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The cheapest ways to fly in JetBlue’s premium Mint cabin
Benji Stawski is a former reporter for the site, covering all things points, miles, credit cards, travel and aviation.
September 7, 2021 • 9 min read
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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Quick summary
JetBlue Mint offers a premium business-class experience with lie-flat seats, enhanced privacy and quality food and beverage service on select routes.
Mint is available on specific aircraft and operates on transcontinental, Caribbean, Central American and U.K. routes, with some routes being seasonal or limited in frequency.
The lowest Mint fares are often found on Caribbean routes, but advance booking can yield deals on other routes as well.
Mint seats can be booked with cash, JetBlue TrueBlue points, Emirates Skywards miles or through select travel portals, with Emirates Skywards often providing strong value.
What to consider
Some Mint routes are seasonal or operate only once a week, so checking schedules is essential.
Award pricing through JetBlue TrueBlue is dynamically tied to cash fares, which can reduce the value of points for Mint redemptions.
Emirates Skywards redemptions for Mint are distance-based, and not all routes (such as U.K. flights) may be available for booking with miles.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed comparison of booking strategies, including when to use cash, loyalty miles or travel portals for the best value on JetBlue Mint.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Reviews of JetBlue’s premium Mint cabin have been almost universally positive since the product debuted back in 2013. It even took home the TPG Award for best domestic business class multiple years in a row. The seats are spacious and private, the food and drinks are consistently great, and perhaps most importantly, it's often reasonably priced.
We’ve seen Mint routes for under $300 per person, so it’s possible to score a relative deal for this comfortable inflight experience. Also, although the airline isn’t a part of any formal airline alliance, there are a few ways to book Mint with points and miles. Today, we’ll look at both revenue and award options to find the cheapest ways to book JetBlue Mint.
(Photo by Emily McNutt/The Points Guy)
Aircraft and routes
JetBlue’s Mint product is only available on select A321, A321neo and A321LR aircraft. You'll find these planes operating a growing number of transcontinental, Central American, Caribbean and U.K. flights. Here are some key Mint routes:
New York-JFK to/from Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS), San Diego (SAN), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), Aruba (AUA), St. Maarten (SXM) and London (LHR).
Newark (EWR) to/from Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Aruba (AUA) and St. Maarten (SXM).
Boston (BOS) to/from Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS), San Diego (SAN), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA) and St. Maarten (SXM).
Los Angeles (LAX) to/from Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR), Miami (MIA) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL).
Note that some Mint routes are seasonal or operate just once a week, so make sure to check JetBlue’s schedule carefully when planning your trip dates.
Aside from on the new A321LRs flying to London and select A321neo flights between New York-JFK and Los Angeles (which offer even better seats), JetBlue offers a consistent business-class cabin across its Mint-equipped fleet.
There are 16 Mint seats spread across five rows, with each row alternating between a 2-2 configuration (odd-numbered rows) and 1-1 configuration (even-numbered rows). All seats are fully lie-flat and feature a massage function, a built-in power outlet, USB port and seatback entertainment. That said, the seats in the even-numbered rows offer the most privacy, complete with closing doors.
Not surprisingly, the most straightforward way to book Mint tickets is naturally with cash. As mentioned, we've seen Mint fares go for under $300 one-way. However, you can usually expect to pay around $600 each way on cross-country routes, $500 each way on Caribbean routes and around $1,000 to the U.K.
To see if we could determine a time or route that was consistently the cheapest, we searched 14 Mint routes for a one-way ticket for both close-in dates (less than 72 hours) and three months in the future. Here’s a chart of the results:
Origin
Destination
Close-in
Future
Boston
Seattle
$697
$499
Boston
Los Angeles
$808
$759
Boston
Las Vegas
$813
$846
New York-JFK
San Francisco
$959
$817
New York-JFK
Los Angeles
$799
$667
New York-JFK
Seattle
$1,148
$548
New York-JFK
London Heathrow
$1,979*
$992*
New York-JFK
St. Maarten
$430
$430
Newark
Aruba
$890
$640
Newark
St. Lucia
$435
$435
Los Angeles
Newark
$992
$648
Los Angeles
Miami
$949
$499
Los Angeles
Fort Lauderdale
$699
$599
Los Angeles
Liberia
$442
$442
*Price each way when booking a round-trip ticket
Overall, the Caribbean Mint routes are typically going to be your best chance at flying Mint at the lowest prices. Booking a couple of months in advance will often score you lower prices, but the differences aren't always that significant. In one of our examples, it was cheaper to book close-in than far out so there's no hard and fast rule there at the moment.
