We knew this was coming, and it’s now official. As a Miami resident, I’m very happy about this announcement.
In this post:
JetBlue expanding to Miami (MIA)
JetBlue has today formally announced that it will launch flights to Miami as of early 2021. The airline will launch service from Miami to four airports (Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Newark), with up to 14 daily flights. The Los Angeles route will even feature JetBlue’s exceptional Mint business class.
As a reminder, JetBlue has a large hub in Fort Lauderdale, so it’s cool to see the airline expand just a bit further South. Southwest Airlines also has a hub in Fort Lauderdale, and recently announced a Miami expansion.
JetBlue’s new routes out of Miami
Anyway, let’s take a more detailed look at JetBlue’s Miami expansion:
JetBlue’s Miami to Los Angeles flights
As of February 11, 2021, JetBlue will offer up to two daily flights between Miami and Los Angeles. These flights will operate with the following schedule, using Mint-configured Airbus A321s:
B62986 Miami to Los Angeles departing 9:20AM arriving 12:50PM
B62886 Miami to Los Angeles departing 6:10PM arriving 9:32PM
B62885 Los Angeles to Miami departing 9:00AM arriving 4:58PM
B62985 Los Angeles to Miami departing 11:35PM arriving 7:29AM (+1 day)
My take? I am so excited to see American get some competition on this route, in particular with JetBlue offering its Mint product. This without a doubt will become my new favorite flight out of my home airport. Mint fares as of now are starting at $439, which is excellent (here’s to hoping fares are similar next year, when the JetBlue Mosaic companion benefit applies).
JetBlue’s Miami to New York JFK flights
As of February 11, 2021, JetBlue will offer up to four daily flights between Miami and New York JFK. These flights will operate with the following schedule, using Airbus A320s:
B62292 Miami to New York JFK departing 8:20AM arriving 11:11AM
B62592 Miami to New York JFK departing 12:50PM arriving 3:42PM
B62692 Miami to New York JFK departing 4:10PM arriving 7:04PM
B62492 Miami to New York JFK departing 8:00PM arriving 10:54PM
B62293 New York JFK to Miami departing 8:00AM arriving 11:12AM
B62593 New York JFK to Miami departing 12:00PM arriving 3:11PM
B62693 New York JFK to Miami departing 4:00PM arriving 7:14PM
B62893 New York JFK to Miami departing 7:00PM arriving 10:22PM
My take? I get that New York to Miami is a big market (and vice versa), but in a way I’m surprised by this. While American and JetBlue will eventually have a partnership, fares are already ridiculously low in this market, and there’s not much connecting traffic on either end here for JetBlue (at least not in a geographically logical way). For those exclusively traveling between Miami and New York, LGA is typically preferred over JFK.
JetBlue’s Miami to Newark flights
As of February 11, 2021, JetBlue will offer up to four daily flights between Miami and Newark. These flights will operate with the following schedule, using Airbus A320s:
B62294 Miami to Newark departing 7:00AM arriving 9:55AM
B62594 Miami to Newark departing 12:30PM arriving 3:22PM
B62694 Miami to Newark departing 3:00PM arriving 5:54PM
B62894 Miami to Newark departing 8:29PM arriving 11:22PM
B62295 Newark to Miami departing 8:30AM arriving 11:40AM
B62595 Newark to Miami departing 11:00AM arriving 2:11PM
B62695 Newark to Miami departing 4:30PM arriving 7:38PM
B62495 Newark to Miami departing 7:00PM arriving 10:10PM
My take? JetBlue has been expanding out of Newark lately, so this growth almost makes more sense to me than the JFK growth. This will be some real competition for United.
JetBlue’s Miami to Boston flights
As of February 11, 2021, JetBlue will offer up to four daily flights between Miami and Boston. These flights will operate with the following schedule, using Airbus A320s:
B61520 Miami to Boston departing 7:20AM arriving 10:28AM
B61220 Miami to Boston departing 12:00PM arriving 3:08PM
B61320 Miami to Boston departing 4:25PM arriving 7:35PM
B61620 Miami to Boston departing 7:55PM arriving 11:03PM
B61519 Boston to Miami departing 8:30AM arriving 12:04PM
B61219 Boston to Miami departing 12:05PM arriving 3:37PM
B61319 Boston to Miami departing 3:35PM arriving 7:07PM
B61619 Boston to Miami departing 7:00PM arriving 10:34PM
My take? This market makes sense, and if anything what surprises me is how JetBlue is going all-in on the three Miami to Northeast routes, with 4x daily flights.
