JetBlue is known for its excellent Mint business class product. On the carrier’s new Airbus A321neos and A321LRs, the airline has a business class product with direct aisle access from every seat, plus privacy doors.
Well, at least that has been the case up until now. Soon the airline will be locking the doors at individual seats on some jets, in order to save money…
JetBlue A321neo Mint doors will be locked
Airlines are heavily regulated when it comes to safety. When airlines introduce new seating arrangements, they need permission from regulators, to ensure that all safety requirements are being met, including evacuation times, accessibility, etc.
That brings us to this situation. JetBlue’s Mint business class seats with doors are causing some issues with regulators. Or more accurately, JetBlue is trying to staff flights at absolute minimums, and that causes a problem with doors.
This issue involves JetBlue’s fleet of eight Airbus A321neos, which are used both for transatlantic and transcontinental flights. These are separate from the carrier’s 11 Airbus A321LRs, which are explicitly intended for transatlantic flights.
JetBlue’s A321neos with Mint feature a total of 160 seats, including 16 Mint business class seats. Under normal circumstances, the FAA requires airlines to have at least one flight attendant per 50 seats, meaning there would need to be at least four flight attendants on this aircraft.
However, the FAA has determined that an extra flight attendant is needed on these kinds of planes with doors, to account for the increased workload of ensuring that the individual doors are properly locked for taxi, takeoff, and landing. In the case of JetBlue’s A321neos with 160 seats, this means that the airline needs five flight attendants, rather than four flight attendants.
Back in March 2024, when JetBlue received this directive from the FAA, the airline decided to increase staffing on the A321neo, to be able to continue to use those doors. However, as reported by Seth Miller, the airline is now backtracking.
As of mid-August 2024, JetBlue plans to decrease staffing on A321neos to four flight attendants once again. This means that the airline will have to disable the doors at business class seats. Let me emphasize that this won’t apply to the A321LRs. Those planes have sufficient staffing, as they have under 150 seats.
What can we really make of this situation?
It goes without saying that this situation is kind of embarrassing across the board. JetBlue has invested in a great new business class product, and now passengers won’t be able to use one of the key features that has been marketed with this seat, which is a door.
I can see JetBlue’s perspective here. The airline is trying to return to profitability. Is it worth having an extra flight attendant just to ensure that doors can be used at business class seats? That would be a huge investment in a small number of travelers, and I think most spreadsheet jockeys would struggle with that.
Now, some might say that the FAA’s policy is ridiculous, and this is unnecessary bureaucracy. While I understand that perspective, I think it’s worth emphasizing that JetBlue was aware of the risk of this requirement all along.
JetBlue’s “classic” Mint business class product had an exemption whereby the airline didn’t need an extra flight attendant, as there were only four seats that had doors. However, it was clear all along that if there were more doors at seats, an exemption probably wouldn’t be granted.
That’s exactly what happened, so now the airline is stuck dealing with this reality. It’s not really the FAA’s fault that JetBlue was hoping it could get away with that. As a matter of fact, when Airbus received approval for the new Airbus Cabin Flex (ACF) layout, the FAA was explicit about the need for an extra flight attendant if there were this number of seats with doors:
The FAA does not agree with the petitioner’s proposal because the workload that will be required to ensure the proposed 16 or 24 suite doors are in the correct position for taxi, take-off, and landing is considered significant and would not necessitate an additional evaluation… Because this is a critical safety element to reduce the likelihood that a door could be left closed for takeoff and landing, the FAA will require an additional crewmember in order to grant this exemption.
So as much as one wonders whether this is really necessary, JetBlue really has no one to blame here…
Bottom line
In the coming weeks, JetBlue will deactivate the doors at Mint business class seats on Airbus A321neos. This is because the FAA requires airlines to have an extra flight attendant above minimums to ensure these doors are properly locked for critical phases of flight, given the increased workload.
JetBlue has temporarily increased staffing on A321neos to accommodate this, but is no longer wanting to do that, given that the airline wants to return to profitability. As a result, the airline has made the decision to just deactivate these doors, so that it can cut one flight attendant from these aircraft.
What do you make of this JetBlue Mint door situation?
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