I’ve flown JetBlue’s Mint business class many times over the years, and one thing that has always stood out to me is how excellent the flight attendants are. JetBlue has a special subset of crews who work in Mint, and in my experience they’re always friendly and professional. Well, my last flight was an exception. I’m curious if I just got unlucky, or if there has been a bit of a service shift at JetBlue.
In this post:
My rude & unprofessional JetBlue Mint flight attendant
At the conclusion of my review trip to Hong Kong, I flew JetBlue Mint from Los Angeles (LAX) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) on a redeye. I booked it last minute with Qatar Airways Avios, for what it’s worth. I’m not going to be reviewing the flight, because I just slept the entire way, and desperately needed rest (I had started the day at 3AM at JFK, and was taking a redeye at 11:59PM from LAX).
I’m so used to JetBlue Mint flight attendants being way above average. However, on this particular flight, I was totally caught off guard by the flight attendant’s attitude, and that’s despite the fact that I didn’t take part in any of the service.
For one, boarding really sets the tone for a flight, and first impressions make such a big difference. Sometimes you’ll see flight attendants standing at the door greeting each passenger with a big smile and a “welcome aboard,” and even complimenting passengers (“I love your necklace,” “I love your shirt,” etc.)
As I boarded this flight, I said “hi, good evening,” as he was standing at the door. Even though he was looking right at me, there was no response. Okay, I figured maybe he didn’t hear me, or something. But then I observed him for the remainder of boarding (I was in the first row), and he didn’t greet a single passenger. He just stood there, staring at everyone.
The extent of his interaction with passengers was him rather angrily barking orders. He almost seemed to get a thrill out of the opportunity to yell at passengers. To be clear, it’s not that the content of his message in any situation was wrong, but rather the delivery. For example, when passengers tried to open the bin with emergency equipment to place their bags there, he seemed to almost enjoy loudly admonishing them.
Every time I’ve flown JetBlue Mint, the flight attendants welcome each passenger onboard, introduce themselves, etc. There was none of that. I was just so shocked with how he interacted with each passenger at boarding, since I don’t think he left a positive impression on a single passenger. And it wasn’t just me observing this — I made eye contact with two other people seated near me, who were equally confused by this guy’s attitude.
I slept for most of the flight, and then was surprised by the way he went about waking up passengers. Rather than turning on the cabin lights, he instead physically poked passengers with a tray that had snacks on it. Upon deplaning, there was again no goodbye, but rather he just looked at passengers.
I couldn’t help but notice how he was quite enthusiastically reading JetBlue’s post-landing script over the PA, about how “we hope you’ve enjoyed this flight as much as we’ve enjoyed serving you.” I can assure you I enjoyed the flight more than he enjoyed taking care of us (just by virtue of getting a bit of rest). He also read the part about asking for honest feedback about the flight with the post-flight survey.
Simply put, I fly a lot of US airlines, and service can be a mixed bag. While I have higher expectations in JetBlue Mint than in other cabins, he was the least professional flight attendant I’ve had on any US airline in a long time.
I’m curious — has there been a shift in service on JetBlue in Mint, or did I just get really unlucky? I mean, I can imagine why morale might not be that high, as JetBlue has been going through some tough times. I was just surprised, because JetBlue has delivered so consistently, in my experience.
I struggle with complaining about service
I have to say in general that I struggle with the concept of complaining about inflight service, when we’re talking about individuals.
On the one hand, I want JetBlue to succeed, and I also think feedback is important. After all, flight attendants don’t have a direct supervisor onboard, so the only way an airline can know if someone is providing subpar service is if they get feedback from passengers. JetBlue has set an incredibly high bar for service in Mint, and I imagine the airline would want to know if individuals aren’t delivering on that.
On the other hand, I feel bad. After all, the person not providing good service is also a human. Maybe he was having a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad year. I don’t know what he has been through, and I don’t want to pile on and contribute to that. The service was so bad that I almost assume that something else must be going on his life.
But I also think that not saying anything probably isn’t accomplishing a whole lot? I dunno, y’all tell me…
Bottom line
In the past, I’ve had nothing but good service experiences in JetBlue Mint, and have found it to be the US airline cabin with the most consistently high service standard. However, my last flight in JetBlue Mint was the opposite extreme, with some of the least friendly service I’ve had on a US airline in a very long time (which is saying something).
I’m curious — was this a one-off, or is JetBlue Mint not as differentiated when it comes to service as it used to be?
