. The Mint check-in agent, was able to check my bag through to my final destination and gave me boarding passes to both my flights. Even though Mint was not available on my connecting flight, my bag was the first one out at baggage claim.

Miesque

I think it is really ridiculous that you can't book a Mint flight connecting with a non-Mint flight. Any other airline you can book a combo First/Business/DeltaOne I really want to take Mint for one leg of my trip to LA in early November (once fares become available) which would require a regular JetBlue flight RIC to BOS, Having to collect bags and then go to recheck them adds an uncertainly factor in addition to being a pain in the .... If I have to do that I might as well fly Delta the non Mint leg, at least it would be First Class.

Points Scrounger

I could swear that a Jet Blue phone rep told me it was possible to book a mixed itinerary when I wanted the online booking points for an underlying all-coach ticket that had been upgraded by phone to Mint for the first segment. He said they would give me the online points this time, but that in future I needed to book as City Pairs, or some such, myself. I just tried that and could only do coach for both segments, no way to mix them.

caliform

Uh? I did this several times, even on an international itinerary, and if booked at once (which works just fine for me) bags obviously don't require picking up again. For SFO-FLL-SJO, I made separate bookings and was told that you can just 'connect' them at the airport and indeed, they did it for me and the bags went through no problem.

Points Scrounger

Separate bookings as in separate reservation numbers? I'm looking to book Mint Seattle - New York and coach New York - Nantucket, but would be incredibly upset if the Seattle staff refused to ticket through requiring me to recheck my bag (without status) and go through security again at JFK!!!

RWPrincess

I was recently in a situation with 2 separate tickets and wanted to check my bag. I both called and asked via social media and was told to take care of it at the ticket counter. The Notes section of the PNR is not effective. I am Mosaic but I got the impression that this was a common request. I ended up carrying on my bag but thought I'd share what I was told.

caliform

Never had issues with it. At baggage check in they'll arrange for it to connect.

jasondc

Very weird - I see thta they are not publishing a mint/core ticket through price on SEA-JFK-ACK, but they DO publish mint/core through prices on itineraries such as SFO-DCA via BOS, and DCA-SFO/LAX via FLL/BOS. Maybe it just depends on the market?

GW McLintock

Can you get the bag through security? The white manual gate check tags allow them to check it to wherever your final destination is, regardless of the PNR. If not, ask at the ticket counter and I'm sure they could figure it out.

-J.