In July, I exclusively reported that as JetBlue seeks to innovate in response to persistent losses and a blocked merger with Spirit Airlines, it plans to introduce a domestic first class cabin it will call “Mini Mint” across its fleet of Airbus jets. Those plans have now been officially confirmed.
Coming In 2026: “Mini Mint” (Domestic First Class Recliner Seats) On JetBlue
For months, JetBlue has been hinting about a new premium product and Live And Let’s Fly has reviewed a memo from Marty St. George, JetBlue’s President, that there will be a domestic-style first class recliner seat coming to JetBlue’s entire Airbus family of jets starting in 2026. JetBlue has “probably” chosen the Collins Aerospace MiQ seat, pictured above, as its seat for these new premium cabins, though the memo does not explicitly state this (other sources have told me this).
The MiQ seat offers:
- Four-way adjustable headrest
- Up to 10 inches of recline
- Large bi-fold table
- Adjustable aisle armrest
- Literature and personal item storage
- In-flight entertainment integration
We see this seat widely used in the airline industry as a premium economy seat, including on American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. It also serves as a business class seat on carriers including Aeromexico and Turkish Airlines and also a “domestic first class” seat on American and Hawaiian Airlines.
Live And Let’s Fly has learned that JetBlue will configure its aircraft with the following seat counts:
- A220 – 143 seats, including 8 Mini Mint (MM) and 135 Core (economy)
- A320 – 162 seats, including 12 MM and 150 economy
- A321ceo -198 seats, including 12 MM and 186 economy
- A321neo 200 seats, including 12 MM and 188 economy
How will JetBlue be able to add Mini Mint seats without sacrificing the overall seat count? Unfortunately, it plans to shrink legroom in economy class.
- Mini Mint – 36-37 inches
- Even More Space (extra legroom economy) – 35 inches
- Core (“regular” economy) – 30 inches
Core seats currently have 32 inches of pitch, an industry best, that apparently will be sacrificed as Mini Mint seats are added.
Retrofits will begin in 2026 with the oldest A320 jets, then proceed to newer jets that do not currently have the Mint product installed.
There’s no word on placing premium cabin seats on JetBlue’s fleet of 100-seat Embraer E190 jets.
JetBlue has internally called this project “Mini Mint” but will abandon that name going forward:
While we’ve all had fun calling this project “mini-Mint”, the truth is the Mint brand is unique and we don’t want to confuse customers. With that, our domestic first offering will have its own brand identity, reflecting, a domestic first experience distinct from Mint.
Why JetBlue Is Offering Domestic First And How It Will Approach The Cabin
The memo sheds light on why JetBlue chose to install first class seats and how it is thinking about this new premium cabin.
“Customer demand for premium options is stronger than ever. From Even More Space to Mint, JetBlue has evolved to compete in premium leisure. Domestic first, paired with Mint, our updated EvenMore, and upcoming lounges, will ensure we have the premium options that leisure customers want from a brand they love. And to be clear, while we talk about it as “domestic” product, it will be offered all across our network where Mint does not operate.”
To that end, JetBlue is “crafting a product that leisure customers will love while keeping operational complexity low and staying true to our low-cost model.” It emphasizes the new product will:
- Offer elevated comfort with more space to relax and details that make a difference
- Be designed with value in mind – a great experience at an affordable fare
This Is Long Overdue And Great News
Earlier this year, JetBlue said it was looking into “evolving our product offering and network to reflect customer trends, including a focus on premium leisure.”
As One Mile At A Time smartly pointed out six months ago, there are many compelling reasons for JetBlue to add a domestic first class product, including:
- JetBlue is in premium markets
- JetBlue could introduce first class efficiently
- It would feed into JetBlue’s long haul network
- First class would greatly enhance JetBlue TrueBlue
- First class would help JetBlue maximize revenue
- JetBlue could reduce flight attendant staffing on A320s (though it seems instead JetBlue will just squeeze economy class passengers instead of capping seats at 150 passengers in order to reduce one flight attendant position)
- First class would help JetBlue with partnerships
I fully agree and think there is great sense in JetBlue adding a first class product and am thrilled there are finally more concrete plans underway.
This will complement JetBlue’s two new lounges, one in New York, one in Boston, quite nicely.
