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I wrote this review using JetBlue’s free wifi while aboard an Airbus A321neo flying from London Gatwick to Boston. My wife and I bought economy tickets and used Move to Mint certificates to upgrade (we had these thanks to a very generous but short lived status match from Delta last year).
JetBlue Mint Airbus A321neo Bottom Line Review
Overall the JetBlue Mint experience on this flight has been excellent. The flight attendants have been great. I especially appreciated that once we were in the air, one attendant came to each Mint suite to ask if we had anything in the overhead bin that we’d like brought down to us. Additionally, the food has been very good, and the physical space is terrific. The suites feature very good seats, plenty of leg room, lots of near-seat storage, and plenty of privacy. Note that JetBlue has near-term plans to lock-open the suite doors (see this article for details). That’s a shame, but I don’t think it will detract too much from the experience. My suite seemed private even when the door was open.
Of course, Mint isn’t perfect. I found the seat to be slightly uncomfortable in reclined positions and a bit too hard when lying flat. Additionally, I found it weird that when offered champagne upon boarding, it came in plastic cups. It didn’t bother me at all — I don’t even like champagne much, but it made a poor first impression. Wasn’t this supposed to be a luxury experience? Maybe the idea was to set expectations low from the beginning and then to exceed them every step of the way thereafter. If that was the goal, it was firmly met.
Would I fly JetBlue Mint again? Absolutely!
Mint Routes to/from Europe
At the time of this writing, JetBlue flies to the following European destinations:
- Amsterdam AMS (to/from Boston and JFK)
- Dublin DUB (to/from Boston and JFK)
- Edinburgh (to/from JFK)
- London LHR + LGW (to/from Boston and JFK)
- Paris CDG (to/from Boston and JFK)
Booking Mint
We booked a one-way economy flight and used Moved to Mint certificates to upgrade to Mint business class. Each upgrade required 3 certificates. I had 4 in my account and my wife had 2. I couldn’t upgrade online since my wife didn’t have enough in her own account, but a phone rep was able to push it through.
Another good option for booking JetBlue Mint is to use Qatar Avios. For Mint flights from the U.S. to Europe, Qatar charges 78,000 points plus $10.10. For flights in the other direction, taxes will be higher (and vary based on which country you depart from).
To find Mint seats bookable with Qatar Avios, use ITA Matrix and do the following:
- Check the “Show Advanced Controls” button
- Add the routing code “C:B6” which tells the matrix you want to limit the “Carrier” to JetBlue, since B6 is JetBlue’s carrier code. You can find an airline’s carrier code with a simple google search.
- Add the extension code “F BC=I” which sets the fare basis code to Mint.
- Select “See calendar of lowest fares”.
- If a price shows up on the calendar, that means there’s availability on that date. So then you should be able to find this same result by searching for award flights on Qatar’s app or website.
Photos
Cabin & Seats
Suite Features
Food & Drink
I thought it was very cool that you order food on the touch screen. On the other hand, it wasn’t cool that the welcome champagne came in a plastic cup.
Amenity kit and bedding
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One thing never mentioned in these reviews — 1) Jetblue has very few daily transatlantic flghts on these routes and 2) on some of these routes (e.g. JFK CDG) Jetblue is close to maxing out the range of the planes. This leaves travelers extremely exposed to any travel disruptions. Case in point — We left from JFK to CDG and returned to JFK after 3h of flight time. We could not get rebooked until the following day (and got preferential treatment because we are Mosaic) and they lost our suitcase in the process. One the way back, one week later, my son got the same issue leaving CDG back to JFK. Got rebooked the next day, and got yet another issue spending the night in Dublin this time. To finally be rebooked one day later — total 56h to cross the Atlantic. Minimal compensation which doesn’t even come close to make up for such level of disruption of course. In short, Jetblue does not seem to have the maturity to ensure smooth transatlantic travel.
Hi Greg, thank you for the great review. I am one of the long time flight attendants working those flights and I wanted to give few words of explanation to your comment about plastic cups for pre-departure drinks. I share your impression that luxury should not reflect in plastic cups being used for any drink in Mint Experience, but I wanted to explain the reason behind it. We are not allowed to serve pre-departure drinks in glasses while the aircraft is on the ground due to safety reasons. Due to possible sudden movements of the aircraft glass may fall and break and this, accordingly to our safety rules, may cause a hazard during potential evacuation of the aircraft. As you may have noticed, flight attendants have to pick up all empty cups before take off. Sometimes taxi times are short and take off is quick. If by any chance one or two glasses are left on hard breaking on the taxi way or runway, they may fly off your hand or seat and cause injury to other customers or crew members. As safety is always our number one priority, we are to serve pre-departure drinks only in our plastic cups. I know the esthetic impression suffers because of that, but I wanted to explain that this rule has a safety in mind and it is there for a very good reason. I hope I was able to explain well the reason behind this rule. Thank you again for great review!!!
Next time fly Imelda Marcos Airways.
Thanks for the write up, flying this tonight JFK-CDG and pretty excited! Booked this (and a few other trips) using Qatar miles and wondering if anyone has encountered this issue: I saw there was I class space available but the website wasn’t showing it. I called QR to get it ticketed, and after the privilege club agent consulted with the ticketing desk, they said the fees would be over $1000 per ticket (they were adding the fuel surcharge). I called three other times, and each time this happened. Did I just have bad luck or can you only get the $10.10 in taxes if booking via website and not phone? Strange.
How was the lounge? Oh wait…
Right, no lounge. OTOH, Gatwick has lots of Priority Pass options
Heathrow has one too I think. In fact, London is better than JFK T5 in that respect.
True JFK Terminal 5 is a problem if you want to spend time in a lounge!
I’d prefer to get to the airport later, but if I’m not originating in JFK (similar to you), a lounge would be nice. I haven’t used my Mint certs yet and I’m not sure I will. The status match was nice, but B6 is kind of a waste of time from ATL anyway.
Individual air nozzles?
Maybe? I can’t remember for certain.
Worth it for the snuggly bit.
Dublin is DUB! Have you done Mint before on their domestic routes? They crushed the competition when I flew 6 years ago. I have a few domestic trips this fall, one on the new Mint, hoping they’re just as good.
I haven’t done mint domestically. I know Nick was underwhelmed when he flew from Las Vegas to NY, but I can’t remember why.