Are Miami & Fort Lauderdale different markets?
Some might find it strange for an airline with a huge hub in Fort Lauderdale to also fly out of Miami. However, as a Miami resident I avoid flying out of Fort Lauderdale Airport whenever possible.
It’s not that it’s that inconvenient, but there’s something nice about driving just 10 minutes to the airport, and avoiding the stretch of I-95 between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, which I’m convinced has the world’s worst drivers.
I’m not alone in feeling this way, and I know plenty of others who never even check routes or fares out of Fort Lauderdale when planning their travel.
I can’t wait to fly JetBlue out of Miami!
What about the American & JetBlue partnership?
A new strategic partnership between American and JetBlue was recently announced, so some people may be confused about this in the context of JetBlue flying to Miami. Is JetBlue’s expansion out of Miami somehow being done in partnership with American, or are the two airlines competing?
The airlines haven’t yet started the process of coordinating routes, fares, schedules, etc., so I see no reason to believe that American had any part in this growth.
The reality is that airlines have partnerships when they see specific opportunities, and these partnerships aren’t like mergers. The new partnership between American and JetBlue is focused on the Northeast primarily. I would guess with near certainty that American isn’t happy about this expansion, but ultimately each airline has to do what’s best for them. There are plenty of markets in which these two airlines compete.
What does that mean for JetBlue’s expansion out of Miami?
- Clearly JetBlue is trying to get market share from American, and just as the airlines compete in other markets, that’s the case here as well
- It’s possible that AAdvantage members may be able to earn miles on these JetBlue flights, or it’s possible that the partnership only covers select routes; that hasn’t yet been decided or announced
American probably doesn’t love JetBlue’s Miami expansion
Bottom line
Starting in February 2021, JetBlue will launch 14 daily flights to four destinations out of Miami. The growth will be focused on the Northeast, but beyond that JetBlue will also be flying to Los Angeles, including with its Mint product.
What do you make of JetBlue’s Miami expansion?
Love your posts! It cracks me up that everytime you blog about MIA, you always copy/paste this comment: "Miami and Fort Lauderdale are different aviation markets, and as someone who lives 10 minutes from Miami Airport, I’ll avoid Fort Lauderdale Airport at almost all costs."
Well, as someone who lives 15 minutes north of Ft Lauderdale Airport, I do the reverse: I avoid Miami Airports at all costs. FLL is a joy to fly out...
Love your posts! It cracks me up that everytime you blog about MIA, you always copy/paste this comment: "Miami and Fort Lauderdale are different aviation markets, and as someone who lives 10 minutes from Miami Airport, I’ll avoid Fort Lauderdale Airport at almost all costs."
Well, as someone who lives 15 minutes north of Ft Lauderdale Airport, I do the reverse: I avoid Miami Airports at all costs. FLL is a joy to fly out of: most of its terminals are new/renovated (c'mon JetBlue, renovate T3!!), airport is easy in/easy out, distance from curbside to gate is remarkably short. T1/T2/T3 security is fast (T4 Spirit sucks). MIA however...hmm it's confusing, parts are dingy, the sheer volume of int'l flights makes it really busy etc.
Don't get me wrong, I go to MIA to catch int'l flights (and bear the crazy I-95 traffic as Lucky attests). But as a domestic hub, I'd gladly take FLL's JetBlue, Southwest, and yes even Spirit any day over MIA! And Ben... keep up the good work! Woot!
Lucky, do you know what terminal/gates JetBlue will be using at MIA?
Yes Yes YES! EWR is my hub and have been loyal to Jetblue for a long time. The fact that they are expanding at EWR is music to my ears! Flying into FLL with a friend living in West Miami to pick me up, he is going to be excited about this news as well!
The mint fare looks like a bargain. Let's hope it's here to stay
I can see MIA-LAX however LAX-MIA is not loaded for March or April. I have thoroughly enjoyed the 777-300er on this route and now see the 777-200 has replaced it going forward. If I had a choice between Mint and 777-300er the latter will always win. And with the low points that AA has required as of late it is a no brainer. 777-200 vs Mint is a toss up.
Routes and prices are better at FLL, Ill honestly just stick to FLL.