> Read More: JetBlue Will Open Posh Airport Lounges In New York + Boston
CONCLUSION
JetBlue plans to introduce “Mini Mint” premium cabins to its entire Airbus family of jets, likely using the tried-and-tested Collins Aerospace MiQ seats. Retrofits will not begin immediately, with the new cabins not set to enter service until an unspecified date in 2026.
I view this as progress: this is the sort of product that has been logical for many years and a product that will drive premium traffic and revenue to JetBlue.
What are your thoughts on JetBlue Mini Mint?
image: rendering and logo created by Live And Let’s Fly, not official
With more competition, this could help bring down some fares in F. Sometimes F fares out of NYC to other major cities reach up to three to four times more than Y when they were probably around two times more than Y before covid.
By demand for premium seating, New York is one of the biggest markets globally and the biggest in the US by far and it isn’t close.
B6 left a lot of money on the table by refusing to add first class.
Comes at the cost of reducing pitch in Y. But, I guess there are benefits for the company as it’s to drive up further revenue, would help feed B6’s long haul network, and positioning B6 into joining one of the three major airline alliances or having better partnerships with other airlines.
I guess this is great news? I agree B6 needs to do this, but with an unknown 2026 target date for the first aircraft to enter service — c’mon. This seems to be a common trend…announce a “new” first or business class seat with a future target date for installation, only to hear the installation is being delayed for either aircraft delays or “supply chain issues”.
I know this news is more for investors, so I get it. But from a passenger perspective (you know, the ones that actually pay the airfares), it’s annoying to hear of a product that you won’t see for two years.
As stated elsewhere, this moves B6 from LCC to Legacy status.
The soft items (food, beverage, service) in the new class need to be better than the other legacy carriers to pull in that premium revenue that B6 desperately needs. Also, the true business warriors demand frequency and reliability which have been B6 weaknesses. Something Ms Joanna needs to work on.
The retreat from LAX could have been avoided if this product had been available at an earlier date. I understand B6 was distracted with the Spirit acquisition at the time. However, I still believe there’s gold to be minted in the Los Angeles basin.
Do your homework, it doesn’t matter what B6 does they can never be a legacy airline. Full service, maybe but they CANT time travel so that’s a negative on legacy status.
@Facts @Nedskid
OK, I get it. Maybe I should have stated this moves B6 from LCC to “Legacy Format”.
However, lets think about it. DL, UA, & AA have all declared Chapter 11 and merged with other significant airlines. All hit the re-start button, and none reflect their former glory. I hear too much b***hing on these websites about the dearth of service and courtesy compared to just 10 or 15 yrs ago. As an example, The AA of today is light years different from the AA of Robert Crandall. Also, B6 has been around now for 24+ yrs. That’s a life time in this airline environment so cut them some slack. Even WN is under considerable pressure to change its business model. Who would have ever thought that could happen!
Also, as I noted, in order for B6 to survive in its transition to “Legacy format”, it needs to up its game considerably in reliability and customer service. It’s now in its senior year and can not act like a first year rookie any longer!! If handled correctly, the “other legacy” carriers will become concerned and purchase it if Trump wins.
So, what are you worried about!!
Slight typo:
The second to last line should read “…purchase it when Trump wins.” =:-)
JetBlue hasn’t been a LCC in a long long time. It is a small, aimlessly wandering airline with out of control legacy costs that finally woke up in the hospital and found Jesus.
Of course, I’m biased, but I agree that there is tremendous potential in the LA market.
I think Mint service from Burbank would be a winner and a wider route network from LA, Southwest style, could be successful.
I agree with you on Burbank. I think in the greater LA area there is tremendous potential for a more premium product like this. They originally tried this sort of thing with Ontario.. .but I agree Burbank is a better place to try out Tic Tac.
And yet B6 has abandoned BUR altogether…
This will leave WN as the outlier that does not encourage the development of DVT in economy. I guess it’s “great news” to someone who has the luxury of flying domestic first everywhere, but it’s unfortunate for the average Joe who at least currently has the option to skip the torture of flying like a sardine on that flight that they’re taking.
However, I do appreciate the spin here of celebrating how “less is more”” because a privileged minority will have a better option to spend more $$ on the airline (and not have to sit with the unwashed) while the average Joe just has to suck it up.
