Blue Basic “Loopholes” (with AA status)
 

I’m considering my first B6 flight in several years and still struggling to understand the practicalities of the Blue Basic fare. So a few questions:

1) I have AA Gold status which includes a free checked bag, presumably regardless of fare type. Do I have to check the bag before security (and wait in line) or can I do it at the gate?

2) If I have a Blue Basic fare and purchase an EMS seat assignment, will I be able to (a) board with regular EMS pax and (b) take a carry on at that point?

Assuming the EMS price is the same for Blue and Blue Basic fares, seems like #2 creates a bit of a loophole to save $ by buying Blue Extra, you just give up the ticket flexibility, right?

Thank you!

As to question #1, yes, you get a free checked bag regardless of fare type. Not sure about whether you can check it at the gate for free (assuming that the bag is small enough to get past TSA).

As to question #2, yes, anyone who buys a Blue Basic ticket and ends up with an EMS seat (either by paying for it more than 24 hours before departure, or getting it for free at 24 hours before departure based on AAdvantage Gold status) gets to bring on board a "full-size" carry-on, in addition to an under-seat "personal" item.

AAdvantage Golds flying JetBlue get to use priority check-in counters, and get priority boarding. Details here:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...es/jetblue.jsp

(Scroll down to "AAdvantage status benefits.")

Ah ha yes but they thought of that. The price of an EMS seat is usually higher when booking Blue Basic as opposed to Blue.

This wouldn’t have surprise me, but the particular flight I was looking at priced EMS the same regardless of base fare type, FWIW.

That is good to know I'll look again next time. Only generally use them between NYC and Florida so not a huge sample to go by.

To clarify, AA gold flying on Basic ticket can clear into EMS (after higher tiers) 24 hours before - is that correct?

Would everyone in the same reservation also be able to potentially upgrade to EMS?

1. Anyone with any AAdvantage elite status can select an EMS seats at T-24; it's first come, first served. AAdvantage Golds can get EMS seats even if there are AAdvantage EXPs on the flight, as long as the Golds select the seats before the EXPs do.

2. Yes.

So to continue this and a question I had was if we don't end up with EMS seats, then no carry on on a basic fare no matter the status? I have been trying to figure this out since yesterday and saw a tweet from jetblue that you could board with a carry on with status but was from last yaer.

You can find the exceptions to the carry-on prohibition on Blue Basic fares here:

https://www.jetblue.com/help/carry-on-bags

("Carry-On Bags")

Thanks I've read that but it does not answer my question directly and contradicts the jetblue twitter:

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images...Obf_normal.png
JetBlue

@JetBlue
Sorry for the confusion! Yes, as of March 9, 2022, you can bring a carry-on bag with your AAdvantage Platinum Pro with a Blue Basic fare.

Well, the JetBlue Twitter response is either correct or incorrect. Do you have a Plan B if it turns out to be incorrect?

We're actually just going to pay more to fly out of home aiport on AA metal instead but just FYI for future people reading this, I inquired on twitter and got the same response. So looks like elites do get carry on on basic.