The wait is finally over, as JetBlue is now accepting reservations for transatlantic flights.
In this post:
JetBlue’s London flight schedule
While JetBlue eventually plans to fly to London from both Boston and New York, the airline will only fly out of New York as of this summer, and then plans to add service out of Boston as of next summer (in 2022). These flights will operate to both London Gatwick and London Heathrow.
As of August 11, 2021, JetBlue will launch daily flights between New York (JFK) and London (LHR), with the following schedule:
B67 New York to London departing 9:48PM arriving 10:10AM (+1 day)
B620 London to New York departing 6:10PM arriving 9:35PM
As of September 29, 2021, JetBlue will launch a second daily frequency between New York (JFK) and London (LGW), with the following schedule:
B643 New York to London departing 7:48PM arriving 7:55AM (+1 day)
B644 London to New York departing 12:10PM arriving 3:43PM
JetBlue will fly to both Gatwick and Heathrow
I should acknowledge that the USA continues to have a travel ban against those coming from the UK, and also that the UK has a mandatory quarantine for those arriving from the USA. I would imagine that JetBlue is expecting that these restrictions will be lifted before these flights launch.
JetBlue’s Mint Suite
JetBlue’s fares between New York & London
What are JetBlue’s transatlantic fares like?
Pricing is significantly different depending on whether you’re originating in the United States or the United Kingdom. That’s pretty normal, as it reflects that JetBlue has more pricing power in New York, both because it’s generally a more expensive market to fly out of, and also because JetBlue has more name recognition there.
Departing New York, the lowest roundtrip fares I’m seeing are around $550 in economy and $1,920 in business class.
Departing London, the lowest roundtrip fares I’m seeing are £292 (~$414) in economy and £951 (~$1,349) in business class.
Those are some pretty great fares, especially when you consider that these are all-in, and include the UK’s hefty airport taxes. Note that in some cases you can get much better fares if you book a connecting itinerary — for example, as of the time of this post, you can fly roundtrip from San Juan to London in Mint for under $800 roundtrip.
One thing I find interesting is that as of now JetBlue is only charging an extra $129 to assign the Mint Studio over the Mint Suite (the first two rows in the Mint cabin are the Mint Studios, and they offer more space). I imagine that price differential will increase soon, given that JetBlue is charging an extra $199 for that seat between New York and Los Angeles.
Unfortunately one-way fares are significantly more than half the cost of a roundtrip. Hopefully that changes over time.
JetBlue’s A321LR experience to London
JetBlue will fly Airbus A321LR aircraft across the Atlantic, which are the latest generation and longest range version of the Airbus A321 family of aircraft. These are pretty swanky planes, especially how JetBlue has configured them, as they’ll feature:
- 24 business class seats with direct aisle access and doors, including the all new Mint Suite and Mint Studio
- 114 economy seats, including 24 Even More Space seats, all of which feature power outlets and personal televisions; JetBlue has reimagined its economy service for transatlantic flights
JetBlue’s Mint Studio
There’s a lot to love about JetBlue’s A321LRs, especially since the airline will offer free Wi-Fi to all passengers. I’d say the only potential catch is that narrow body aircraft often just don’t feel as spacious as larger planes, so there are some limits in that regard.
JetBlue’s transatlantic economy dining experience
My take on JetBlue’s initial transatlantic flights
It’s so exciting to see these JetBlue transatlantic flights finally become a reality. I have a few thoughts as these flights go on sale:
- I’m curious to see what lounge access JetBlue plans to offer Mint passengers, if anything; I imagine the airline will offer contract lounge access, though I wonder what that could look like at JFK, given the lack of options
- The JetBlue A321LR will sit at Heathrow Airport every day for eight hours, because clearly those are the only slots JetBlue was able to get; it can’t be cheap to park at Heathrow for that long, even if at a remote stand
- The eight hours at Heathrow shouldn’t have major implications for aircraft utilization once the second daily frequency starts, since the Gatwick and Heathrow flights can swap planes at JFK so that they only need two planes for both routes
- While I’m rooting for JetBlue, I can’t help but wonder how sustainable this service is, especially if the airline has to split operations between airports in London
- It’s my understanding that JetBlue has just temporarily been granted these slots at Heathrow, so I’m not sure the airline has a long-term plan yet for maintaining operations there
JetBlue’s A321LR economy cabin
Bottom line
JetBlue has finally put its first transatlantic flights on sale, which represents an exciting new chapter for the airline. JetBlue will start flying once daily from New York to London Heathrow as of August 12, and will then add a second daily New York to London Gatwick flight as of September 30.