This is good news as flights to the Caribbean don’t necessarily call for lie flat seats but traveling in domestic first class at JetBlue prices is welcomed. I have purchased even more space upfront for every JetBlue flight since 2019 so I’m happy to have this option. I hope the prices are reasonable.
I do feel bad as the extra leg room was what JetBlue was known for and made it a stand out.
We purchase seats with extra leg room all the time. Will they be affected or take their place. Depends on the extra fee
Were i CEO, this is a decision i would have taken, though i might have taken a seat or two out to eliminate the need for an extra flight attendant…..how can 2 seats pay for an extra flight attendant?
Bravo to them for taking a bold step.
Only 30inches in economy?
ONLY 30 INCHES IN ECONOMY?
WE RIOT!
@AngryFlier:
Sadly, if Elliot Investment Management succeeds in dismantling Southwest’s more democratic (note: small “d”), passenger centric culture, it too, will become more like, or possibly indistinguishable, from the elitist/caste system “Big 3”, who favor the most fortunate among us over the 75-80% of fare paying, main cabin/economy class fliers JetBlue now appears to be setting its sights on chasing instead of keeping true to its core value of offering a more humanized approach to flying for everyone by reducing capacity marginally to retain its 32” main cabin, or “Core”, row pitch.
Sadly, come 2026, JetBlue, and possibly Southwest, will be indistinguishable – or perhaps nominally distinguishable at best like it already is now except for its more generous row pitch – from American, Delta or United.
Or maybe it’s just positioning itself for the inevitable takeover by American once government regulators turn a blind eye to consumer protection and anti-trust enforcement – or allow the two airlines to reinstate/recreate the alliance approved in the waning days of the previous administration.
“Premium” but no lounge lol
And 2” pitch loss in economy is brutal, I’m not sure why this seems to be downplayed.
I’m not trying to downplay it – it’s a big news and big downgrade for coach flyers, but JetBlue was really the outlier: it was not competitive for this sort of extra legroom to last.
WN also has 32″ pitch
Jetblue would still keep the most legroom in economy because they count with an intermediate seat (still economy) that is called “Even more space”… still an offering in economy no us carrier has that offers up to 38 inches. Delta currently has comfort + in economy and it only offers 34 inches… So while the 32.3 in a regular seat may be downgraded to 30.3 the Ems seat may still offer from 35 to 38 actual inches. Then Mini Mint for a premium seat that will service it’s most profitable domestic routes… A win in my opinion. Ms. Geraghty is doing a marvelous job.
No, she’s doing a terrible job. She just as clueless and un-educated as ever. Several other far more competent executives were added (and re-added) and you can credit them for these changes. Garrety is there to meet a diversity quota. Her leash is being pulled by higher ups.
Also, while these are rumors, There’s “rumors” of a Mosaic lounge being built at JFK .. BOS next to come to enhance the premium experience. But pretty sure the Marketing ideas are still in the drawing board.
Something else to consider are lounges at JFK and BOS which would fit into the program.
Instead of all the wasted food sitting in steaming trays, how about a deli or grill arrangement focusing on freshly made sandwiches and meals, salads, pastries, beer, liquor and beverages. No need to go over the top. Just focus on quick and simple. I understand terminal 6 will be next to the B6 terminal. Opportunity to gain some real estate.
They should have done this a long time ago. Now what remains to be seen is what sort of onboard service element they put in place to go with the hard product. I’m guessing a lot closer to Alaska than American.
@Howard Miller: If that were to happen, it would truly be appalling. Not everyone is of average height, not can everyone travel up front. I’ve been fortunate to fly just enough to be able to upgrade either to more-legroom economy, premium economy or every domestic first now and then. Most people cannot. And with crappy pitch like 30″ or less, you can indeed contract DVT as I did on a ram packed UA 757 from SFO-ORD a few years ago. It wasn;t fun at all and it can be dangerous.
Not that the bean counting douchebags on Wall Street really care whether you live or die when using their product. Only that you pay and enhance shareholder value. I hope WN’s poison pill strategy scares off the wannabe Gordon Gekko who’s threatening them.
Well, after a couple of decades of being a loyal customer, I’m likely going to be taking my business elsewhere. The extra space is the reason I fly Jetblue. Was.
