JetBlue Airways, seeking a better way to entice high-end Hollywood movie and TV traffic, as well as the Silicon Valley market, on Sept. 30 introduced a new business class service called Mint. Mint will offer what JetBlue claims are the longest lie-flat beds in domestic business class, as well as four private suites among the 16 Mint seats.
To celebrate JetBlue’s new Mint service, fares are now on sale for $499 one way from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) for travel between June 15 – the first day Mint flights will be in service – and June 18, 2014 – the end of JetBlue’s current schedule.
“Just as we revolutionized the core travel experience more than a decade ago with an elevated product and customer-focused culture, we intend to reinvent the lucrative coast-to-coast market with Mint,” said JetBlue President and CEO Dave Barger. “Mint is JetBlue’s refreshing take on a premium class product. It is stylish service minus all of the stuffiness often associated with the traditional front-of-the-cabin experience.”
Mint will feature a pre-departure drink, followed by a cocktail and amuse-bouche once airborne. JetBlue has partnered with New York City-based restaurant Saxon + Parole to curate the onboard menu. Mint travelers will customize their meal by choosing among five “comfort food with a twist” offerings, served tapas-style, followed by dessert. Fresh cappuccino and espresso made from the first purposely built cappuccino machine for a U.S. airline will be available throughout the flight.
JetBlue will also be the only U.S. airline to offer customized men’s and women’s amenity kits from partner Birchbox, a global discovery retail company that offers consumers a personalized way to discover, learn about and purchase the best beauty and grooming products from prestigious brands.
JetBlue’s Mint seat is a fully lie-flat bed up to 6 feet, 8 inches (203cm), averaging the longest in the U.S. domestic business class market. In addition, Mint will have the only private suites with closing doors in the American market, four on each flight. Seats are up to 22.3 inches wide, making them the widest seats on average in the U.S. domestic market. Air cushions have adjustable firmness and have massage function. Entertainment systems feature 15-inch flat screens with up to 100 channels of DirecTV programming and 100 plus channels of SiriusXM radio. There is also shoe storage, dual 110-volt power outlets with two USB ports, and “wake me for service” indicator.
JetBlue’s new Airbus A321 aircraft also will feature an enhanced core product, including a new world-class seat designed to maximize comfort, larger 10.1-inch personal screens offering up to 100 channels of DirecTV programming and 100-plus channels of SiriusXM radio, in-seat power outlets accessible to all customers and a drink holder. As a result of the new next-generation slimmer seat design, customers will enjoy even more living space and what JetBlue says is the most legroom in coach.
To add even more to the core experience on New York-Los Angeles/San Francisco flights, JetBlue developed a marketplace for all new Airbus A321s, which features a self-serve station full of snacks, sodas and water for customers to enjoy at their convenience throughout the flight. And, for the first time on JetBlue, the airline’s A321 fleet will also offer free superfast Wi-Fi Internet for all customers.
JetBlue’s flight #223, departing New York’s JFK Airport to Los Angeles International (LAX) at 9:30am on June 15, 2014, will be JetBlue’s first flight featuring the Mint experience. By fourth quarter 2014, all seven daily flights between JFK and LAX will offer Mint, as well as the enhanced core experience.
The Mint experience will be introduced on flights between JFK and San Francisco in the fourth quarter of 2014, with all five JFK-SFO flights offering Mint by the end of first quarter 2015. There will be a dedicated sub-fleet of 11 brand new Airbus A321s initially used for the two core transcontinental routes, each featuring 16 lie-flat seats, four of which are private suites, and 143 JetBlue core experience seats.
Steele Luxury Travel
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