At the beginning of February JetBlue revealed its new Mint Suite and Mint Studio seats, which will eventually be used on transatlantic flights. However, these seats will first make an appearance on routes between New York and Los Angeles. A couple of days ago we learned the first frequency to get the new seats, and now a second frequency has been added.
In this post:
JetBlue’s special A321neo delivery
At the end of February, JetBlue took delivery of an Airbus A321neo with the registration code N2105J, which also happens to be the first plane to feature the new Mint Suite and Mint Studio seats. This is the 16th A321neo the airline has taken delivery of, and the first A321neo to feature a Mint cabin.
For those of you not familiar with the A321neo, the “neo” stands for “new engine option.” This plane has engines that are more fuel efficient, and in turn the plane is also longer range. The A321neo was delivered to the airline from Hamburg, Germany, where it’s produced — the flight from Hamburg to New York took 8hr10min.
This new A321neo features a total of 160 seats, including 16 Mint seats (14 Mint Suites and two Mint Studios), plus 144 economy seats. As a point of comparison, American’s A321neos feature 196 seats.
Mint Studio on JetBlue’s new A321neo
Mint Suite on JetBlue’s new A321neo
Pantry on JetBlue’s new A321neo
The fact that there are 16 Mint seats on the new A321neo also gets at the efficiency of this configuration. JetBlue also currently has 16 Mint seats on the A321, so the airline will be fitting 16 of the new seats (including two Mint Studios) in the same space.
JetBlue’s current A321 Mint
This A321neo can easily be spotted based on its unique “ribbons” tailfin. The design features three blues from the airline’s brand palette, and it’s the first tailfin inspired by so-called “Op Art” (optical art), using simple shapes to create the illusion of three dimensions and movement.
Tail of JetBlue’s newest A321neo
What route will JetBlue’s new A321neo fly?
JetBlue plans on launching flights to London as of some point in summer. However, that’s not what the A321neo that the airline just took delivery of will be used for.
That’s because JetBlue has A321LRs on order, which are even longer range versions of the A321neo, capable of operating transatlantic flights with ease. Furthermore, the A321LRs will be in a more premium configuration, featuring 24 Mint seats, rather than 16 Mint seats.
Rather these new A321neos will operate domestic flights. We knew that the first A321neo featuring new Mint seats was expected to operate select flights between New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) as of this summer. We now know exactly which flights will get this new configuration.
As of June 1, 2021, JetBlue’s A321neo with new Mint seats will start flying between New York and Los Angeles.
Between June 1 and June 9, 2021, the plane will operate the following schedule:
B623 New York to Los Angeles departing 10:30AM arriving 1:51PM
B6124 Los Angeles to New York departing 3:01PM arriving 11:24PM
Then between June 10 and September 7, 2021, there will be two daily flights between New York and Los Angeles with the new cabins, with the following schedule:
B62123 New York to Los Angeles departing 9:00AM arriving 11:59AM
B61524 Los Angeles to New York departing 1:20PM arriving 10:00PM
B6123 New York to Los Angeles departing 6:59AM arriving 9:59AM
B6424 Los Angeles to New York departing 11:20AM arriving 8:01PM
Presumably JetBlue plans to take delivery of a second A321neo with new Mint seats in the coming months, as the airline will need two planes for two rotations.
Fares seem to start at ~$648 one-way in Mint, though I imagine we’ll see a lot of demand for flights operated by this aircraft, given how many people want to try this product. So if you want to experience JetBlue’s new Mint on this route, I’d recommend booking sooner rather than later.
Seatmaps have already been updated to reflect the new configuration. Many of us have been curious to see how much of a premium JetBlue will charge for the Mint Studios, which are the two premium seats in the first row of the cabin. We now have our answer — JetBlue is charging an extra $199 each way for these premium seats.
Interestingly there’s also the option to pay 8,300 TrueBlue points, which is a steal by comparison, given the value of TrueBlue points. I’m not sure if that’s a discount because I’m looking at this out of a Mosaic account, or if that’s the standard pricing.