You still have until an unspecified point in 2026 for the retrofits to START…no need to jump ship yet
@AngryFlier:
I agree. The elitism, greed, arrogance and over entitlement of a small group of fliers (and shareholders, many of whom are the same self important folks glomming ever more space for themselves at the pointy end [or up to half for long-haul aircraft] of the plane) has gotten out of control.
Alas, it appears that things will get worse for main cabin/economy class fliers in the near future, especially if/when consumer protection and anti-trust regulations are “relaxed” or nominally enforced to further “enhance” shareholder value.
I’m 5’8”, have flown NYC-LAX-NYC in 30” row pitch and it’s horrible.
I can only imagine how much worse this way too limited pitch must be for those taller than myself.
Alas, since most of the bean counters at the airlines and their shareholder overlords have the option to avoid the teeny, tiny child sized, no legroom seats they cram down others’ throats, they don’t care.
It’s one thing to be crammed in a too small, no legroom, 30” pitch seat for 2-3 hours, but quite another for flights >3 hours.
But, as long as (greedy) airline managers, shareholders and “elite fliers” can easily escape the discomfort (and health risks) they expect others to “suck up,” sadly, nothing will change.
@Howard: The extra legroom is wonderful (it made flying London to New York in Core totally bearable), but are people willing to pay a premium for it? Or is JetBlue forced to charge what its competitors charge and therefore continue to lose money?
Extra legroom is nice – but it seems unviable (just as AA’s MRTC or whatever it was called two decades ago also failed)
In BOS/NYC, it felt like for a long time people certainly were. JetBlue was a low-cost carrier for sure, but the prices were consistently closer to DL/AA than it should have been for an LCC.
I think the reason why the willingness to pay has eradicated is not because people won’t pay for legroom, but is because they don’t value 2in more of legroom over the massive difference in reliability between B6 and DL. Because of that, it feels like fixing the operations to restore that willingness to pay feels like the bigger step here.
I am a JetBlue Mosiac/corporate flier – many times picking them over a FC option – and this feels very misguided to me.
Their #1 issue right now is operations. I moan far more about my endlessly delayed flights rather than not having a “true FC” seat.
If you shrink core down to 30in, what is the point of flying JetBlue economy over Delta in Boston or NYC? They’re going to have to compete purely on price, because DL has them matched now on seat, catering, service, and is way better with operations.
Garbage airline serving the human trash that inhabit the open sewers of New York and Boston. Good news that these egotistic maniacs are getting shafted by their “hometown airline”.
MAGA eh?
@Matthew: Good question! Yes, times change and businesses must adapt or risk failure, as I imagine the airline – and advocates of this “rumored” looming change at JetBlue – will argue.
However, in JetBlue’s case, the airline’s founding, or if you will, “Core” mission/marketing strategy was “bringing humanity back to flying” by offering superior amenities and increased comfort compared to what competitors, of which there were considerably more than there have been over the past decade (Continental, Northwest, USAirways and AirTran), offered at the time.
And JetBlue was **very successful** with its superior legroom (originally 34” pitch) and amenities which featured free, live, seat-back, satellite tv and unlimited portions from snack baskets, in contrast to American’s failed “More Room Throughout Coach” (which I suspect was launched at a time when American had a much larger footprint in NYC and was attempting to thwart the then upstart, JetBlue, which began flying in February, 2000).
In fact, American’s share at JFK after it took over TWA in 2001 was as high as 32% before JetBlue overtook American at the airport in just three years after it launched, with 25% share vs. American’s sub-24% for total traffic at JFK in February 2003.
Meanwhile, for domestic share in February 2003, the contrast between JetBlue vs. American at JFK was even greater, with JetBlue besting American 45 to 24% (source: “Round trip rumble: With its success at JFK Airport, low fare contender JetBlue is taking the fight to American Airlines”; by Trebor Banstetter [now Managing Director – Enterprise & Leader Communications at Delta Air Lines]; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; June 15, 2003; Page 1 Business; data republished from PlaneBusiness Banter column by Howard Miller; JFK market share data from Port Authority of New York & New Jersey).
So, while American’s More Room Throughout Coach failed, by contrast, JetBlue’s version of a more comfy ride was successful and a case can be made that the airline’s dismal results in recent years was the result of it mostly abandoning its flyer-friendly model in favor of becoming more like the Big 3 legacy airlines with successive product degradations (including 2-3” reduced pitch for core rows & even more pitch reduction for “even more space rows), excessive fees, lagging/chronic on-time underperformance, often horrid – or even virtually no – customer service during IROPs (leaving flyers in the lurch and/or offering horrible rebooking options), becoming less generous with snack offerings, or basically abandoning the “humanity” which made the airline successful.
