JetBlue is making some changes to its London service as of the summer of 2023, which will see the carrier operate its first eastbound transatlantic daytime flight…
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JetBlue gets additional London Heathrow slot pair
JetBlue has picked up an additional slot pair for London Heathrow, which will see the carrier introduce a new daytime eastbound transatlantic flight. Specifically, as of March 25, 2023, JetBlue will add the following New York JFK to London Heathrow service:
B61107 New York to London departing 8:30AM arriving 8:45PM
B62220 London to New York departing 8:25AM arriving 11:40AM
People have strong feelings about daytime eastbound transatlantic flights:
- On the one hand, they’re great for helping to avoid jetlag, so you don’t have to miss a night of sleep in a real bed, especially with how short the New York to London overnight flights are
- On the other hand, you “waste” a day flying east, as you take off in the morning and land at night
Presumably JetBlue is launching this flight because it’s the only additional Heathrow slot that it could get its hands on, rather than because the airline was specifically seeking out a daytime flight like this.
JetBlue adjusting overall London schedule
While JetBlue has secured an additional London Heathrow slot, the airline isn’t increasing its overall service to London.
Prior to this announcement, JetBlue’s plan was to:
- Operate three daily flights between New York and London, with one being to Heathrow, and two being to Gatwick
- Operate two daily flights between Boston and London, with one being to Heathrow, and one being to Gatwick
With this change, JetBlue is adding an additional New York to London Heathrow flight, but is also dropping one of its two planned daily New York to London Gatwick flights.
For context, here’s the schedule for JetBlue’s other daily flight between New York JFK and London Heathrow:
B60007 New York to London departing 9:00PM arriving 9:00AM (+1 day)
B60020 London to New York departing 11:55AM arriving 3:15PM
Meanwhile here’s the schedule for JetBlue’s daily flight between New York JFK and London Gatwick:
B643 New York to London departing 7:30PM arriving 7:55AM (+1 day)
B644 London to New York departing 12:00PM arriving 3:15PM
JetBlue’s motive here is pretty clear. The airline wants to pick up as many London Heathrow slots as it can, since that’s key to JetBlue’s long-term success in London. It’s not entirely clear to me how JetBlue has acquired these slots, and if it’s temporary or permanent.
I suspect JetBlue is dropping a second daily London Gatwick flight from New York not because the demand isn’t potentially there, but rather because the airline doesn’t have enough aircraft to operate all this service. Keep in mind that JetBlue is also launching New York to Paris flights as of the summer of 2023, so some upcoming A321LR deliveries are earmarked for that.
Bottom line
JetBlue will be making changes to its London flight schedule as of the summer of 2023. While the airline will maintain a total of five daily flights to London (three from New York and two from Boston), there will be changes to the New York service. Rather than flying twice daily to Gatwick, the airline will fly twice daily to Heathrow. This is thanks to some new Heathrow slots that JetBlue managed to pick up.
These slots are for an untraditional transatlantic schedule, meaning JetBlue will have a daytime eastbound flight.
What do you make of JetBlue’s London service changes?
Yesssss, this is the news that I have been waiting for. JetBlue launching evening flights to London got a big yawn from me, but daytime flights are the magic I'm looking for.
Day flights to London from BOS or NYC are the best! They limit jet lag and you don't lose an entire night of sleep. Back when I lived in New England for a while, I took BA and AA day flights to LHR from BOS multiple times, passing on the short redeyes they also offered. It was a no brainer.
While the concept of the "redeye" is touted by many as being oh-so-efficient, thay're only...
Day flights to London from BOS or NYC are the best! They limit jet lag and you don't lose an entire night of sleep. Back when I lived in New England for a while, I took BA and AA day flights to LHR from BOS multiple times, passing on the short redeyes they also offered. It was a no brainer.
While the concept of the "redeye" is touted by many as being oh-so-efficient, thay're only good for people in comfy business class and/or those who can fall asleep anywhere (especially on a plane). For the rest of us, the day flight is preferable because you arrive at your destination feeling destroyed. Not to mention that the Atlantic crossing is too short from the northeast to get any effective rest even if you can sleep. So, this is a good move on the part of JetBlue.
Agree. Daytime eastbound is the way to go, with a caveat: no napping enroute, or you can't get to sleep much before 02:00 once in the UK :-)
In reality, its not good for those in "comfy business class" either, unless you're someone who can sleep no matter what under any circumstances. Under 7 hours flight time from NYC. Cabin crew clattering around service for the first 2 hours. Lights on for the last 60-90 min. You have quiet and lights down for about 4-4.5 hours max. Thats not a reciepe for feeling rested.
