A delightful fresh fruit salad with ice cream for dessert. Scroll down for more foodie photos! (Chris McGinnis)
Late last year, JetBlue invited me to try out its new Mint business class on a roundtrip between San Francisco and New York.
I jumped at the chance because TravelSkills readers have been pinging me with lots of question about it. Why? Most say it’s because they are getting fed up with the recent shenanigans by legacy carriers and that they are considering shifting allegiance, or at least exploring other options.
As a matter of fact, I received another one of these emails this today from TravelSkills reader L.H.: “Delta had been putting Platinum and Diamonds on the upgrade list six hours prior to flight for JFK-LAX/SFO. Today I was told only that only Diamonds get on the list. Now there’s no chance for a Platinum to upgrade either by list or certificate… This is just another reason to not fly Delta on this market. And it seems punitive. [Delta] just pushed my business to Virgin or JetBlue…”
So would this high-flying Delta elite member really be willing to give up all those SkyMiles to give JetBlue a whirl? I doubt it. I’ve watched Delta’s frequent flyer program tick off travelers for the last 20 years, but they nearly always go back.
But have we finally reached a turning point? What JetBlue has put on offer between New York and California with its new Mint class is pretty tempting.
And it’s not too expensive, either– at times, fares are as low as $599 each each way. The only way to upgrade into Mint class is to pay the fare difference- a spokesman told TravelSkills that it does not offer last minute incentives at the gate for folks hoping for an empty seat.
Here’s what’s on offer for next week and next month on one of JetBlue five daily flights.
JetBlue one way fares for a SFO JFK flight next week
JetBlue one way fares for SFO JFK flights next month
Now let’s jump on board for a look and a bite!
JetBlue’s new satellite-based inflight wi-fi product is considered one of the fastest in the sky. When it worked, I would agree with that. But there were several spots along the way, especially when flying over the northern plains and Rocky Mountains where the connection went away completely for long periods of time. Not a huge issue since I’m a fan of ANY plane equipped with wi-fi, but more evidence to me that there’s not a completely reliable and speedy service in the sky…yet.
There are 16 Mint class seats on each of JetBlue’s new Airbus A321s. Seats are staggered, so you can sit alone like this guy and feel like Captain Kirk 🙂 . In this seat, there’s even a sliding door to separate you from the commotion in the aisle. Contrary to what a lot of readers think (or have heard), this is not a “private suite” with a door that closes.
While everyone probably wants to sit in the Captain Kirk seat, there is plenty of room to spread out in the seats that are two abreast. But insiders tell me that the Kirk seats always sell out first. There is plenty of in-seat storage space and well thought out nooks like the pouch for smart phones you see in the lower right of the photo above.
When fully extended, that seat is as flat as Kansas. On my flights in both directions, less than half of passengers went fully flat. That’s likely because there was too much going on… and too much to eat and watch on the seatback entertainment systems. (Keep scrolling!) One important note about seatback movies– I was surprised to see that they are not “on demand” which means you cannot start and stop them along the way. They are on a set schedule, which makes watching them during mealtime or between bouts of work a hassle.
Some interesting options here on the seat controller… the discreet floor light, the massage function, and the ability to adjust the firmness of your seat cushion– just like a Sleepnumber mattress. Pretty cool!
In-flight amenity kits for men– thoughtful, entertaining and quirky, but not sure if I would use any of this stuff. Would you?
Birchbox amenity kit for women.
My seatmate, who seemed to be more of a wine connoisseur than I, was very impressed with this selection of wines. Any oenophiles out there want to chime in on this list?
JetBlue wi-fi is sorta like hotel wi-fi– you get a basic connection for free (for now), but have to pay for a high speed connection– and it’s not cheap. If you are like me and spend five hours online between SFO and JFK, you could end up with a $45 wi-fi bill. To be honest, I tested both and found little difference between the free and paid versions, and since the product is still in beta, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out.
Economy class on JetBlue’s A321 is comfortable, clean and modern- but starting this year, it plans on pushing seats closer together, so enjoy the extra space while you can!
A very nice touch for economy class passengers is this snack bar located at the front of the cabin. Includes a wide selection of soft drinks, water and snacks including JetBlues signature blue potato chips.
A hearty breakfast on my SFO-JFK morning flight included several options. I was unable to eat all of it… rare to get so much food! All of it delicious. Might be some of the best food I’ve ever had on a plane. And I’ve had a lot!
Mint passengers choose three of five entrees on dinnertime flights.
