JetBlue announced a number of changes.
- Tickets bought on or after 4/1: JetBlue will eliminate change and cancel fees on Blue fares. If you want to cancel, you can receive a credit to your Travel Bank, valid for a year. The most valuable Mosaic benefit was free changes, but now everyone will get free changes as JetBlue will match other airlines.
- Tickets bought on or after 4/1: JetBlue will allow basic economy fares to be changed for a $100 fee plus the difference in fare for domestic, Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America route or a $200 fee for other routes. This fee also applies for Mosaic members. Basic economy tickets bought by 3/31 will qualify for free changes.
- Same day changes for all fares will be $75 with no difference in fare owed. This fee is waived for Mosaic members, even on basic fares.
- Tickets booked on or after 2/25 for travel on or after 7/20: basic economy fares will no longer include a large carry-on bag in the overhead compartment. Basic fares will only come with a small carry-on bag, though Mosaic members and their companions can continue bringing a full size carry-on bag. This essentially copies United, though United allows credit card holders to bring a free carry-on and checked bag.
- Starting on 7/20: JetBlue will give passengers on Blue fares a $25 Travel Bank credit if there is no overhead space for their carry-on bag.
JetBlue is turning Mosaic status a complete joke with these changes, which comes after several other devaluations.
What do you think of JetBlue’s changes?
@dan maybe you can use your powers and convince JetBlue to add benefits to mosaic?
“add benefits to mosaic”, just be optimistic that they aren’t charging for snacks and soft drinks yet.
What about award ticket changes ?
Award tickets do not book into Blue Basic, they book into regular Blue (or MINT). Those should have same policy with free changes as revenue tickets.
It’s all in line w JetBlue partnering w AA
Jetblue has been running down the hill for a few years already, regardless of any partnership.
Eliminating free carry ons for basic economy is a red line for me, I will stick to American or delta from now on
Or Alaska / Southwest. The 4 remaining mainland carriers that will allow carry-on for the lowest fare tickets.
Probably not going to get Mosaic for 2022 now via my usual 50k method spend on the CC.
United now has the edge on status.
Will remaining airlines follow suit with not including carry-ons, or will they keep it as an advantage over JB and United?
At the same time, maybe they extend the companion fare for free? It was of great use as I had to book a ticket for 2 and the one way price per person was $459…..2 for 1 made it worthwhile..
They are actually adding to the value of mosaic by giving a free carryon in BE
free same day flight change [which now applies to basic economy ?] starting 24 hours in advance is probably the most valuable benefit
JetBlue has become a bad airline to fly. Until this latest change, it never made sense to buy any JetBlue ticket other than their Basic fare, where you can get a free seat assignment 24 hours before departure. Now, without a free bag, this fare becomes extremely problematic. Their frequent flyer program is now even more of a joke with the Mosaic; it was already useless to most travellers because you couldn’t buy the Basic fares with your points. The only hope now is that JetBlue is forced to narrow the price gap between Basic and regular fares. I doubt they will because of the refundabilty. Best strategy: fly AA, which has oddly become America’s most customer–friendly airline (at least for the moment).
I feel like Delta by far is America’s most customer friendly airline. AA IS AAwful
No mention of having the JetBlue credit card. You get a fee checked bag but not overhead space for carry on.
Can we confirm this? If you have the credit card and book a basic fare, you do not get a carry-on?
So what today is the Unique Sales Proposition for choosing JetBlue over any other airline except Spirit (in a low-class by itself)?
One thing they can’t easily devalue (without getting new planes) is the 34″ seat pitch. I’m sure when they buy new airplanes they’re going to reduce that – given how they’re devaluing everything else – but for now they have the most comfortable economy seats of any major carrier.
Although Delta is starting to look like the most pleasant major airline to fly now – still blocking middle seats, flights are on time, the slimmer seats at least leave enough legroom, and free carry-ons for all price levels.
Even the much-maligned delta SkyPesos are not that bad anymore with all the other airlines moving to variable-rate awards – Delta still occasionally has sales on their mileage rates where you can get 2cpp or more.
Ari, I think that’s a solid analysis of Jetblue. There’s no doubt in my mind that JB isn’t thinking about drastically shrinking seat width and legroom space. I’m a “broken record” already, but last year I suggested that JB will begin eliminating free carry-ons, followed by eliminating complimentary snacks/beverages. It won’t be too challenging to rid free snacks, as their excuse can be that they encourage & promote limited eating on the aircraft in this Covid era. Oh, and they can easily incorporate charging via a CC for WiFi and TV service.
I don’t think anyone would laugh if one opines that within half decade or so, the differences between Jetblue and Spirit/Frontier are simply in the color scheme of the aircraft. It’s really too bad!
I think this one was a simple boardroom decision. JetBlue introduces Basic with the assumption that many travelers will “upgrade” to Blue. Because of covid change waivers plus the lack of differentiated product from Blue, travelers are buying the Basic fares. So the question is “how do we drive travelers to the higher fares” and the answer is fairly obvious – make the Basic fare as bottom-of-the-barrel terrible as possible. Mission accomplished.
But maybe the boardroom folks didn’t ask the next question: “What does this do to our brand?”
Finally, unlike Spirit and Frontier which have a downgraded product AND much lower basic fare pricing, JetBlue Basic will price the same as AA and Delta and give less. It’s possible that snacks and free wifi will make up for the carry-on bag.
“It’s possible that snacks and free wifi will make up for the carry-on bag.” To a certain degree I guess. When it gets to the point where I can book a Spirit Big Front Seat and bring my own bag of pretzels (while paying $6.50 for Spirit’s Wifi), and it’s still cheaper than Jetblue’s Basic Econ.—- I’m really thinking I’d lean towards Spirit.
I am a little confused, Are they eliminating change fees on blue fares or there is a same day change fee of $75.00 for all fares?
UPDATE DAN!!!!!
Jetblue Mosaic can now book even more space for 800 points!