JetBlue brings revamped Mint suites to Boston amid fierce competition
Until now, JetBlue has exclusively flown its new Mint suites to three of its flagship markets: New York, London and Los Angeles.
The carrier first unveiled the revamped business-class product in February 2021, which debuted in June 2021 on the Airbus A321neo and then on transatlantic hops to London two months later.
But now, JetBlue will add a fourth market to the mix: its focus city in Boston (BOS). The airline will fly its newest A321neo outfitted with the new Mint product twice daily between BOS and Los Angeles (LAX) from Aug. 6 to (at least) Oct. 29, as first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by the carrier.
You can figure out which frequencies will be operated with the new Mint experience by taking a look at the seat map on JetBlue's website, or on ExpertFlyer, which is owned by TPG's parent company Red Ventures.
If you see a 1-1 configuration in the forward cabin, then your flight is scheduled to be operated by the new Mint product.
This will mark the first time that Boston has seen regularly scheduled service with the new JetBlue aircraft and cabin, and it'll start just two days after the postponed service to London Gatwick (LGW) is scheduled to begin on Aug. 4.
JetBlue flies the Airbus A321LR, or "long-range," on its transatlantic routes. The LR version of A321 is outfitted with 22 Mint suites and two Mint studios. Meanwhile, the A321neo, which JetBlue will fly on the 2,611-mile transcontinental hop to L.A., has 14 Mint suites and two Mint studios.
The new Mint product is a big improvement compared to the legacy one that's now been flying for over eight years. The suites are now arranged in a 1-1 configuration, giving each flyer direct aisle access. Plus, the bulkhead row is branded as a "Mint Studio," which offers even more space, additional storage areas, a buddy seat and a second tray table.
Bringing the new suites to Boston comes as JetBlue's stronghold in the market is under intense competition from Delta. While JetBlue has historically been the city's biggest carrier, Delta is beefing up its service and adding new routes that go head-to-head against the incumbent.
This summer, Delta is poised to become the region's largest carrier in terms of the number of flights operated and the seats available for sale, based on Cirium schedule data. The two airlines have fought neck and neck in recent months in Boston, and Delta seems to be on the offensive in Boston.
The carrier has added two new flagship long-haul routes (to Athens and Tel Aviv) and has based its newest jet, the Airbus A321neo, in Boston. Delta's A321neo is the first jet outfitted with the airline's new domestic first-class recliners, and the carrier is first deploying the plane on transcontinental routes from Boston.
"We're putting our best product here. We're putting the new A321neos in here first… So it's about growing our network in the places that people want to fly with high frequency and our best product," Charlie Schewe, Delta's Boston-based sales director, said in a recent interview with TPG.
For its part, JetBlue has used the Northeast Alliance with American Airlines to grow in Boston and New York. While the tie-up has come under scrutiny from regulators (culminating in a lawsuit), the two airlines have added a slew of new routes and frequencies in both markets since the alliance was first unveiled in July 2020.
That said, it seems that competition is working. The lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice alleges that the pact between American and JetBlue allows for anti-competitive coordination between the two carriers.
The two airlines quickly responded, striking back against the DOJ with plenty of statistics, new marketing campaigns and even a dedicated website, neaflies.com, to prove that the Northeast Alliance does, in fact, promote competition and deliver benefits to customers.
This latest example — JetBlue adding the new Mint product to Boston transcon routes — seems aimed at responding to the intense competition.
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