Very simple fact that seems lost on many commenters:
Any of us are susceptible to bad days. Only the ill mannered make others suffer for bad days.
Sounds like they were having a horrible day. The tray thing makes me think poor training as well.
It also sounds like an issue that will take care of itself sooner or later.
No, it sounds like they were not well bred. Everybody has horrible days, and people of good character don’t take it out on others. Not a single high-class person would ever behave in the manner described by the FA even if their entire extended family, friends, and acquaintances had all perished of cancer that morning.
The staring, the shouting, the sulking are all unexpected but forgivable. But poking each dozing passenger with a basket….uh uh!!
No, none of those are forgivable. Have some standards, have some class. People raised with the right manners will never stare, shout* or sulk *except when necessary in an emergency
I’d rather have a bad FA than a crying baby.
“If you actually want to control the environment around you, then flying private is for you.” -Lucky
Stop making excuses. Mint is sold as a premium offering and the FA delivered a level of impersonality that wouldn’t be acceptable within the Norwegian (civilized) prisoner transport system.
I flew JetBlue mint BOS to SFO close to a decade ago. It was fine but definitely nowhere near the level of hype and impressiveness that the internet suggested. The lack of a lounge at BOS was a glaring omission. I flew United’s 757 (with flat seats) the next time and it was also fine and I earned UA miles which are much better than JetBlue’s. By the way, despite not having a Boston hub, there’s a united club.
I'm with you in that I don't usually complain unless the FA is obviously intentionally rude--eye rolls, sighs, inappropriate comments.
This kinda borders on that, but seems like his bad service is better described as aloof and hating his job.
But in the end I think why waste another second of my life thinking about a miserable human being since most airlines don't care and won't do or can't do anything about it.
Not responding to someone saying hello or good evening, unless you legitimately don’t hear or are preoccupied, is intentionally rude.
The standoffish “don’t ever acknowledge others presence” attitude can fly if you’re both riding the NYC Subway. Not if you’re in a frontline position of customer service.
Did you fill out the survey form? You can go on the website and fill out the crewmember feedback form also.
Ben, so you started the same day at JFK at 3 am, to fly to LA, then to fly LA-FLL. WOW.. I used to read your blog, it was entertaining, I remember when you moved out of your apt to "Live on the road", and when you started talking about Ford, but many of your posts started to have the same theme, complain, hype how horrible the new FF rules are, etc. Must be a...
Ben, so you started the same day at JFK at 3 am, to fly to LA, then to fly LA-FLL. WOW.. I used to read your blog, it was entertaining, I remember when you moved out of your apt to "Live on the road", and when you started talking about Ford, but many of your posts started to have the same theme, complain, hype how horrible the new FF rules are, etc. Must be a slow news day to have to write about this. You got sleep, the FA didn't smile, and he woke you up with a tray. If it was that horrible, file a complaint with the airlines, but write a post about it.. This was one of the reason I stopped reading your blog.
Tony you’re entitled to your opinion. But, don’t you dare try to diminish others’ opinions of bad service. Not smiling is never the only fault of a bad service provider. Not smiling is correlated with all kinds of other negative behaviors which as Ben mentioned include admonishment. It’s also true that bad service is difficult to describe in words, such that an unintelligent reader (such as yourself) would interpret the situation (as you did) as...
Tony you’re entitled to your opinion. But, don’t you dare try to diminish others’ opinions of bad service. Not smiling is never the only fault of a bad service provider. Not smiling is correlated with all kinds of other negative behaviors which as Ben mentioned include admonishment. It’s also true that bad service is difficult to describe in words, such that an unintelligent reader (such as yourself) would interpret the situation (as you did) as not that bad.
Let’s face it. JetBlue Mint is not prisoner transport. (And, prisoners deserve dignity, too.) JetBlue Mint is the airline’s flagship premium product. The fact the flight attendant didn’t physically assault you should not be the bar for acceptable service.
I flew Mint a few months ago, for the first time after not flying them for a few years, and was shocked at the decline in pretty much everything. Service was not at all at the levels that were normal a couple of years ago, and the food was downright gross when it used to be delicious, fresh and healthy. The snack selection also whittled down to a meager selection of chips and cookies when they had a lot of fun stuff.
Everything has declined. AA flagship transcontinental is another example.
Launch him, Ben:
Mint service has declined, individual FAs aside, my last few have done the bare minimum. I'm normally used to them introducing themselves and asking a few questions about the service, etc.
