JetBlue introduced Mint in 2014, which is the name of its business class product on select A321 aircraft (read my review of JetBlue Mint here). As far as I’m concerned, Mint has revolutionized domestic premium travel in so many ways:
- JetBlue was the first airline in the world to introduce doors in business class, on narrow body aircraft no less
- Service in JetBlue Mint is consistently friendly, and the airline takes a completely different approach to service than other airlines
- The airline has had extremely competitive pricing, and has driven down fares in many premium markets
Well, for the first time since Mint was introduced, JetBlue has announced an overhaul of the experience.
In this post:
JetBlue refreshes the Mint experience
JetBlue is making updates to its Mint product, including a new approach to dining, new bedding, new amenity kits, and new headphones. With these changes, JetBlue is partnering with brands like Delicious Hospitality Group, Tuft & Needle, Wanderfuel, and Master & Dynamic.
The new experience is being introduced as of this week, and over the next six weeks the product will fully be transitioned to the new experience. This all comes ahead of JetBlue launching flights to London towards the end of 2021 (at least that’s the plan as of now).
As Elizabeth Windram, JetBlue’s VP of Marketing, describes the updated service:
“JetBlue’s reimagined Mint is turning the journey itself into a destination, offering the comforts of a premium travel experience at a more affordable price point. This onboard refresh allows us to reset that high bar we set in 2014, with the very best in dining and hospitality, comfort and wellness at 35,000 feet. And for those who can’t wait to see what we have in store for our London flights, well let’s just say this is a little teaser for what we have in mind.”
Let’s take a look at what will be changing.
New JetBlue Mint dining
JetBlue has partnered with Delicious Hospitality Group (DHG) for its new Mint dining experience. This is the group behind New York City restaurants Charlie Bird, Legacy Records, and Pasquale Jones.
This is intended to bring an “inventive culinary style, extraordinary wine and cocktail programs, and tactile dining aesthetics to the skies.”
As before, there will be a rotating menu of small plates that customers can choose from, each inspired by one of DHG’s three restaurants. The plates being used are intended to mimic DHG’s New York City table tops.
Here’s the new wine list for JetBlue Mint:
And the new cocktail list:
Here’s the coffee and tea menu for daytime flights, along with the parting gift:
Here’s the breakfast menu:
Here’s the lunch and dinner menu:
And here’s the menu for overnight flights (which also includes some additional snacks and drinks):
Here are some pictures JetBlue has shared of the new food and cocktails. Personally I don’t put much weight into staged pictures on the ground, since this is (presumably) nothing like how the meals will look onboard:
New JetBlue Mint amenities from Tuft & Needle
JetBlue has collaborated with Tuft & Needle, a “digitally native mattress company that pioneered the bed-in-a-box trend. The new JetBlue Mint Tuft & Needle products include the following:
- A convertible blanket with a built-in foot pocket
- A memory foam lined pillow with a pillowcase
- A snooze kit that includes a matching eye mask and ear plugs
New JetBlue Mint wellness kits from Wanderfuel
JetBlue is going from offering amenity kits (which were always a bit quirky) to offering “wellness kits.” These were developed in partnership with Wanderfuel, which specializes in curated travel kits designed by a nutritionist.
There will be four different wellness kits, offering a rotating selection of healthy snacks, supplements, and personal care items. The kit offered will depend on the time of day and destination, as follows:
- There’s the Awake kit, for breakfast and morning flights
- There’s the Flow kit, for lunch and dinner flights
- There’s the Sleep kit, for shuteye flights
- There’s the Renewal kit, for Caribbean flights
New JetBlue Mint headphones from Master & Dynamic
New York City luxury audio brand Master & Dynamic will be providing new headphones for Mint passengers. The headphones are made specially for JetBlue, and are MH40 over-ear headphone. They’re described as offering “noise reduction, a brilliant, genre-agnostic sound profile, and a vintage aviation-inspired design.”
The headphones certainly look cool and sound good, though I’ll reserve judgment until I try them myself.
