JetBlue has been increasing its efforts to attract customers in search of a more relaxing long-haul flight at a lower cost. With its fully lie-flat seats, JetBlue's Mint product makes for an enjoyable flight — and also happens to be one of TPG's favorite ways to fly from coast to coast. In April, JetBlue announced massive Mint class expansions by operating more than 70 daily JetBlue Mint flights, a number which continues to grow.
JetBlue’s Mint cabin consists of 12 lie-flat seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration and four individual suites with closing doors in a 1-1 configuration. The product is currently available on flights between New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO), a few flights from Boston (BOS), as well as a number of JetBlue's Caribbean routes.
Starting March 20, 2017, JetBlue will launch daily nonstop service between Los Angeles (LAX) and Ft. Lauderdale (FLL), offering JetBlue Mint service from $399 one-way. The schedule is as follows:
- B6700 Los Angeles (LAX) 1:15pm Departure ⇒ Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 9:05pm Arrival
- B6701 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 9:00am Departure ⇒ Los Angeles (LAX) 11:55am Arrival
Then, starting April 20, 2017, JetBlue will add another Mint-serviced aircraft to the route, bringing it up to two nonstop flights per day. In late-April, all routes will have a base fare of $399 or 29,800 TrueBlue points. The new flight's schedule is as follows:
- B6100 Los Angeles (LAX) 10:55pm Departure ⇒ Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 6:45am (+1) Arrival
- B6101 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 5:04pm Departure ⇒ Los Angeles (LAX) 8:00pm Arrival
Even if you have a plethora of TrueBlue points in your account, you may want to think twice before redeeming them for this new flight since you're not really getting the biggest bang for your points, which TPG values between 1.0 and 1.4 cents.
With the addition of the LAX-FLL route, JetBlue's still leading Virgin America, which still doesn't offer fully lie-flat seats in its front cabin — Virgin's cross-country fares also start at $849 one-way. With JetBlue continuously rolling out its Mint product nationwide, Virgin America will likely have a hard time competing with the quality of service being offered.
JetBlue's TrueBlue member program can be very rewarding, especially when you can earn an additional 6x points on JetBlue purchases when you book flights with the JetBlue Plus Card. The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 points after you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days.
Are you looking forward to flying Mint between Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale?
H/T: One Mile at a Time
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