Review: JetBlue Mint A321 Boston To Los Angeles

It seems like JetBlue FAs actually want to work, as opposed to other US-based FAs who are there primarily "for your safety"...

Lucky,

While I agree the Mint single suite and Mint service is the best way to fly routes this long in the US, I do have a few issues now

1. "JetBlue continues to impress me with their exceptional Mint pricing."

I simply haven't seen this recently. Mint is often more expensive than Delta and especially American on the JFK to LAX/SFO routes (I am talking about paid business class). They do seem to bring prices down on new routes initially, but in NY, AA and Delta are very competitive on price

2. Mileage earning - when you book through a corporate travel portal, JetBlue gives you half of the points. This is a big negative when it comes to business travel

3. Elite earning - JetBlue elite status is pretty meaningless anyway, and their route network is not conducive to comprehensive travel within the US. On the other hand, American gives you double EQM if you buy business class on these routes, and Delta gives you a 50% bonus. If you buy business class, flying America and Delta on these routes is a great way to earn status

4. Lounges - American provides Flagship lounge access, which is really useful at LAX (I don't really care at JFK)

Overall, while I will use Mint at certain times, I don't think the product is really good enough to pay more for and get less redeemable / elite credit for on a consistent basis

Took this flight and same seat in June! What a great way to fly cross country ! All for $500 !!

Me and my partner are booked to fly first class on the AA 16 from SFO-JFK next summer, the mint product seems really good. Only booked AA because of the miles and tier points for our BAEC accounts.

Anthony

Yeah, Mint pricing has been going up. A couple of years ago you could snag a one-way trans-con ticket for $600 or so. Every time I have looked recently it has been twice that. If Frank got a ticket for $500 he did well - maybe a Wednesday in February?

The westbound “redeye” is often competitively priced, especially if booked well in advanced.

I would agree that Mint is probably the best experience in the air. But on the ground, I do appreciate the lounges that allow for me to freshen up before/after the flight. And B6’s IRROPS recovery is still, in my opinion, subpar. So if I had a lot of flexibility and wanted the best in-air experience, I might book B6. But if I needed to be somewhere, I would book DL or AA.

I scored a flight on Mint in Jan 2019 for $275 one way on the new jFK-Costa Rica route. There are deals to be had.

Even outside of the premium NYC/Cali transcons, it seems that airlines price match Mint on these routes. For example, Mint is pretty consistently $549 one way from JFK to Seattle a few months out. So is Delta on their DeltaOne product, and their "regular" first class is often $400 or less. American's one ill-timed JFK to SEA flight is also sub $500. United is in the $500-$600 range, and even Alaska has some sub $500 prices. Mint is obviously a reason that some of these fares are so low, but now that the other airlines are price matching, the value proposition falls.

Is the left side the better side on JetBlue Mint? Always see you seated on the left. Otherwise, great review!

I agree their map isn't great, but since the WiFi is good I just use my phone with flightradar24

JetBlue just added a ton of frequency on the LAX-JFK route from January, and pricing on mint dropped like a stone again. Prices are consistently 700 bucks o/w.

@Anthony price isn't the only thing that sets Mint above the rest obviously. Would you rather have the meals and service of AA and United over Jetblue? I certainly wouldn't. Overall the entire experience is just better even with the lack of a lounge network. Mint has become an innovator and has forced others to lower their prices to compete on a transcon level.

I fly the JFK-SFO/SEA route a lot and Mint blows everything else out of the water.

As for the 'yeah but IRROPS' crowd, B6's frequencies have gotten to the point where they actually are pretty robust as both Boston and JFK are their hubs. I've had a couple screw-ups flying Mint, but haven't had any service failures like I've had on Delta (felt like the worst) or Alaska/Virgin (probably the worst) on this route, and when they did happen B6 was extremely proactive, which I can't say about Delta.

Also "JetBlue Status is worthless" - I beg to differ. Mosaic lets you cancel/change/SDC for free (if you bought a nonrefundable ticket it goes into your travel bank) , which Delta/AA/UA doesn't offer outside of award tickets on their Diamond/Platinum/etc level. I'd argue it's my most valuable mid-tier status.

While I do hope they add some premium ground experience, their terminal at JFK and BOS is significantly nicer than what DL/AA fly out of.