I chose the terrine, lentil salad and pot roast. All of it was delicious. Very very impressive. Be sure to see the nice fresh dessert at the top of this post– a fresh fruit salad and mint (natch) ice cream.
Have you flown JetBlue in Mint class yet? What did you think? Would you be willing to dump your allegiance to a legacy carrier to fly in a cabin like this? Please leave your comments below.
Disclosure: JetBlue covered the cost of airfare on this trip between San Francisco and New York.
Have you been following our super popular Planespotting 101 series? Check out our first two installments here:
Planespotting 101: Boeing 737 vs Airbus A320
Planespotting 101: MD-80/90 & Boeing 717
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Excellent! As a big and tall guy, I don’t mind paying for the extra legroom. Plus I’m counting on ‘normals’ not wanting to pay extra, so I have the entire row to myself!
Hey Fish: Exit row space is the only place were there’s a regulation 🙂
If they moved the rows closer together, will they do the same for the Exit Rows? Or are they required to keep that row at a certain amount of space?
Thanks! I know I enjoy wine. 😉
I have flown in Mint several times and thought the food was great, much better than the other guys flying these sfo/lax-sfo routes. Some of the choices were better than others but over all I realy like the dinning concept. Also jetblue caters 16 of everything, so you should always get your first choice. but if you don’t like one of your choices just ask for something else, if they have it I’m sure the F/A would help you.
Whew. When I first saw them, I thought they denoted entrees with horse and dog meat.
HA! Good catch and I should have explained. JetBlue teamed up w a NYC restaurant called Saxon + Parole for its menu and these are their icons. — chris
What on earth were those horse icons on your menu?
Hey EC: Last I heard it was under consideration for Boston-California routes. –Chris
Hey Chris, I’m one of those who is ready to end my abusive relationship with United so thanks for this update on Mint. The price is certainly right for a SFO-JFK flight. Do you know if they are planning to add Mint to other markets?
Hey Darin: The snack bar is at the front of the economy cabin and behind Mint, so no, they don’t walk thru Mint to get to it. –chris
Do economy passengers walk through the Mint cabin to access the snack bar?
Thanks! Sounds like you know what you are talking about J! Appreciate it. I’m going to go have a glass of wine now 🙂 — chris
Qupe red wines range from about $20 per bottle to $65 per bottle and their sweet spot is around $35 for vineyard designates. They have a great reputation for Syrah, and the 2012 Syrah is on their site at $20, and maybe a few bucks less in some places. The Meomi (pronounced Me-Oh-My) is one of my new favorite Pinot Noirs, a great value, and a nice selection for the class. I don’t know the whites well, but Joel Gott has a good reputation, and the sparkling is also a nice choice I’ve had a few times in Oregon. They aren’t no-name wines, are somewhat affordable and available on the consumer market.
Just checked, this is the only photo I took on the flight. I loved my “suite” and I loved my “Mint” cocktail
Chris, the excede wi-fi has been spotty since they started installing – sometimes it works really well, others intermittently, others it’s non-existent. Still being worked on, but it has been getting better and more reliable over the past year. Couple other notes: even though jetBlue’s economy class is getting tighter, it will still be better than all the other legacy carriers out there. And the self-serve snack bar is complimentary throughout the flight in addition to the normal inflight service. The Mint A321s have up to 100 channels of free DirecTV/Sirius for both cabins, while the non-Mint aircraft have 36 channels. Supposedly the in-flight entertainment system will be upgraded to on-demand in the future.
Hi Chris,
As in your photos, the food was presented nicely, it was the taste as well as the choices for breakfast that were bad on the flight from LAX to JFK. Coming home the choices included i lobster mac and cheese & sliders, unfortunately, both were dry and bland.
Oh no, Snow! The meals were high points of my trips. Did the food you had resemble what I have posted here on the blog? Thanks! –chris
I flew in a Jet Blue Mint in December in one of the “private suite” seats with a door that closed you off from the isle and it over all it was nice. The “Mint” cocktail was delicious ( i tried it both way’s and preferred it without alcohol)
The service was excellent.
The Birch box amenity box for women was unimpressive, as was the packaging.
As mentioned above, you do not have the ability to watch a move on your own schedule and the selection of movie choices to chose from is extremely limited in comparison to flying on AA.
My biggest “Mint” complaint would be the food. The food between LAX and NYC on a morning flight was terrible. Myself and two other people asked for food that could be purchased from coach and we were accommodated with a smile. Thefood on the return flight between JFK and LAX was mediocre at best.
Given the low cost of I think Jet Blue Mint is a great value. However if I were to fly Mint again, I would eat before boarding the flight.