Simply put, while most others’ attempts at offering increased legroom have failed (more often than not, failing airlines such as OG Eastern, TWA or even American, which had notoriously bad labor relations when it tried its hand at MRTC), for quite some time, JetBlue’s superior hard and soft coach/economy product proved successful in building the airline, and the airline’s dismal performance in recent years seems to also correlate with successive product degradations and underwhelming/lagging operating performance.
So, a case can be made that JetBlue’s shift towards becoming more like its legacy competitors has NOT served it well already.
With that in mind, will becoming just like other airlines (in this case product degradation eliminating 32” row pitch in favor of 30”) and introducing a “Mini Mint” first class cabin solve JetBlue’s “blues”?
Or is it just positioning the airline for an eventual takeover by American (or perhaps an Elliot Investment Management driven reimagining of Southwest?) once the regulatory climate in Washington changes?
But, hey, at least the airline is doing something to address its loss of identity, which I suppose is better than the distractions and malaise of the past few years.
Time will tell if this latest rumored effort is successful in attracting higher margin flyers?
Or if becoming even more like the Big 3 will further alienate those who were willing to endure its product degradations in recent years because it still offered ~2” more legroom in coach/economy than the Big 3 do?
Mini mint will only have cold good. Regular mint (lie flat) will have hot meal options. There are no ovens on the current fleet of non-pint planes, unless that are planning to add ovens at the same time they remodel seats?
I was thinking that too – I doubt ovens will be added (though is is certainly possible) and so we might see cold meals. However, if B6 offered meals on all routes (even short ones like BOS-JFK or LAX-SFO like Virgin America used to do), I think it could satisfy its premium cabin guests.
If Jetblue’s economy class is little different from Big 3, why would NYC and BOS based road worriers still fly B6? Delta operations are more on-time and has more flight frequency to most business markets than B6.
More and more I like Southwest for the 32” pitch standard for all seats. Seems like it will now be the only airline to offer that. I hope Elliott’s “investment” in Southwest doesn’t mess this up. It’s the only reason I fly Southwest.
Too little too late in my opinion. It takes money to compete effectively against the Big 3. I dint think B6 will succeed in its own.
Gonna call it now: Once AS is done folding HA into the family, B6 will fit nicely and allow them them to further expand across the Atlantic and Latin America.
I do agree – long-term, we will likely see Alaska and JetBlue merger. Would be very interesting if Alaska would keep THREE brands…
Matt, the Embraers will be gone by the time the first mini-mint refurb takes place. Personally, I think they are already a step behind by not adding “mini-mint” to the mint-equipped fleet as well. AA and DL will have premium economy on their new transcon fleet (and Delta seems to be doing well with it already on JFK-LAX widebodies).
The focus on “value” signals there will be no hot food…I am expecting boxed meals and perhaps something akin to the transatlantic cold economy meal on longer flights (both still could be very tasty if they want to spend some money). They are going to keep things efficient for the staff. Ovens onboard/hot meals seem more likely in a second-gen overhaul of the product if the initial roll-out is highly successful down the road.
I tend to agree we will see something like cold meals onboard.
But I guess part of me hopes they will take the Virgin America (European) model of a meal on every flight, regardless of length.
This makes it one step easier for them to merge with Alaska. They both will offer similar products, have strong brand awareness, are in core markets, would be a strong competitor to the established legacies, and it solves the whole Alaska/Hawaiian brand identity crisis. Merge them all together, fix the whole gap in central/Midwest America buy acquiring Spirit and reallocating resources. The LCC concept of all-Y, buy as you go, etc is dead. Thankfully the industry is shifting back to competing on product/service rather than bare-bones cheap fares.
I wanted to love and fly Jetblue, but they significantly downgraded at LAX.
Yes – it is painful for me too. But I get it – LA is such a hard market. Very tough to be profitable out of LAX.
My perception of JetBlue quickly devolved from competitive upstart to regional fuckup. I don’t know what their mission and purpose is anymore and their bottom rank in WSJ makes that clear.