I remember my first time in TATL business. I...
In reality, its not good for those in "comfy business class" either, unless you're someone who can sleep no matter what under any circumstances. Under 7 hours flight time from NYC. Cabin crew clattering around service for the first 2 hours. Lights on for the last 60-90 min. You have quiet and lights down for about 4-4.5 hours max. Thats not a reciepe for feeling rested.
I remember my first time in TATL business. I had flown business to Asia multiple times but never wasted upgrades on Europe. Got randomly upgraded on a flight from NYC to Brussels due to fairly empty business and a full economy with loads of standby passengers. Had already eaten dinner anticipating economy class gruel, so I was excited to have a lie flat and be rested. Took off, had a glass of wine, tried to lay down as service was occurring but it was bright and, being aisle adjacent, not all that quiet. Went to sleep as the lights dropped and remember landing in Brussels feeling groggy and tired, like when you wake up from an afternoon nap that went too long and you wake up when its dark out.
Probably because Delta will start a JFK-Gatwick flight in April.
Gaining an additional coveted LHR slot is the reason, yields are much higher in both cabins and it’s the preferred airport for passengers and airlines.
I personally love the day flights to London. It's civil and reasonable given the shorter flight time and arrival. No trying to check in to a hotel at 9AM and being told impossible. Other than for connections elsewhere, I have no idea why from the east coast a higher percentage are not day flights. Best I can imagine is that it works better with network scheduling the aircraft on other routes. I applaud this addition...
I personally love the day flights to London. It's civil and reasonable given the shorter flight time and arrival. No trying to check in to a hotel at 9AM and being told impossible. Other than for connections elsewhere, I have no idea why from the east coast a higher percentage are not day flights. Best I can imagine is that it works better with network scheduling the aircraft on other routes. I applaud this addition by JetBlue and I'll pray we get more out of IAD eventually and this becomes a trend. I am tired of six hour flights that involve no sleep, no room when you arrive, and rushed crews trying to serve dinner when in fact yyou ou are still only going to sleep for there hours.
As far as productivity? I can arrive on a day flight to London and be ready to work the next morning. I actually feel it cuts a full day off my recovery and scheduling. Bottom line is, not many people these days land in London in the morning and go straight to meetings. BS. It rarely is the case.
Is there any concern that this is inefficient use of the aircraft? Planes do not bring revenue while they are parked. This, in my opinion is why most TATL flights fly east late in the day. This also enhances any plans for connections.
One would imagine in the case of BA that there would be a bank of aircraft that could easily be scheduled for Asia, India and the M/E. For the U.S. carriers it's a problem and exactly to your point. It would mean a 10 hour layover in London before utilizing that plane again. No way they are going to try and sell an 11PM departure from London to Washington, as an example. But, perhaps they...
One would imagine in the case of BA that there would be a bank of aircraft that could easily be scheduled for Asia, India and the M/E. For the U.S. carriers it's a problem and exactly to your point. It would mean a 10 hour layover in London before utilizing that plane again. No way they are going to try and sell an 11PM departure from London to Washington, as an example. But, perhaps they never thought out of the box in that this might work? Imagine an 11:55PM departure that arrived in IAD very early morning? It's actually much easier to hit the ground running in this direction and I bet would sell.
Correct me if I am wrong, doesn't LHR shut operations at night. it would be foolhardy to schedule outbound flights that are at risk of cancelation if there is any inbound delay. Remember, B6 does not have other equipment to swap at LHR.
JetBlue will continue to shake up the a legacy airline’s grip on price gouging by introducing consumer friendly fares as they have been doing on their domestic routes. Bravo!
I’m a huge fan of day flights. Can be productive on the flight, eat a proper dinner in a nice restaurant on landing, sleep in a proper bed, not worry about not getting into your hotel, and importantly have a much more productive and enjoyable next day vs. straight off the plane.
What nice restaurant are you going to go eat in when you arrive at 8:30pm and maybe arrive in the city center at 10pm?
In Houston (or Berlin) that is indeed a problem.
In London it's not.