I don't understand why folks like JetBlue. Yes, Mint is awesome and way better than Delta or United's best domestic product, but flying the A320 on JetBlue doesn't get you first-class or business-class. I don't know why JetBlue doesn't have a better domestic premium product on routes without Mint.
It really doesn't make much sense that B6 would open these MIA routes with Latin American transfers to AA in mind. Why would they do that? After all, they have a pretty robust Latin American network of their own based nearby at FLL. And each of these cities (including LAX) has nonstops to FLL already. The only real connections that AA offers via MIA that B6 wouldn't have at FLL are to deep South America....
It really doesn't make much sense that B6 would open these MIA routes with Latin American transfers to AA in mind. Why would they do that? After all, they have a pretty robust Latin American network of their own based nearby at FLL. And each of these cities (including LAX) has nonstops to FLL already. The only real connections that AA offers via MIA that B6 wouldn't have at FLL are to deep South America. And that's a pretty limited number of flights to build new service on - especially when hardly anyone would fly to SCL or EZE from LAX via MIA.
It's my view that this service has point to point in mind. But that said, I agree with the point that LGA-MIA would have made more sense. I guess B6 figured that JFK was simpler as far as logistics and equipment availability were concerned and they're confident enough about the big travel market to MIA that they think this will work anyway.
Saying Miami-New York is a big market is an understatement. It is the single largest local air travel market in the United States.
Well B6's Mint product to LAX will certainly be competition to AA. I read that AA is going mostly 772 on that route. Seems as though the joint venture between AA and B6 isn't stopping B6 from encroaching on a lucrative AA route. Of course how long CA will remain shut down and closed to non essential travelers is anyone's guess. Tyrants such as Newsom don't seem to want to change even with rumblings of...
Well B6's Mint product to LAX will certainly be competition to AA. I read that AA is going mostly 772 on that route. Seems as though the joint venture between AA and B6 isn't stopping B6 from encroaching on a lucrative AA route. Of course how long CA will remain shut down and closed to non essential travelers is anyone's guess. Tyrants such as Newsom don't seem to want to change even with rumblings of a recall. Whether an actual recall would come to bear is of course an unanswered question. In the interim seems like a lot of seats chasing too few paxs.
I noted somewhere in the story whether FLL and MIA are different markets. Yes and no. The Tri County area is huge. Miami Dade land wise is one of the largest counties in the country. I live in Coral Gables and would never consider FLL even if there was a material price difference. Tri Rail which runs between MIA, FLL and PBI never seems to run on time. With no AA AC at FLL (or PBI) I have no desire to need to give an extra hour because of traffic or Tri Rail's seemingly inability to run trains on time on a daily basis. If you live in north Miami Dade FLL would be a better option from a time prospective.
@Donato I know it was a typo but upholstered weapons made my day. I mean sure the Sig Sauer is nice but can I get it in suede? I'm thinking cream but maybe a little darker.
Honestly great news about Jetblue and Miami. We love coming down and staying at the Ritz Miami Beach!!
Seems like the LAX flights are great news!
And the NYC flights to JFK and EWR, wow, I am slightly surprised, 8 new flights a day...that seems like a lot right now with travel being depressed. I am surprised it is not like 2 flights a day from each airport which would seem to be sufficent.
...Honestly great news about Jetblue and Miami. We love coming down and staying at the Ritz Miami Beach!!
Seems like the LAX flights are great news!
And the NYC flights to JFK and EWR, wow, I am slightly surprised, 8 new flights a day...that seems like a lot right now with travel being depressed. I am surprised it is not like 2 flights a day from each airport which would seem to be sufficent.
And also the 4 flights a day from Boston, that's a lot too. I feel like 2 flights a day from each airport would have been plenty...but who knows, it's great to see Jetblue expand as they have a far better product than American!
Maybe Parker needs to wake up and improve American (as Southwest will also soon add MIA and ORD).
@shoeguy
DL's capacity share (percentage) of RDU is the same as it was before covid. They are still the largest carrier but the market as a whole has lost more capacity by all carriers than the US average. AA is not flying RDU-LAX and NYC among a couple high volume routes.
B6 might grow in RDU but it will likely be at the expense of or as a replacement to AA.
If B6...
@shoeguy
DL's capacity share (percentage) of RDU is the same as it was before covid. They are still the largest carrier but the market as a whole has lost more capacity by all carriers than the US average. AA is not flying RDU-LAX and NYC among a couple high volume routes.
B6 might grow in RDU but it will likely be at the expense of or as a replacement to AA.