The introductory fares are attractive (especially departing the UK), and I can’t wait to experience JetBlue Mint across the Atlantic!
What do you make of JetBlue’s schedule & fares for transatlantic flights?
Radio
It was last year when our Competition Regulator looked again at the joint venture and required AA and BA to give up slots. These could have been the slots B6 have been allocated but they could be any from any airline that isn’t currently using them as part of the slot waiver .
If they sold slots it would be at full market value and nothing less. They have no interest in B6 getting...
Radio
It was last year when our Competition Regulator looked again at the joint venture and required AA and BA to give up slots. These could have been the slots B6 have been allocated but they could be any from any airline that isn’t currently using them as part of the slot waiver .
If they sold slots it would be at full market value and nothing less. They have no interest in B6 getting a better slot. They have enough of their own to fill at present and if they wanted to add additional capacity to JFK in the early evening they can easily do it already.
thats great but would be better if they launched it sooner, added lounge access, and included LAX-LHR/LGW instead of boston.
HUGE! Yet another airline on LON-NYC.
More like:
Yawn. Yet another airline on LON-NYC.
@ Chris C,
Those BA/AA divestitures happened a long time ago. But the concept is parallel. to be clear, I didn't write that BA or AA should give away slots. I wrote that some could be "made available." Of course, they'd be made available at an agreed-upon consideration (and favorable P.R. could be a factor in determining that consideration). One possibility could be a slot swap with jetBlue for a more convenient return time to...
@ Chris C,
Those BA/AA divestitures happened a long time ago. But the concept is parallel. to be clear, I didn't write that BA or AA should give away slots. I wrote that some could be "made available." Of course, they'd be made available at an agreed-upon consideration (and favorable P.R. could be a factor in determining that consideration). One possibility could be a slot swap with jetBlue for a more convenient return time to JFK. I'm guessing BA or AA could use jetBlue's current return slot advantageously, given the number of slots available to them.
@ Howard Miller,
I saw where jetBlue's first flight is "007" not merely "7". I'll take my martini "shaken, not stirred."
I was excited to see that they are flying to LGW as this makes it easy to connect to flights on Easyjet and TUI.
Does anyone know--how do things work relating to quarantine if one is transferring to another destination, but on a different airline and itinerary? Is there any prohibition on this type of transfer from the US?
Radio
IIRC AA and BA were forced to give up a few slots as part of a competition investigation here in the UK over the jpint ventite and slot pairs between LHR annd JFK anf LHR and BOS were included in that.
In any case there will be no 'giving' of BA or AA slots that they have paid a fortune for over the years.
Actually Jetblue will need 3 planes to operate these two routes. The LHR flight arrives at JFK at 9:35pm, so it won't turn around until the next day's flights (since the LGW flight leaves at 7:48pm, so it will miss both of the London departures). And both of these flights are daily, so there will be one A321LR sitting idle at JFK as well for ~22-24 hours (unless they plan on flying them somewhere else...
Actually Jetblue will need 3 planes to operate these two routes. The LHR flight arrives at JFK at 9:35pm, so it won't turn around until the next day's flights (since the LGW flight leaves at 7:48pm, so it will miss both of the London departures). And both of these flights are daily, so there will be one A321LR sitting idle at JFK as well for ~22-24 hours (unless they plan on flying them somewhere else as well). Until that though, those LHR slots are infact costing them aircraft utilization. If B6 moves the LHR departure to at least ~2 hours earlier, it could work both frequencies with 2 planes.
It might be good P.R. for American (or British Airways) to make a couple of slots available to jetBlue on a long-term basis. U.S. regulators may find the new partnership a bit easier to fully approve if the competitive carve out for trans-Atlantic service is enhanced.
Agree with Tom. That return to JFK is a killer for me. Would like to be able to get back to BOS at a reasonable hour. Not even sure there are flights to BOS that will allow you to get to JFK, get through customs (even with Global Entry), and then get up to BOS.
My worry is that the competition will do everything it can to take Jetblue out...or - even easier - just buy it and remove the threat! I hope they become a major fixture and forget LGW and add BOS!!