I love the eastbound day flight and use it exclusively. The wasted day is the day following a redeye to London when you are zombie from having gotten zero sleep the night before. With wifi on board, daytime flights are not necessarily wasted. If you do it on a weekend, then you get to spend the entire day laying down watching movies and drinking wine. Not a wasted day either! In my experience, these are often the fullest of the London flights.
I was once told that these daytime flights carry huge yields.
It's also not 1990 anymore, and you are quoting tired travel tropes from yester decade. No one is losing a day (and no one in reality ever did), since you can actually work on the flight, in peace...arrive in London, and still communicate with the office back on the East Coast, or head to dinner.
Also us travelers today are different. We call the...
I was once told that these daytime flights carry huge yields.
It's also not 1990 anymore, and you are quoting tired travel tropes from yester decade. No one is losing a day (and no one in reality ever did), since you can actually work on the flight, in peace...arrive in London, and still communicate with the office back on the East Coast, or head to dinner.
Also us travelers today are different. We call the shots, and we travel when we please. We are not into the red-eye suffering if there are other options.
Taking jetlag out of the equation makes a morning departure preferred.
Daytime TATL flights are great - especially the later ones (AA’s JFK-LHR at 10am; Norwegian had a later flight to Gatwick which was obviously possible due to the fact LGW has no curfew).
It’s more of point-to-point traffic given early departure (and JFK is not connection friendly) and late arrival into LHR. There’s enough business traffic to make it work though.
Which other European cities have daytime TATL flights from the East Coast?
You have a wasted day by flying over night to Europe, you arrive too early to check into your hotel, you didn’t sleep well or at all on the plane, by the time you finally get into your room to lie down, exhausted, your dead to the world sleep and then are awake most of the night. Day time flights should be the norm to all major European cities in my mind unless it’s a connecting flight. The real downside to this flight is the early return.
That's great news, as long as it is not expensive. To me, flying a short day-time to LHR in economy is as comfortable as flying business overnight. This means good savings in terms of miles needed. Just this summer took ORD-LHR on AA and it felt great. JFK-LHR is even shorter.
@Lucky
You have to get it into your head there is no such thing as a "wasted day" in travel. It matters not whether you travel during day and arrive in the evening. You've arrived. And get to sleep in a proper bed! Same thing in reverse: you've arrived after a night flight and have the whole day in front of you to do things, if you wish to! Logic and clear thinking go a...
@Lucky
You have to get it into your head there is no such thing as a "wasted day" in travel. It matters not whether you travel during day and arrive in the evening. You've arrived. And get to sleep in a proper bed! Same thing in reverse: you've arrived after a night flight and have the whole day in front of you to do things, if you wish to! Logic and clear thinking go a long way.....just saying. A true "wasted day" is being stuck at the airport for 24 hours because of delayed/cancelled flights. A "wasted day" is not being able to travel because of strikes. A "wasted day" is writing about a wasted day. Travelling - whether at day or night - is NOT a wasted day.
No problem filling premium on a day flight, for the reasons you mention. But those behind the curtain consider it a wasted vacation day, when they could have left the night before.
JetBlue already has a JFK flight from LHR at 08.25. How can they have two flights at the same time to the same destination when the Match flight is introduced?
Jeff,
As stated in the article the 2nd LHR-JFK flight will depart at 1155.
For those of us who travel JetBlue from the west, the daylight flight offers a London connection to our red-eye jfk flights.
United, American, British Airways have all been offering daylight LHR flights for years. I think it's a stretch to say that they're hated. The flights are full.
I'd prefer if you provided factual information regarding B6's reasons for changing their schedule instead of speculating. Be better. :)
They have, but they are limited, often full, more expensive, and hard to come by. The reality is aircraft allotment. Because they never want to rethink the idea that there is also a market for those who want a redeye in the OTHER direction-which is actually more conducive to jet lag and sleep on the flight. B6's best next target should be an 11:55Pm departure to JFK from LHR. It's actually a much more sensible...
They have, but they are limited, often full, more expensive, and hard to come by. The reality is aircraft allotment. Because they never want to rethink the idea that there is also a market for those who want a redeye in the OTHER direction-which is actually more conducive to jet lag and sleep on the flight. B6's best next target should be an 11:55Pm departure to JFK from LHR. It's actually a much more sensible redeye in that direction. I would love it! Late check out of 4PM at hotel (much easier to get than en early check-in) with a nice dinner that evening. Head to airport at 9PM and board, sleep and ready to go on the east coast.