Last week, I bought 3 Mint tickets BOS-LAX for next Saturday morning, 6:45 am slot at $600 each for my handicapped brother and two caregivers. Now it’s showing $1,100.

There are definitely better prices out of BOS. Last Summer I was able to score some BOS-SFO/LAX flights for $400 and $500 respectively. SEA had some good deals too. You have to be flexible and hunt for them. The western red eye is often a good choice.

Keep in mind, the competition is cheaper BECAUSE of JetBlue. Before Mint, prices were way higher. BOS didn’t even have any lie-flat transcons in recent years until JetBlue. DL, AA and UA have been using single aisle domestic first class consistently.

@Alvin, I think is Personal preferences, I also have this preference, I prefer to be side on the left-hand side you get to deplane first in a widebody, so even in a narrowbody, I prefer LHS.

I agree totally ...best airline experience and Mint is 2nd to none in business

Alonzo - I said in my first post that Mint was a better experience. However, it often costs more, and you forgo meaningful elite qualification miles, which is the biggest downside. Meals and service are important, but must be weighed against other aspects

Alpha - Jet Blue basically flies up and down the east coast (primarily to Florida) and to a few destinations out west. Their route network isn't nearly robust enough for a business traveler

Basically, Jet Blue can't realistically meet a majority of my travel needs. Given that, why would I give up elite qualification miles (5,000+ on AA, 3,800+ on Delta) to fly Mint in most cases? Not denying it can't work for others...

I always prefer the left side because when you look forward yout sight line is the galley, not the toilet.

I flew this route and loved it.

But I fly to Florida monthly and never seem to see low LAX-FLL prices. Always seems to be above $2200 RT.

Still have yet to try Jetblue, whenever I reposition to New York its always on CX. How do the two compare?

The only bargain prices I see out of, and in to SAN for Mint are on red eyes. Otherwise $1100 each way. Although extremely nice at $600, not worth $1100 IMO.

Flying the 8:38 PM BOS-LAX next Thursday, was able to get two seats for me and my husband for 404 dollars a piece. Same pricing is showing for select flights BOS-SFO next May, along with 599 flights.

Great review - also enjoyed your review of Jerry Remy's. Looks like we will be having some pre-security Macallan v. trying to get to the Air France lounge before our trip this time!

There are occasionally phenomenal Mint prices — I have flown $399 PSP - JFK and $449 LAX - FLL. Mosaic status really pays off when a price for a ticket drops more than 5 days after purchase, since they’ll honor it and put the difference in your Travel Bank. (Of course you have to request it. They’re not going to proactively notify you.) If you don’t have Mosaic, they’ll still honor the drop for a $75 fee if it is more than 5 days since purchase.

I second the commenter who said that Mosaic’s flexibility with cancellations makes it quite valuable.

JetBlue sometimes lowers prices on a flight for very brief periods of time. If I’m booking in advance, I like to set a Google Flights alert so I can try to get it when it’s cheap. I have been watching a particular LAX - JFK date and have seen Mint periodically appear on various flights for $559 and (more frequently) $659. However,
I have *not* seen them drop fares close to departure date, as I have seen some airlines do — the seats just go out empty.

Incidentally, while Mint is certainly the best there is domestically, I also like United’s transcon routes well enough. I’d like AA transcon First more if I ever had flight attendants who didn’t seem so indifferent to my existence. But breakfast in Flagship First dining at JFK after a red-rye isn’t a bad way to start the day.

Wow, this looks amazing. I got to fly Mint one of these days!

Oh I love those Milk Bar cookies. Had no idea JetBlue served them.

Garuda First Class is now confined to one route on two aircraft. Too bad, as the flight attendants are the best in the world. Well, B6 Mint has the second-best. A phenomenal product bettered only by the Qsuite.

Since JetBlue doesn't think people in Oregon can afford or want MINT we are not given the option for PDX-JFK or PDX-BOS.
Until they wish to treat us with the same respect they show SEA or SFO, and offer something better than an all coach red-eye, I will continue to fly any other option.
A shame since there are 100s of daily international flights from JFK I would consider if they was a comfortable (aka LIE FLAT) way from PDX to JFK.

The product looks great - only one thing wrong with it - its name, "mint". Does the cabin smell of toothpaste? Maybe it doesn't, but the name somehow implies that it would. And perhaps that's not what they intended.