My take on JetBlue Mint changes
A few things immediately jump out to me about these changes:
- Perhaps what’s most remarkable is that this product is being introduced effective immediately, meaning JetBlue is offering the “full” Mint experience (while most airlines are offering a significantly scaled back experience)
- As a coffee enthusiast I love that there’s going to be cold brew on overnight flights (I’ve written before about how I wish all airlines would have cold brew), though frankly I wish JetBlue would offer it on flights throughout the day
- It sounds like there’s going to be a flexible dining experience, though I’m not sure the extent to which that’s new
- This doesn’t sound to me like a significant product refresh, and that’s probably a good thing, since the experience was so good before; the airline is still taking a tapas-style approach to dining, and will still offer bedding, headphones, and amenities
As far as the individual changes go, here are my initial impressions:
- The food looks and sounds great, though it’s easy to write a nice press release and take good pictures on the ground; JetBlue Mint food was great before these changes, so as long as it doesn’t get worse, I’d be a very happy camper
- The bedding and headphones do sound like a nice improvement over what used to offered
- I’m conflicted about the new wellness kits, and can’t decide whether they sound thoughtful, or just plain random
Bottom line
JetBlue is updating the catering, bedding, headphones, and amenities, in its incredible Mint product. The JetBlue Mint experience was so great before that I’m not sure to what extent this will be an improvement.
I’d say the new bedding and headphones will likely be better than before, the amenities might be a bit random, and the catering sounds great, though I’m not sure to what extent it’ll be better than the old experience.
What do you make of the JetBlue Mint changes?
Best food, drink and service I've had in the sky in FOREVER!!! Definitely better than any domestic F, and comparable or better than any Biz class to Europe.
Headphones look great. I am flying mint in a couple of days.
Do you think it would be okay to keep the headphones? What is the etiquette?
JetBlue also will launch Mint class between PBI and LAX in 2021
Thumbs down. I’ll take a United fka CO cheeseburger any day over avocado toast.
I would be happy with this on a US domestic route but likely not on a TATL which is a different type of market when a proper 3 course meal would be expected in Business class and especally from those they need to attract from from the legacy carriers.
If they put on a good show and have good prices on their proposed LGW-JFK route next year then I could be pursuaded. And 'good show'...
I would be happy with this on a US domestic route but likely not on a TATL which is a different type of market when a proper 3 course meal would be expected in Business class and especally from those they need to attract from from the legacy carriers.
If they put on a good show and have good prices on their proposed LGW-JFK route next year then I could be pursuaded. And 'good show' means a baggage allowance of at least 2 * 32kg bags and a good ground experience as well such as dedicated check-in and access to priority security, it does not have to mean a lounge but vouchers to get a snack in the terminal etc would be OK
I’m not a coffee drinker, but consume industrial quantities of tea. Great to see they’ll have Tea Pigs, which is great quality in my humble opinion.
Now if only their Mint product is not so expensive on points, most people who read this blog can try it. I usually fly transcons and the Mint pricing is usually the most expensive and since their points are used based on a revenue system, the miles required for a one way transcon is close to 100k True Blue points compared to 21k AA points since they had web specials in business class. Even if...
Now if only their Mint product is not so expensive on points, most people who read this blog can try it. I usually fly transcons and the Mint pricing is usually the most expensive and since their points are used based on a revenue system, the miles required for a one way transcon is close to 100k True Blue points compared to 21k AA points since they had web specials in business class. Even if AA did not have the web special, the saver is 32.5K on a transcon. I have over 350K True Blue points and only flew them once in coach east bound.
Serious wine list. You’d be lucky to see something like Domaine Roulot Bourgogne Blanc in international First! I hope that sticks.
I flew Mint a couple of times in the early Mint days and the chocolate from Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery was to die for. Sorry to see that it's no longer offered.
@Jonathan Tweet JetBlue and ask for the recipe! They gave it to me, and I made RefreshMINTs for my parents...they’ve always wanted to fly Mint, but haven’t been able to yet, so I brought a small piece of the Mint experience to them!
when will Mint be offered from LAX to Orlando?
Greg - this is tapas style food. So those are not meant to be full size, nor are they meant to be served in different courses. If you go to a Spanish restaurant that serves tapas, or in a Chinese restaurant that does dim sum, it's just a bunch of small plates all served at the same time. That's just the concept and personally I think it's amazing because you get to try a lot...
Greg - this is tapas style food. So those are not meant to be full size, nor are they meant to be served in different courses. If you go to a Spanish restaurant that serves tapas, or in a Chinese restaurant that does dim sum, it's just a bunch of small plates all served at the same time. That's just the concept and personally I think it's amazing because you get to try a lot of different things as opposed to just one.
And yes, the dishes and ingredients are a bit more sophisticated than the basic (and usually nasty) stuff the big 3 tend to serve on those flights - although I'd argue that if people don't know what leeks or fennel are, they probably need to eat more veggies :) .
