JetBlue Brings Mint To Newark, Adds Leisure Routes

EWR not loaded into the reservation system yet... I searched July 31 EWR/LAX—nothing

Once they switched from Coke to Pepsi products, JetBlue Mint became dead to me.

Oh goodie I am going to pay all that money to fly Mint so that they can throw me a box lunch and bottle of water! Just make ALL US flights coach only for the time being!!!!

Given the United had behaved during the pandemic (change/cancelation policies, employee relations, and the greatest market/frequency reductions*), they deserve someone challenging them.

And, it is outrageous that JetBlue is funding this expansion with taxpayer money from the CARES Act. After 31st Oct, go for it. Before, this is commercial risk business decision which will weaken other equally taxpayer funded airlines, all financially made possible as a result of the CARES Act.

Finally, isn't an equal target of the transcontinental EWR service Alaska? Their transcontinental product sucks but is low cost. United will fight back. I imagine Alaska will withdraw from EWR-LAX&SFO

* United's appalling product during the shutdown:

It has been well documented that United has cut the most service during the shutdown.

Even in markets where it maintained service, markets where it should have been strong, it retreated with it's tail between its legs...

I had to travel from SFO to LA for essential medical reasons in May.

This is a market that UA should own under any circumstances: it has a hub at both ends..

Nevertheless, it only offered 2 Emb-170 frequencies at crap times in May.
Delta offered 3 A319 frequencies at great times.

Despite being a UA MileagePlus member, I went DL at times I wanted.

Icing on the cake? DL first class was priced below UA Economy.

United's business strategy has been all wrong and it has little brand capital. It is vulnerable.

Next time I want to go somewhere Delta flies, I'll choose them first!

@ Ben -- UA should acquire B6. That would eliminate such pesky competition and regain UA the JFK slots they foolishly sold off under Smisek.

Mint aside its really nice to see the extra routes out of EWR! Nice alternative for those of us pretty much stuck with UA most of the time.

My airport is newark and this is great news.

The more jetblue and delta the better

This is so confusing. I don't understand Jetblue's logic in growing so much from Newark during this time. Almost all of the routes above are served from Jetblue.

Aside from the routes to SFO and LAX, what is Jetblue doing with the other Newark Routes????

Some of the other routes are more justified such as to Dallas, Minneapolis and Orlando to Phl.

@Steven Horner
United's corporate team is one big fraternity from Embry-Riddle. Don't expect anything good out of them. Maybe Santa will bring them brains for Christmas.

United will retreat from the premium transcon market out of Newark (EWR). You will see a return on 737 recliner seats, perhaps with increased capacity. Domestic F levels of service, thin paper blankets ( on request) , no pillows, no sundae, however all this at the same price point. People at United's HQ in Chicago don't understand "transcon" much less "premium"

Won't take any B6 out of EWR, but I welcome the competition hitting UA!

@fungi fish - corporate contracts will not allow them to do so. There's just too much business at stake for premium seats (read: premium earning) for them to change to anything else in the long run.

Hoping they have early morning DTW-JFK and late evening JFK-DTW flights making connections to and from the Caribbean possible. Would be great to have a cheaper way to get down there instead of being price gouged by Delta.

@David

That's hilarious to me...
I'm a graduate of F.I.T., a competitor to E.R... I imagine I could do a better job part-time/retired than UA's slick team!

Hopefully this will help with UA fares out of EWR to LAS, LAX and SFO. Competition can't be bad for UA which has been doing what they want out of EWR for way too long.

This is JetBlue working to bolster it's market share in the New York area and it makes sense. This is an airline that's huge in 2 markets, which has some presence in Florida, and which is unnoticeable anywhere else. But those 2 markets (New York and Boston) are important ones, and NY is the crown jewel of their network. However, JFK is not convenient for those who live in NJ, so attacking UA at EWR makes sense. If UA returns to anything approaching their previous presence at EWR, I'd still say that this is too little to worry about. But given the way that UA has basically retreated everywhere, I am not so sure. I am more certain that JetBlue smells weakness and is thus going after some of that business. Not a bad move. But it's a local market move. Overall, JetBlue is no threat to any of the Big 3 - look at how they've withered at LGB.

Finally some penetration into the Philadelphia market. Although I don’t think they’ll make any money and will pull out within months