JetBlue Mint across the Pond

 

Exciting news, thanks to my friend Ben at One Mile at a Time... JetBlue has announced its Mint service from JFK to London. One daily flight starts 12AUG to Heathrow, and a second daily flight starts 30AUG to Gatwick. 

Here's the outbound schedule to London:

• dep JFK at 9:48 p.m., arr. LHR at 10:10 a.m.
• dep JFK at 7:48 p.m., arr. LGW at 7:55 a.m.

Here's the return flight back to New York:

• dep. LHR at 6:10 pm., arr. JFK 9:35 p.m.
• dep. LGW at 12:10 p.m., arr JFK 3:43 p.m.

Round-trip in JetBlue's lie-flat Mint class seat starts at $1,979, per the airline's website. Combined with a comfortable lie-flat seat and JetBlue's great catering, this is quite a value.

When you're ready to plan luxury travel to London, we can accessorize your flights with stays in five star luxury hotels ... with Virtuoso amenities including daily complimentary breakfast for two + a $100 hotel credit towards F&B or spa, all at the same price you'll find on hotel websites.

London has some of the world's best hotels. Have you been thinking about a trip to England in this fall?

copyright (c) 2021 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member.

looking forward to JetBlue's Mint Suite

JetBlue is proud of the special touches on its Mint service

I last flew JetBlue in 2008. We flew to Boston for my son's wedding, and you can read my review of the flight here. Instead of booking United First for $2200 each round-trip, we bought a row of three "38" Extra Leg Room" seats ... it worked out to $450 each round-trip with plenty of room for our legs and shoulders. While we didn't get free alcohol or the chance to experience airplane food à la United, we each saved $1750 — which will buy a LOT of much better meals.

Nine and one-half years later, I'll be on JetBlue again. This time I'm flying their SFO-FLL nonstop route, and I've booked their Mint service. Having made my booking early (5 months ago), I was able to select a Mint Suite for both flights. The Mint cabin has five rows of seats. Rows 1, 3, and 5 are configured with 2x2 sleeper seats. Rows 2 and 4 have a 1x1 configuration and contain the Mint Suites, four small private cabins with both a window and a door closing to the aisle.

Each Mint seat converts into a 6'8" lie-flat bed, and the meal service is supposed to be something special. The JetBlue website shows the intent to provide an experience unlike the typical legacy airline's first class — they serve artisanal ice cream, bakery items, espresso, and even provide an amenity kit.

Be watching Travel Horizons — I'll write a review after my flights.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

treating customers like people?

photo from InsiderTravelReport

I stared incredulously at the headline —

          JetBlue launches program to treat customers like people.

That's what it really said. If you don't believe me, look here. But to turn the question around, how do the airlines treat us, their customers?

What do you call it when the airlines...

... squeeze economy passengers into tightly packed planes, six seats across a narrowbody plane with as little as 28" between the back of your seat and the seat in front of you. (I'm talking about you, Spirit and Frontier).

... institute a culture of fees: fees to check a bag, fees to use the overhead bin, fees to print boarding passes at the airport, fees to change or cancel flights. (Kudos to Southwest who actually treats us well in this regard).

... withhold accurate and up-to-date flight information? Ever been at the gate with "on time" still showing on the monitor even though it's past time for the scheduled departure. Have you ever waited hours for a delayed flight without being kept fully informed of the reason for the delay?

... delay boarding, then tell customers to "hurry up and get out of the aisles" so we can still have an on-time departure?

... sock us with fuel surcharges when oil is costly, yet keep the same surcharges even when the price of fuel goes back to normal? (I'm talking about you, British Airways).

... tempt us with points that "never expire," then expire the points — and devalue them to the point of near uselessness.

We, the flying public, are not blameless in this deterioration of service. Why do I say this? Because most people shop blindly. They click the lowest price, even if it means they've booked a trip with two connections just to save $5.

Once upon a time, American Airlines instituted a program called "More Room in Coach." They removed two rows from each plane in their fleet and used the space to provide more room for passengers, making possible a seat pitch of 34" or more. Had the public given its business to American in a major way, then all the other carriers would have upgraded their cabins as well.

Once upon a time, Midwest Express had 2x2 seating and quite good hot meals on all its flights — first class space at coach prices. Had the public given its business to Midwest Express, the rest of the industry would have followed that model.

The airlines will not treat us like people until we insist they do, until we insist on comfort in the air and courtesy at all times. How to do that? For starters, reward the airlines with the biggest minimum seat pitch: Jet Blue, Virgin America, Alaska, and Southwest.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

$29 for a seat and $45 for a carry-on?

In the spirit of insanity, Spirit Airlines has just announced an absurd new policy: they are starting to charge customers up to $45 for carry-on bags.

Most of the legacy carriers are now charging to check your bags, another bad business decision. Travel journalist Joe Brancatelli makes an interesting observation. While airline bean counters celebrate the revenue that these charges bring in, they are blind to the fact that this policy is costing them passenger revenue. Passengers are booking away from the legacy carriers. They are choosing passenger-friendly carriers such as Southwest and JetBlue that do not charge to check your bags.

You don't have to take this nonsense. Vote with your wallets! Think it's absurd to pay $45 for your carry on? Then don't fly on Spirit Airlines. If enough of you do this, the company will either (1) accede to market pressure and change this absurd new policy or (2) deservedly go out of business.

But here's the biggest absurdity. Spirit Airlines is advertising some $29 fares (check out Atlanta to Myrtle Beach in August). What does it mean when your carry-on's space in the overhead compartment is worth more than the seats that Spirit provides for their passengers?