Jetblue Mint always setting the standard. All other airlines should take notes on how to deliver a great domestic experience. In both economy and business. Bravo Jetblue!
No more RefreshMint?! Nooooo haha!
@rich - +1!! I couldn’t agree more. None of this stuff sounds appetizing.
I think for a budget carrier, Mint is an amazing product. But I do find AA's transcon business to be nicer and more comfortable, especially in bed mode. Obviously their F as well, but we are talking business class. I also think lack of a lounge (at least at JFK) is a detriment to their product. While Terminal 5 is very nice, and at JFK, that is a huge complement, if stuck on a long...
I think for a budget carrier, Mint is an amazing product. But I do find AA's transcon business to be nicer and more comfortable, especially in bed mode. Obviously their F as well, but we are talking business class. I also think lack of a lounge (at least at JFK) is a detriment to their product. While Terminal 5 is very nice, and at JFK, that is a huge complement, if stuck on a long layover or IRROPS - you just wander the terminal. Not a huge deal, but I came off a long international flight (EY Apartments) connecting to Mint (sold as a single ticket) and it would have been nice to shower and relax in lounge - as I would have been able to with AA. Bottom line, is unless B6 is substantially cheaper, I will usually take AA to/from JFK, when flying J and AA is far from perfect.
@Ben - Do you know if this service will be offered out of Orlando?? We have a number of direct-to-the-West Coast flights out of Orlando, but NONE of the legacy three offer any sort of upgraded experience for First. The flights are just as long as out of Boston, New York and Washington, but we get nada.... Jet Blue has a base here, so I am hoping! Any news?
If they're making the hot main courses normal sized that would be nice - as would dumping the cheap paper liner and serving the plates individually rather than all at once. Cafeteria style presentation previously didn' thold a candle to AA transcon flagship first.
@ Ted - Pottion sizes are small because the service is tapas-like. You'll definitely be full and can ask for more but I've found that is unneeded.
Other than a lack of lounges, in every aspect, Mint by far blows away all domestic US carriers, even AA three-cabin Int'l F, and is competitive for world-wide competitors in J and F.
A blanket with a foothole? That's attention to detail.
Most meals try to get too fancy with stuff most people never eat or have any clear what it is.
Fennel? Leeks? Calabrian Chile? And then with limited ways to cook stuff on a plane, it usually sucks. Stick to simple stuff and save fancy stuff for real restaurants.
As always, portion sizes seem small, and hot mains look decidedly underwhelming. And only ice cream for dessert? Why aren’t they partnering with some cool NYC bakery to offer better desserts?
Now if they would just reverse their decision to serve Pepsi products.
Looking forward to trying the new experience, although to your point I'm pretty happy with Mint so far. I actually just flew them last week on a Transcon, and was quite surprised to see that not much if anything as changed compared to pre Covid. Besides the pre departure drink no longer being offered, and all the food being served at once, all the rest was identical - including the delicious food. I just hope...
Looking forward to trying the new experience, although to your point I'm pretty happy with Mint so far. I actually just flew them last week on a Transcon, and was quite surprised to see that not much if anything as changed compared to pre Covid. Besides the pre departure drink no longer being offered, and all the food being served at once, all the rest was identical - including the delicious food. I just hope that the new catering company won't be a step back from what they currently have.
I think the new amenity kits make sense. I'm actually more excited about that than getting the usual socks/pen/earplugs.
I had my first Mint experience this past January, SEA-BOS. I was booked in a suite but that flight was ultimately cancelled for mechanical, and got switched to the next night’s flight where I couldn’t get a suite (no morning flight on Saturdays), but still Mint. Honestly, I wasn’t blown away. The drink options were good, the food was decent, but the cabin crew wasn’t too friendly (though the crew the previous evening was very...
I had my first Mint experience this past January, SEA-BOS. I was booked in a suite but that flight was ultimately cancelled for mechanical, and got switched to the next night’s flight where I couldn’t get a suite (no morning flight on Saturdays), but still Mint. Honestly, I wasn’t blown away. The drink options were good, the food was decent, but the cabin crew wasn’t too friendly (though the crew the previous evening was very friendly). I wish the armrests would drop with the seat; I’m broad-shouldered, and felt like a mummy in a sarcophagus. Not sure if I’ll be trying out the new product...it feels gimmicky, especially for short eastbound flights (4:22 gate to gate that night). Westbound day flights may be a different story, but I’m fine with an Even More seat and a Tito’s and tonic for $4.