The current JFK-LGW flights depart roughly an hour and 30 minutes apart from each other. Not much will be lost by shifting that earlier departure to a morning departure to LHR instead, which offers an attractive alternative to those preferring a daytime TATL flight (like myself) and Heathrow over Gatwick.
I had the pleasure of flying JFK-LGW-JFK in Mint last month, when the rail workers were on strike. (I would have flown through LHR...
The current JFK-LGW flights depart roughly an hour and 30 minutes apart from each other. Not much will be lost by shifting that earlier departure to a morning departure to LHR instead, which offers an attractive alternative to those preferring a daytime TATL flight (like myself) and Heathrow over Gatwick.
I had the pleasure of flying JFK-LGW-JFK in Mint last month, when the rail workers were on strike. (I would have flown through LHR but flights were 50%+ more expensive.) Getting an Uber or taxi between Gatwick and Central London is cost prohibitive and time intensive (over an hour and a half and involving many one-lane roads or streets with stoplights). The Gatwick Express is great when it's running, but when it's not, it really puts Gatwick at a huge disadvantage for those traveling to/from Central London.
For what it's worth, the Mint cabin was about 60% full on both flights, and my ticket was $3k round-trip (inclusive of the exorbitant taxes). There was at least one non-revenue passenger on the return flight (along with the JetBlue CEO and his travel companion). Hard to imagine JetBlue is making money on these flights if my experience is at all indicative of the norm here.
What time of year were you flying? I’ve flown Mint back and forth between JFK/BOS and LGW/LHR at least 12 times and the Mint cabin and economy cabin were completely full almost every time. I don’t think they would be expanding their European presence if they weren’t making money. The JetBlue COO/President just announced last year that the route has been profitable and load factors in the upper 80’s.
Don't get the daytime TATL flight hate! In a world with onboard wifi it's really an efficient and productive way of travelling vs ~5 hours of sleep you get on a redeye. Did it for the first time pre Christmas. Zero jet lag. Was great!
JetBlue already has a JFK flight from LHR at 08.25. How can they have two flights at the same time to the same destination when the Match flight is introduced?
Read the whole article!
I am not a fan of daytime flights when I'm travelling on vacation as I'd rather not waste a day on travel. But for corporate travel - totally in for day flights so I can sleep on a proper bed and be ready for my work meetings the next day
With the other commenters. I can rarely sleep on a plane even in business class, and especially when east coast to London is like 6 hours. I'd much rather land at night and pass out. Would love to see more of this.
I love this, and I wish there were more eastbound daytime TATL options. A lot of people, including families with young kids, can't get a moment's rest on a redeye. I would rather lose a day and hit the ground running the next morning.
I think I like it. Although it's a "waste of a day," get a hotel after the flight... Wake up on a normal sleep schedule not feeling like garbage
How much does it cost to park a plane at LHR for 12 hours?
https://www.heathrow.com/content/dam/heathrow/web/common/documents/company/doing-business-with-heathrow/flights-condition-of-use/conditions-of-use-documents/LHR_Conditions_of_Use_2022.pdf
The following charges for parking aircraft at the Airport:
Wide Bodied Aircraft
(i) there is no charge for the first 90 minutes;
(ii) charge per 15 minutes or part thereof after the free period is: £61.70
Narrow Bodied Aircraft
(i) there is no charge for the first 30 minutes;
(ii) charge per 15 minutes or part thereof after the free period is: £29.38
These charges will apply whilst the aircraft...
https://www.heathrow.com/content/dam/heathrow/web/common/documents/company/doing-business-with-heathrow/flights-condition-of-use/conditions-of-use-documents/LHR_Conditions_of_Use_2022.pdf
The following charges for parking aircraft at the Airport:
Wide Bodied Aircraft
(i) there is no charge for the first 90 minutes;
(ii) charge per 15 minutes or part thereof after the free period is: £61.70
Narrow Bodied Aircraft
(i) there is no charge for the first 30 minutes;
(ii) charge per 15 minutes or part thereof after the free period is: £29.38
These charges will apply whilst the aircraft is parked on areas designated as Airport parking areas, whether the aircraft is secured to the ground or to a structure on the Airport or is left on the ground unsecured.
Parking is free between the hours of 2200 and 0559 UTC (GMT).
So, about £1357.48 for 11.5 hours (first half hour is free)
Not exactly, its about 381 pounds as the parking is fre between 2200 and 0559 UTC (as per your comment). B6 only needs to pay for roughly 3 hours.