P.S. — This is one of my pet peeves — too many passengers aren't smart about voting with their wallets. Remember years ago when American Airlines was advertising "more room in coach" — 34 inches — for pretty much the same price as everyone else. Had we voted with our wallets, we'd have 34 inches of leg room everywhere - but we didn't. So the next time you're scrunched up in a cramped, narrow seat on a transcontinental flight, think about it. Reward airlines who treat us well - and punish the airlines who treat us badly.


$45 for a carry on (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
.

JetBlue gift catalog

In a brilliant example of viral marketing, JetBlue has published a catalog of gift items on its Facebook page. Called the "Flyer Collection," this is a catalogue of 15 gift items for the holidays. I hasten to add that these are tongue-in-cheek gift items, firmly in cheek, as JetBlue has invented some outrageous products, all to poke fun at its competitors who charge to check bags, charge for snacks, offer cramped coach seats, and don't come close to matching JetBlue's on-board entertainment. It's so brilliant I'm using my blog to spread the virus.

The Extrago Sherpa Shirt (pictured above) is described as holding "an entire trip’s worth of necessities, including the $20 bill you’ll save by not checking a bag. Granted, this isn’t the most comfortable shirt. But since you didn't book with JetBlue, perhaps comfort isn’t your main concern." That gives you an idea of the silliness and humor JetBlue's marketing department. You can't actually buy these articles, of course, but the catalog is well worth a look!

Now if JetBlue could only create a softer seat cushion (I find their seats a bit too firm for my taste) and introduce a business class section with 2X2 seating, it would be an airline I would love to recommend for domestic service. Still, you can buy two adjacent seats in its "extra leg room" section (with 38" of leg room) and get business class space for a lot less than domestic first class on most carriers.


copyright (c) 2009 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
.

JetBlue | 80% of First Class at 20% the price

I recently flew cross country from the west coast for a family wedding. I hate long flights in coach. The seats are narrow, leg room is limited, and it is physically painful for me to hold in my elbows for five hours in order not to invade the space of the passenger seated next to me. For this reason, I usually try to use miles to upgrade ... or look for discounted first class fares.

But first class fares have risen drastically over the past year. When I priced two round-trip first class tickets on United, SFO-BOS, the price quoted was nearly $4,400. This trip, I tried a different strategy. I flew JetBlue, and I took advantage of a product called Even More Legroom.

Ever since April, the first rows of JetBlue's cabins have been reconfigured to provide a full 38" of legroom, more than most domestic carriers provide in their first class cabins. The price of one of these seats is just $20 more than a regular JetBlue seat. In addition, it is possible to book the middle seat to keep it unoccupied; simply list the name of the passenger as "Extra Seat." Bottom line: the two of us flew to Boston for about $900 round-trip. The seat between us was empty, offering a convenient place to keep our carry-ons.

What is my verdict? The headline says it all: 80% of First Class at 20% the price. There are three basic differences between JetBlue and first class.

1. JetBlue's seats are not that comfortable. While the space was fine, the seats provided no lumbar support, and the recline was minimal.

2. There is not a small separate forward cabin in JetBlue's A320 aircraft. However, being in row 2, I really didn't notice.

3. No meals, and no free alcohol. This is not a big issue for me, because who would choose to pay for airplane food, even up front? I simply packed a lunch of my own (a roast turkey sandwich on sliced Pain Au Levain bread with tomatoes and sprouts, some carrots and celery sticks, grapes, an apple, a banana) and supplemented it with JetBlue's offering of onboard snacks (chips, cookies, and such). Meals in domestic first class are a convenience, not a gastronomic adventure!

I would definitely do it again, but next time I'll simply bring a lower-back wedge pillow. JetBlue offers a pretty good bargain and provides DirectTV and satellite radio as well!



copyright (c) 2007 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
.

passengers held hostage

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifPassengers trapped for hours on the runway; video on YouTube! Copyright 2007 by David Ourisman. Published at http://TravelHorizons.blogspot.com. All rights reserved. I am a Virtuoso travel consultant, specializing in luxury travel. Please visit my travel website at http://MetaphorTravel.com.

This seems to be happening with some frequency these days. Passengers board their flight, the cabin doors are closed, the plane leaves the gate, and then everything stops. Something delays the flight. The plane sits on the tarmac. Minutes turn to hours. Passengers begin to feel trapped. Some ask to be let off the plane, but the airline refuses. There they are without food and drink, virtual prisoners.

It happened again on June 25, 2007, this time involving flight 6499 from JFK to Dallas. Passengers were trapped for seven long hours. But something was different this time. A passenger video taped the entire ordeal and posted it on YouTube. (I first learned of this story from Travolution Blog.)

Why is this happening? Airlines are dealing with severe financial constraints. They have cut expenses to the bare minimum (and apparently beyond). "Extra" pilots and flight crew members have been laid off. Maintenance has been outsourced. As a result, the airlines lack the flexibility they once enjoyed. A simple mechanical glitch takes longer to repair. That extra time may push flight crews beyond the maximum number of hours they are allowed work by FAA regulations. Backup crews are not as plentiful as once they were. This very scenario led to the nightmare documented in the 7 minute video posted below.

What are we as passengers to do? There are no definitive answers, but one tip is to avoid flying at the end of the month when crew shortages are more likely to occur. And my other bit of advice? Fly business or first class. Granted, this is not everyone's answer, but 10 hours in a first class seat--uncomfortable as that might be--is infinitely more comfortable than 10 hours in an economy seat, shoulders hunched and knees pressing into the seat ahead. So, in the words of Warner Wolf, "let's go to the video tape."





If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
.