If B6 adds flights in the markets that Ben suggests above, I have a very hard time believing that AA will go forward with its plans to codeshare with them.
B6 really should go all in on AUS and RDU. Delta is retreating from RDU, AA has all but given up on it, and has CLT a few hundred miles west.
honestly not likely we will see Jetblue expand in Denver and Seattle. Seattle is swamped between Alalska and Delta fighting it off.
Denver has United and Southwest fighting with the competition.
With Austin growing with lots of tech workers, it would be amazing for Jetblue to deepen its establishment there.
do you see Jetblue expand in Seattle and denver ?
I think this has to do with the AA partnership. It will also enable B6 to pick up more of the South Florida marketshare because getting between FLL and MIA is a PITA. One can use the Tri Rail but Tri Rail tends to consistently run behind time not to mention the bus transfer that is needed at FLL.
Jetblue already flies FLL-LAX and FLL-SFO with Mint planes and their prices are very much in line with AAs 773 business class out of MIA. Don't be disappointed if you're expecting more competition. I foresee more of the same if they start flying out of Miami. Jetblue is actually more expensive than AA in most cases.
To me it just seems that AA and B6 are expanding their partnership rather direct competition.
If this happens it will end up like the pissing match in Seattle between Alaska and Delta. Partners no more.
The Mint symbol does not mean anything - JetBlue puts a mint symbol on every destination that has mint service. For instance when you search NANTUCKET to BOS LAX NYC FLL all these destinations show mint symbols. On the other hand, searching LAX - MIA, JetBlue now has MIA marked as a “Partner airline” symbol next to it. Having a mint symbol does not buttress the validity of the rumor.
YES!. This is a very welcome idea.
Personally, I refuse to fly B6 since they had a B6 meltdown at PBI and called local Police to announce delays. If their clientele wants to be addressed by armed Police with weapons not holstered, that is OK. Not for me.
The competition will help. Hopefully they end up in the AA terminals/zoo and leave Delta nice and quiet.
PS: I was really disturbed by upholstered...
YES!. This is a very welcome idea.
Personally, I refuse to fly B6 since they had a B6 meltdown at PBI and called local Police to announce delays. If their clientele wants to be addressed by armed Police with weapons not holstered, that is OK. Not for me.
The competition will help. Hopefully they end up in the AA terminals/zoo and leave Delta nice and quiet.
PS: I was really disturbed by upholstered weapons but a NYC Police friend helped me understand what a giant no-no it was.
I just got back from Miami I was rollin down Collins av and proceeded to A1A. Ice ice baby. No wonder Ben moved down there.
I flew aa flagship first on the 77W transcon Mia lax twice last week. It was business class catering. No champagne they had Prosecco. That’s weak.
Since everyone is leaving NY. Goldman Sachs is moving to Miami. Miami is going to be Wall Street beach. So jet blue should leave NY too.
What was this article about ? I didn’t read it.
American would seriously have to ask themselves whether a partnership with B6 is worth it if B6 decides to start service in several of AA's top MIA markets.
Even without B6, MIA will be a very competitive market with DL and WN already growing.
It's also worth noting that Cranky shows that the largest carriers in S. Florida based on seats for Jan 2021 are American, Spirit and then Delta. Spirit and Delta, which each...
American would seriously have to ask themselves whether a partnership with B6 is worth it if B6 decides to start service in several of AA's top MIA markets.
Even without B6, MIA will be a very competitive market with DL and WN already growing.
It's also worth noting that Cranky shows that the largest carriers in S. Florida based on seats for Jan 2021 are American, Spirit and then Delta. Spirit and Delta, which each have double digit share, have both grown their share of the joint market while AA, B6 and WN are smaller on a year over year basis. AA has about 37% seat share while B6 and WN are in the high single digits.
Regardless of what B6 does, the increasing competition in AA's strongest hub right now is bad news as they try to secure their financial future.
A free for all among multiple carriers at MIA that are all trying to gain an advantage ahead of the other makes AA's future even dicier.
LAX-MIA desperately needs some competition.
Drivers of the Cross Bronx Expressway say "hold my beer"...
Probably part of the codeshare link up. Which will make sense to funnel passengers to AA South American routes.
@ Ben -- I wish someone would add LAX-SJU no-stop. I used to love that AA route back in the day.
I know this probably won't happen, but I'll be very happy if B6 can offer mint service (even without the dining) to ORD or EWR