Pricing for Studio is now $299 - congrats if you got in early!
So is the supplement for the Mint Studio eligible for reimbursement under Amex Platinum travel credit? I've never used it on B6 before but I seem to recall Even More Space seating could be covered by the credit.
Just curious what will now happen with JetBlue’s codeshares with BA and Virgin. I think a major reason for AA’s alliance with B6 was to stop bleeding passengers through Logan.
Ben
I'm sure I read the TATLs are not part of the AA-B6 link up so miles credit to AA won't be possible plus complications with the AA/BA/IB/AY TATL joint venture
That one Mint seat showing "unavailable" is likely the for Pilot Rest. I imagine you'll find it blocked on all flights.
FYI:
JetBlue’s first flight (B6# 7) to LHR departs JFK on WEDNESDAY, August 11th at 9:48pm.
As of a few moments ago, of the seats shown for advanced selection on the Wednesday night flight, only 29B and 30E remain available, with the entire rows (all seats A-F) 18 and 31, as well as the ABC seats in row 30 blocked out in the “view only” preview.
Mint is “not available” for the August 11th inaugural...
FYI:
JetBlue’s first flight (B6# 7) to LHR departs JFK on WEDNESDAY, August 11th at 9:48pm.
As of a few moments ago, of the seats shown for advanced selection on the Wednesday night flight, only 29B and 30E remain available, with the entire rows (all seats A-F) 18 and 31, as well as the ABC seats in row 30 blocked out in the “view only” preview.
Mint is “not available” for the August 11th inaugural flight, with all seats shown as “X” in the seat map preview, with the lowest fare, Blue Basic $601; Blue $676; and Blue Extra $701.
Cheers!
It will be interesting to see what business class prices look like close-in/how they revenue manage the cabin, which I think is where the real opportunity is to undercut the others / pick up non-managed travel in the market. AA/BA/DL/VS/UA aren't trying to sell much of the front cabin too far out at the lowest fare bucket - JFK/LHR tends to really fill up inside 7 days (predicated on things getting back to normal, of...
It will be interesting to see what business class prices look like close-in/how they revenue manage the cabin, which I think is where the real opportunity is to undercut the others / pick up non-managed travel in the market. AA/BA/DL/VS/UA aren't trying to sell much of the front cabin too far out at the lowest fare bucket - JFK/LHR tends to really fill up inside 7 days (predicated on things getting back to normal, of course).
The eastbound timing to LHR is sub-optimal, especially if they're not offering access to an arrival lounge.
Arriving at JFK at 9:35 pm is not a lot of fun for most people.
Are these flights creditable to American?
@ Brandon -- Not yet unfortunately, but some sort of frequent flyer reciprocity is expected later this year.
Connecting flights price out even cheaper (ex-London anyway) - London-Florida return for around 800gbp - bargain! In peak season (in normal times) you can barely get economy for that if you go direct
I think there is going to be another LHR flight pair, assuming slots are being negotiated, operating as B6 19-20 to reduce the 8 hour stay.
Nothing coming up for me in the search as of 7:29 AM Eastern.
Could they launch a 5th freedom between London and CDG or AMS to maximize utilization ? Also a way to "connect" passengers in their outbound from those cities.
@ Ben -- I am much more excited that the competition will be forced to match, hopefully to LHR. IMO, there is nothing that special about JetBlue over AA, BA, DL, UA. It is just another airline with no alliance and no lounge. I would much rather fly AA or BA and credit to AS...
British Airways currently wants me to pay more than that to pick my business class seat on my flight to London later this year and it's substantially worse than that suite. Can't wait to see the first reviews for the suite to London!
Less than £1k for J class return is very attractive. I do London-NY for work at least a couple of times a year, and this is likely to tempt me. Lounge access might be the stumbling block.
Although the website said it was down, if you click on the Booking tab then Flights, you can book. $2,000 ($850+$1150) RT for inaugural returning month later, and as of 5:30 AM Central time, both Mint Studio suites are available each way. Only one Mint seat booked for inaugural. How is that even possible?
Merry Chris Moss everyone. :)
Wow. Its not a Mosaic discount.
@ Ben -- Yep, that's the standard price, not Mosaic. I imagine that pricing will be updated soon.
You're Mosaic? That $129 for the Studio is I think a Mosaic discount, no?