The last 2 flights, all they did was slap the trays down after taking orders and basically nothing else
Feel free to write in a complaint letter to JetBlue about your experience. They handle those situations very seriously.
This has become an ongoing trend with Jetblue when flying domestically recently; sorry to hear about your flight Lucky. Caribbean and TATL still tend to have good service.
On other news: United has released partner award space to Europe again on LH/LX etc in Business Class. Are we going to get a post about that? Pretty wide open through March
Bad service on B6; Situation Normal for me. Gave up a long time ago on this New York dog turd of an airline.
I think you should contact corporate. Not to complain or report him, not to have him disciplined or anything like that, but instead to offer feedback just like you said, recommending JetBlue to provide him additional training. Your feedback benefits both JetBlue and passengers. It's a win-win.
“Additional training” isn’t a thing anymore. There are thousands of people lined up to apply for an FA job. If an existing FA is bad, it’s much more efficient to can them and hire someone good.
Plus, adult rudeness is a character flaw and not trainable by an employer. It’s only trainable in childhood. This bad FA’s parents and teachers failed him.
JBLU's financial situation and the uncertainty about its future takes a toll on its employees as well as their attractiveness to potential employees just as it does for any company.
While 9/10 of my JetBlue Mint flights were good I've definitely had the rude flight attendant or so.
When you are in the business of customer facing service you cannot have a bad day. Point. Call in sick, leave your job, ask for an early break, take a deep breath and keep going on until your day/your shift is over. Then you are allowed to have a bad day. If I was the manager or HR department, I would want to know. This flight attendant is a jerk.
Everybody has bad days. Those who were raised appropriately, with good character, don’t take it out on others. Those who were raised poorly, do.
Please report him
I’m always shocked that everyone loves JetBlue Mint so much. Every time I’ve flown it, the service has been terrible. The food has been meh, and they often forget to load amenity kits. After the meal the flight attendant santa disappear for the rest of the flight. I just don’t get it, I prefer transcon on basically any other airline. @Ben, your experience this time around has essentially been my experience every time in Mint.
Must be chatting with AA FAs when commuting, non reving and deadheading. I remember upon the merger with AA/US that US FA would always be there to provide a pre departure beverage with a smile as soon as your butt hit the seat.
Today, they are no longer any different than their PM AA counter parts. Staring off into space during boarding and maybe you get a tray of warm water and warm OJ (like...
Must be chatting with AA FAs when commuting, non reving and deadheading. I remember upon the merger with AA/US that US FA would always be there to provide a pre departure beverage with a smile as soon as your butt hit the seat.
Today, they are no longer any different than their PM AA counter parts. Staring off into space during boarding and maybe you get a tray of warm water and warm OJ (like you're a bunch of five year olds on a school trip).
Unfortunately bad habits can spread if there's no counter balance.
I can confirm there has been a downward shift in the quality of jetblue mint service. Have had a few negative experiences in the last couple years. Before that, it was amazing every single time.
Consider this: the flight you book last minute and the cabin experience that is old hand to you, might be the "trip of the year" or the aspirational award flight that someone has really wanted to take for a very long time. If you don't report the flight attendant and his behavior is not corrected, they walk away feeling way more disappointed than just a "one off" as you might.
Yeah, maybe he had a...
Consider this: the flight you book last minute and the cabin experience that is old hand to you, might be the "trip of the year" or the aspirational award flight that someone has really wanted to take for a very long time. If you don't report the flight attendant and his behavior is not corrected, they walk away feeling way more disappointed than just a "one off" as you might.
Yeah, maybe he had a bad day, but if he did, the complaint won't hurt him much. If this is his normal MO, this might be the chance to correct it so others don't have to experience it.
File a complaint immediately.
Some occupations require more stage performance skills than others. Working as cabin crew certainly does. You need to know your lines, your cues, you need get in character and give the customers what they paid for. The audience shouldn't know if you're having a bad day. This guy flopped big-time, and it wasn't minor service errors that can be overlooked.
People act as such believing they can get away with it. I would imagine the airlines monitor social media like your webpage. Hopefully, the FA gets the message should he get called down to the office with his union rep for some coaching.
Providing good service is a team effort. Doesn't seem fair that one flight attendant is allowed to go around ruining the effort of all his colleagues, so I'm on the "you should complain in a respectful and objective way" team.
Also poking passengers with a tray doesn't seem like a just-having-a-bay-day kinda thing.