There are three main ways to book JetBlue Mint tickets with points. You can either redeem directly through JetBlue TrueBlue, Emirates Skywards or your credit card's travel portal. Some transferrable card points such as Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards also transfer into the JetBlue program. Although you can also book JetBlue flights with HawaiianMiles, it doesn't have an avenue to book Mint tickets.
While booking Mint seats via TrueBlue might seem like the most obvious option, it is rarely the most valuable. JetBlue uses a dynamic pricing scheme so the price of an award flight will always be tied to the cash rate. The more a flight costs in cash, the more it will cost in points.
TPG values TrueBlue points at 1.3 cents per point. However, based on our experiences, the redemption value tends to be around 25% lower for Mint award tickets than for the rest of the seats on the plane. As such, you'll usually be better off saving your points for economy redemptions.
Emirates prices JetBlue awards based on the distance flown. And in many cases, the redemption rates can actually be a good deal. Emirates’ award chart for JetBlue flights is as follows. As you can see, Mint is always double the price of economy in this program.
One-way distance (miles)
Economy
Mint
0-250
8,000 miles
16,000 miles
251-500
10,000 miles
20,000 miles
501-1,000
14,000 miles
28,000 miles
1,001-2,000
20,000 miles
40,000 miles
2,001-3,000
26,000 miles
52,000 miles
3,001-4,000
32,000 miles
64,000 miles
4,001-5,000
38,000 miles
76,000 miles
5,001-6,000
44,000 miles
88,000 miles
6,001-7,000
50,000 miles
100,000 miles
7,001-15,000
60,000 miles
120,000 miles
To give you an idea, here are the rates for some popular Mint routes:
New York-JFK to Aruba (AUA): 40,000 miles (1,951 miles in distance).
New York-JFK to Los Angeles (LAX): 52,000 miles (2,475 miles in distance).
Boston (BOS) to San Francisco (SFO): 52,000 miles (2,704 miles in distance).
Los Angeles (LAX) to Miami (MIA): 52,000 miles (2,342 miles in distance).
JetBlue's new route from New York-JFK to London Heathrow would cost 64,000 miles (3,451 miles in distance). That said, reports suggest that U.K. flights are not bookable with Skywards miles yet. All other routes are bookable online via Emirates' website. As long as there’s "I" fare availability, it should be bookable through Emirates.
The final option to consider is redeeming your transferable points at a fixed rate directly through your credit card's travel portal.
For instance, if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you're able to redeem your points on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal for 1.5 cents apiece. This means that a $300 Mint ticket to the Caribbean would cost just 20,000 Chase points. Meanwhile, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Ink Business Preferred Credit Card holders can redeem at 1.25 cents each toward travel in the Chase portal.
If you have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and receive the 35% Pay with Points rebate (up to 1 million points per calendar year), that ticket would come out to a very attractive 19,500 Amex points.
Bottom line
JetBlue Mint is a wonderful product and there are plenty of affordable opportunities to fly at almost any given time. The cheapest Mint fares are typically offered on flights to the Caribbean, but if you're booking far enough in advance, you can find good deals on cross-country and U.K. flights as well.
Although there historically haven't been many good ways to book Mint awards with points, this is no longer the case now that Emirates Skywards offers Mint redemptions. When cash fares are low, redeeming your points at a fixed value through your credit card's travel portal may also be an appealing option.
Additional reporting by Richard Kerr.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
