JetBlue Airways will introduce on June 15, 2014 a new, transcontinental premium service which the airline is calling ‘Mint’ and for which it has begun selling tickets.
According to JetBlue Airways, Mint will offer the longest lie-flat beds in any U.S. domestic business class cabin and four private suites will also feature among the 16 Mint seats.
At the Paris Airshow on June 21, 2013, JetBlue Airways signed a memorandum of understanding to order 40 A320neo-family jets and also to convert existing orders for 30 A320s to the larger A321. JetBlue’s A321s will feature Airbus’ new ‘Sharklet’ drag-reducing wingtip devices. The airline will begin receiving new A321s in 2014
The Mint premium-class cabins for transcontinental flights will be installed on new Airbus A321 aircraft, of which JetBlue Airways will begin taking delivery in 2014.
To promote JetBlue’s new Mint service, the carrier has begun selling one-way fares on the new service for $499 between New York JFK and Los Angeles (LAX) for travel between June 15 – the first day Mint flights will be in service – and June 18, 2014, the end of JetBlue’s current schedule.
This fare includes government taxes and fees and must be purchased by October 1, by the earlier of 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time or in the time zone at the customer’s location.
With the roll-out of JetBlue’s summer 2014 schedule in November, customers will continue to see prices for Mint starting at $599 one-way, according to the airline.
“Just as we revolutionized the core travel experience more than a decade ago with an elevated product and customer-focused culture, we intend to reinvent the lucrative coast-to-coast market with Mint,” says Dave Barger, JetBlue Airways’ president and CEO.
JetBlue Airways’ ‘Mint’ transcontinental premium-class cabin features 16 seats which fold down into fully flat beds 6 feet 8 inches long
“Mint is JetBlue’s refreshing take on a premium class product,” adds Barger. “It is stylish service minus all of the stuffiness often associated with the traditional front-of-the-cabin experience. JetBlue is truly all about serving the under-served, the customer who wants to enjoy first-rate service at an exceptional and affordable fare.”
Service in the new Mint premium cabin will feature a pre-departure drink, followed by a cocktail and amuse-bouche once airborne. JetBlue has partnered with New York City restaurant Saxon + Parole to create the onboard menu.
Travelers in the Mint cabin will customize their meal by choosing among five “comfort food with a twist” offerings, served tapas-style, followed by dessert. Fresh cappuccino and espresso made from the first purposely built cappuccino machine for a U.S. airline will be available throughout the flight.
JetBlue says it will also be the only U.S. airline to offer customized men’s and women’s amenity kits from partner Birchbox, a retail company that offers consumers a personalized way to discover, learn about and purchase the best beauty and grooming products from prestigious brands.
With an amenity kit designed specifically for JetBlue, loyal customers will receive new products often, as these kits will be changed several times throughout the year.
There are four individual suites with flat-bed seats in JetBlue Airways’ ‘Mint’ transcontinental premium-class cabin, a feature says no other U.S. carrier offers on domestic services. The Mint cabin also has 12 other flat-bed seats not in suites
JetBlue chose to customize the Mint seat. The Mint seats will feature:
● Fully lie-flat beds up to 6 feet 8 inches (203 centimeters), which JetBlue says will be the longest seats on average in the U.S. domestic business class market;
● The only private suites with closing doors in the American market, four on each flight;
● Seats up to 22.3 inches wide, which JetBlue says will make them the widest seats on average in the U.S. domestic market;
● Air cushions with adjustable firmness;
● A massage function;
● A 15-inch flat in-flight entertainment (IFE) seatback screen with up to 100 channels of DirecTV programming and 100-plus channels of SiriusXM radio;
● Shoe storage;
● Dual 110 volt power outlets with two USB ports; and
● A “Wake me for service” indicator, allowing customers to customize their service needs.
This is what JetBlue Airways’ new ‘Marketplace’ customer self-service station on transcontinental flights looks like
JetBlue’s new Airbus A321 jets will also feature an enhanced core product, including a new seat designed to maximize comfort, larger 10.1-inch personal IFE screens offering up to 100 channels of DirecTV programming and 100-plus channels of SiriusXM radio, in-seat power outlets accessible to all customers and a drink holder.
As a result of the new, slimmer seat design, JetBlue claims that passengers will experience additional legroom and the most legroom in economy class of any U.S. domestic carrier, as well as more comfort.
JetBlue has also created what it calls a “marketplace” for each of its Airbus A321s. This will be a self-serve station stocked with snacks, sodas and water for passengers to consume at their convenience throughout the flight.
The airline’s A321 fleet will also offer free, super-fast ‘Fly-Fi’ for all customers, JetBlue’s new in-flight Wi-Fi broadband service.
JetBlue’s flight B5 223, departing New York’s JFK Airport to Los Angeles International Airport at 9:30 a.m. on June 15, 2014, will be JetBlue’s first flight featuring the Mint premium cabin.
This photograph shows the lie-flat seats that JetBlue Airways developed for its busiest U.S. transcontinental routes, for installation in Airbus A321s. Four of the 16 seats are in single suites with closable doors
By the fourth quarter of 2014, all seven daily flights between JFK and LAX will offer Mint, as well as the enhanced core experience.
The airline also plans to introduce the Mint premium cabin on flights between JFK and San Francisco International Airport in the fourth quarter of 2014, with all five JFK-SFO flights offering Mint by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
JetBlue will initially use a dedicated sub-fleet of 11 new Airbus A321s for the two core transcontinental routes, each featuring 16 lie-flat seats (four of which are the private suites) and 143 economy seats.
Introduction of the Mint premium cabin in additional markets is a possibility based on customer response and demand for more service, according to JetBlue.
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