I've seen more complaints about Mint service online lately, including complaints about rude FAs. Frankly, for non-Mint service, I have never found the NYC or BOS based crews to be particularly friendly, and I have flown B6 on and off for 20 years now.
My last Mint flight was a bit over a year ago, and frankly I found the service to be pretty average, and below what I usually experience on AA or DL on their premium transcon flights.
Surely no one thinks that there has been a service shift at JetBlue where greeting passengers has been swapped with barking and prodding at passengers; this seems like an egregiously poor-acting employee that you should have no qualms with reporting to JetBlue.
My view is that if you are going to write in to complain you should be equally quick to write in to praise (you get some lovely responses when you do).
The way this article has been written with the view that someone may have been having a bad day sounds like a good approach to me (we all have them) but it could be good for the guy to get training or support if...
My view is that if you are going to write in to complain you should be equally quick to write in to praise (you get some lovely responses when you do).
The way this article has been written with the view that someone may have been having a bad day sounds like a good approach to me (we all have them) but it could be good for the guy to get training or support if needed.
Incidentally, the train I am currently on in the UK (cross country) has some absolutely amazing staff who I will write in about positively
This isn't the 10 Minute Manager. If the service sucked, it sucked.
I did the Delta-JetBlue status match, and flew Mint 4x in the latter half of last year (after never flying them before). I would not say the flight attendants were "way above average," more like ok to above average. I think I was offered a PDB on one of four flights (and oddly, that FA was the most checked out). The first redeye I flew, the crew was very engaged, but SLOW. For a 5 hour redeye, dinner wrapped up over 2.5 hours into the flight.
I would write to management (as if they haven't see this blog yet ;-) ) saying "maybe he was having a bad day but I had a bad experience that I'm sure you would want to know about".
I appreciate — as always — your insistence on seeing the humanity in human beings. Perhaps it is possible to write a comment that stresses disappointment, rather than anger, and a desire for there to be a teaching opportunity rather than a punishment.
Regarding the point about the FA being human and maybe having a bad day and all that... you shouldn't have to make that call whether it exonerates him or not. Imagine if Winston was a bad puppy at doggy daycare and started getting worse and worse, but you had no idea because the daycare never told you? If this incident was significant enough to warrant an entire blog post, then it's significant enough to warrant...
Regarding the point about the FA being human and maybe having a bad day and all that... you shouldn't have to make that call whether it exonerates him or not. Imagine if Winston was a bad puppy at doggy daycare and started getting worse and worse, but you had no idea because the daycare never told you? If this incident was significant enough to warrant an entire blog post, then it's significant enough to warrant feedback to JetBlue management, who can then decide whether it's something worth following up on.
Hear hear. Would also add that if other people in customer service - and even those NOT in customer service - “have a bad day”, there are repercussions. I’m both a road warrior and cube dweller. I can’t tell one of my accounts/bosses to politely fuck off just because “I woke up on the wrong side of the bed”. Why does an FA get a pass. Stop letting jerks get away with being jerks. Using...
Hear hear. Would also add that if other people in customer service - and even those NOT in customer service - “have a bad day”, there are repercussions. I’m both a road warrior and cube dweller. I can’t tell one of my accounts/bosses to politely fuck off just because “I woke up on the wrong side of the bed”. Why does an FA get a pass. Stop letting jerks get away with being jerks. Using excuses like “He was having a bad day” is just rationale for not being confrontational. If you don’t want to be politely assertive in providing honest feedback then just say so; don’t hide behind some lame excuse under the guise of “seeing the human side of people”.
Report the guy please
I'll add another data point to this: I fly JetBlue multiple times per year and have always had good experiences with the crew, both in the handful of Mint flights I've taken and in main cabin. I flew a redeye last month in a non-Mint A320 (I was toward the front of the plane, fwiw) and the service was downright surly, with the flight attendant even telling the guy behind me who asked about his...
I'll add another data point to this: I fly JetBlue multiple times per year and have always had good experiences with the crew, both in the handful of Mint flights I've taken and in main cabin. I flew a redeye last month in a non-Mint A320 (I was toward the front of the plane, fwiw) and the service was downright surly, with the flight attendant even telling the guy behind me who asked about his connection that "they're not going to hold the plane for you so I don't know why you booked this" (I reassured him he'd be fine and he was).
As you said, employees are human and JetBlue has an uncertain future as a company but this last flight was my worst JetBlue service experience probably ever.