Finally: JetBlue plans retrofits for 9-year-old Mint cabins, fixes for new product
When JetBlue introduced Mint in 2014, it wasn't long until the carrier started racking up the awards.
Mint was a new take on domestic business class that hadn't been seen before in the industry. From innovative lie-flat suites to chef-inspired meals (that people actually want to eat), it's no surprise that JetBlue's flagship product kept winning awards.
But now, nine years later, JetBlue's original Mint cabins are dated. Fortunately, improvements are on the way.
"We are ready with a plan. We just need to go to start doing facelifts for lack of a better term of the cabin," Mariya Stoyanova, JetBlue's onboard product chief, said in an exclusive interview with TPG.
Speaking about the age of JetBlue's existing Mint product, Stoyanova shared that "we're definitely at the point where we need a facelift. I mean, it's been a while. For a business-class product, you usually do a retrofit between seven and 10 years, and we're there."
Before you get too excited, know that JetBlue wouldn't share any details of what the retrofitted product might look like. Of course, it's possible that the carrier might simply rip out the old seats and install its next-generation Mint Suites and Studios, but it's too early to tell what might be coming next.
In fact, Stoyanova couldn't even share when these retrofits might happen. That's because of the pending takeover of Spirit Airlines, which hangs in the balance based on the outcome of the Department of Justice antitrust trial that just concluded last week.
Assuming the merger goes through, JetBlue has already stated that it'll retrofit Spirit's yellow Airbuses into a more traditional JetBlue configuration, which could complicate the timeline for the Mint refurbishments.
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"A lot depends on the outcome of the developments in the past few weeks," Stoyanova added.
For now, we'll have to wait to see what happens with the Spirit merger, but I'm looking forward to seeing what JetBlue has up its sleeve. Between the outdated inflight entertainment systems, the wear and tear around the cabin and the (sometimes) inoperable suite doors, the tried-and-true original Mint product is in desperate need of some TLC.
While the original Mint needs the most work, even the new product isn't necessarily holding up so well. Between broken buddy seats, cracked seat placards, damaged suite doors, worn-out footwells and peeling wireless charging pads, you might be surprised to learn that this product is just over two years old.
The good news is that JetBlue has some near-term plans to address many of these issues, according to Stoyanova.
Because JetBlue custom-designed the new Mint product, the airline couldn't actually test the new seats in a real-world setting.
"Some of those prove not to be that durable given that they're new to the market," Stoyanova said. "We try to pretest as much as possible, but it doesn't work all the time. We are now looking at solutions that actually work.
"We have a pretty robust list," she added. "We are already in places doing some major improvements behind the scenes."
For example, Stoyanova shared that the airline has already identified a fix for the cracked seat placards. Originally, the airline thought that they were breaking because passengers were damaging them by placing their bags on them. It turns out, however, that the cleaning agent used during deep cleanings cracks the material.
So, JetBlue is now in the process of phasing out the old cleaning solution and replacing it with one that doesn't cause cracks in the seat placards.
Of course, much of this wear and tear wouldn't have appeared if JetBlue simply installed an off-the-shelf product, such as the Collins Diamond seat, that's been tested by other airlines.
But JetBlue doesn't want to simply offer a seat that you can find on other airlines. The off-the-shelf seats are "not as functional, but very solid," Stoyanova concluded.
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