That’s just about exactly what I expected. In a previous post I had speculated that JetBlue would charge a premium of around $300 for these seats on transatlantic flights, so $199 seems roughly proportional for transcons.
Bottom line
JetBlue recently took delivery of its first A321neo featuring new Mint seats, and we now know when the plane will start flying. The plane will begin flying between New York and Los Angeles as of June 1, so this is your first chance to book a flight in the new Mint product. Then as of June 10 there will be a second daily frequency with the new Mint product.
It’s great to see how quickly JetBlue is launching this new product, as it will enter service only four months after it was initially announced. Compare that to Lufthansa, where it’s about six years (minimum) between when a new product is revealed and when it’s actually rolled out.
What do you make of JetBlue’s newest A321neo? Anyone plan on booking a seat in the new Mint cabin?
@hanchicago Thank you for the report! (And thanks Lucky for updating your post!) I cancelled my July 5th flight in Mint Studio and booked the early one on July 4th, which was lower priced.
However, I was shocked to see is that the points premium for the Studio seats jumped all the way from 8,300 to 19,900 (the cash price remained the same at $199) -- and I'm a Mosaic member. I wonder whether the...
@hanchicago Thank you for the report! (And thanks Lucky for updating your post!) I cancelled my July 5th flight in Mint Studio and booked the early one on July 4th, which was lower priced.
However, I was shocked to see is that the points premium for the Studio seats jumped all the way from 8,300 to 19,900 (the cash price remained the same at $199) -- and I'm a Mosaic member. I wonder whether the 8,300 was an error, or what. I got it anyway, because JetBlue annoyingly doesn't let you change an award ticket, only cancel it, even if you call them, so I probably would have suffered the higher Studio cost even if I tried to get my old booking back. I preferred the new date anyway, and it was still fewer points overall, but not by much.
Sorry, I meant 11am.
"B6424 Los Angeles to New York departing 11:20PM arriving 8:01PM"
That doesn't seem right, did you mean 8am? Or do we get to experience Mint on an 18 hour flight :)
@Ivan X, thank you! Yep just reread it now and see it. I don't recall reading that before.
Looks like B6 will fly two new A321neo planes between JFK and LAX starting on June 10, 2021.
Out of JFK, B6 123 departs at 6:59 am ET (arriving at 9:59 am PT) and, as you already noted, B6 2123 departs at 9:00 am ET (arriving at 11:59 am PT).
Out of LAX, B6 424 departs at 11:20 am PT (arriving at 8:01 pm ET), and, as you noted, B6 1524 departs at 1:20 pm PT (arriving at 10:00 pm ET).
I guess demand was strong.
@Joey reread Lucky’s post — he has the routes for June 10 through Sept 7 as well. Congrats on the booking!
@schar,
Would you like them without WiFi and IFE? Probably not, hence the wait. Probably will be used as an operational spare if it gets out of the hangar early.
@Ivan X, I thought this was only on the JFK-LAX route from June 1-9? Is JetBlue also scheduling the plane on week of 4th of July?
Thx Lucky. I made a booking. I still remember back in 2014 when Mint was unveiled that they priced them starting at $499 one-way JFK-LAX. This isn’t that bad at $648.
hate the timing of the flights but whatever. SO COOL! why are they taking SO LONG to use the planes though? are they just chilling somewhere for the next 2 months or....?
LAX-BOS? Is this route being considered?
Thanks for reporting this! I had just booked an EWR-LAX Mint points ticket for July 3, so I changed it to this flight (on July 5, since it was cheaper). Was already in two thrones on the original ticket, and this ended up costing us 30K more points apiece total for two Studios (between higher award fare and Studio add-on, coming to 84,900 apiece), but, fuck it, I figure it's worth it for new and exciting.
@Ryan ... lol X 10!
@door, he literally says "8300 jb points is a steal" in the article so no, its not just you...
Is it just me or is 8300 JB points a steal when you compare it to $199 cash?
Just purchased! Studio is a $199 surcharge which feels too high for a transcon.
Yeah, shame on LH!
New seat maps are showing up in Sabre, but pricing still not loaded.
As of now, Mint is not bookable on these flights. I imagine this changed at some point after posting.