To kick off my trip to Asia, I flew JetBlue on an Airbus A321 in Mint Business Class on a redeye from Los Angeles to New York, which JetBlue calls its “shuteye” service. Once agian, JetBlue receives high marks for its in-flight dining and even its older seat.
JetBlue A321 Mint Redeye Review
JetBlue offers discounted I-fares for about $700 from Los Angeles to New York JFK, which eliminates the stress of upgrade phobia. It’s a price I am willing to pay to confirm a lie-flat bed on a transcontinental flight, especially a redeye. Check fare because sometimes they can be triple that, only to drop a few days before travel.
The 8:35 pm departure was a bit early, but after kissing my wife and kids goodnight, I got a ride down to LAX and cut it rather close, arriving in terminal 5 at 7:55 pm, after boarding was scheduled to commence. However, I received notice that the flight was delayed an hour due to air traffic control, so all of a sudden I went from cutting it close to having a lot of time to spare.
Terminal 5 is one of my least-favorite terminals at LAX: it is often crowded and in need of a refresh.
Boarding finally commenced around 9:00 pm and I boarded with other Mint passengers.
JetBlue 2124
Los Angeles (LAX) – New York (JFK)
Friday, March 3
Depart: 8:38 PM
Arrive: 5:00AM+1
Duration: 5hr, 22min
Aircraft: Airbus A321 (N945JT – A Blue Mintality)
Distance: 2,475 miles
Seat: 1A (Mint Business Class)
Onboard, I found my seat and was surprised to find that the sat next to me remained open. I had missed out on reserving one of the Mint Suites in rows two and four, but the bulkhead seat plus missing seatmate made up for it (there were three seats that remained open…I guess that is still a thing on JetBlue, which does not offer complimentary upgrades to its elites?).
Seat
JetBlue uses modified Thompson Aero Vantage seats on its A321 “Classic” aircraft with Mint, which you’ll also find on Delta Air Lines, Austrian, and SWISS as well (among many others).
Standard business seats are 20.5 inches wide with 58 inches of legroom and a lie-flat bed that stretches 80 inches when flat. Choosing row 1 does make a difference in terms of foot space.
JetBlue provides two power ports per seat and seats are controlled on the center console. There’s also a handy mesh pouch for your mobile phone.
Interestingly, these seats were recently reupholstered and much more plush than the older seats (which had become a bit lumpy over the years). The seats, as well as the bedding, had tags from Tuft & Needle.
Tuft & Needle bedding includes a blanket duvet with a “built-in foot pocket” as well as a memory foam-lined pillow. after quickly eating after takeoff, I went to sleep and slept through most of the flight.
Lavatory
I did not use the lavatory, though here is a picture from a past flight:
Food + Drink
A pre-departure beverage was offered and as I always do on JetBlue, I chose a Mint Condition (gin, ginger, lime, and cucumber, and mint).
After takeoff, a snack was promptly served. Unlike other JetBlue flights, redeye flights do not offer a choice, though menus are still distributed.
The late-night supper was quite substantial and included:
- Baby gem salad with pickled pears, parmigiana, tarragon vinaigrette
- Brodo (soup) with chicken, leek, ginger
- Panini with goat cheese, tomato conserva, basil
As always on JetBlue, I quite liked the food. The sandwich was hearty, almost heavy, but very flavorful and the soup and green salad were excellent accompaniments. Of course the vanilla gelato with strawberry jam and devil’s food cake crumble was a hit and I also appreciated the marcona almonds, which are a great snack any time of day.
Moments before landing, a breakfast to-go bag was offered featuring orange juice, a can of oat milk latte, and an almond granola bar.
Wi-Fi + IFE
JetBlue offers complimentary high-speed wi-fi to all guests on all flights. It was nice to have access to my email and other messages, though my object on this flight was simply rest. For that reason, I did not use headphones or watch any of the movie or live TV options also available on the seatback screen.
I love the mood lighting onboard.
Service
I appreciated the hustle of flight attendants to get the snack out very quickly so that sleep could be maximized. Most of all though, I appreciated the last-minute coffee. Before going to sleep, I made a request to be woken up as late as possible before landing, but in time to have a cappuccino.
Well, I was not woken up until the final double ding before landing. Dejected, I thought I had missed out on the coffee, but nope: as we were nearing JFK a flight attendant brought over a cappuccino in a to-go cup and wished me a pleasant day ahead.
This was the most memorable moment of the flight and I greatly appreciated that level of service. Kudos to the flight attendant for remembering my request 4.5 hours later.
Also, kudos to the captain for clearly explaining the reason for the delay and for proactively warning it would be a bumpy flight as we approached New York JFK.
Amenity Kit
An amenity kit was waiting on each Mint seat upon boarding and included:
- Socks
- Sleep gummies
- Body wipe
- Face wipe
- “Energy and focus” chewing gum
CONCLUSION
We landed to a gray morning in JFK and I was soon on my way to the TWA Hotel for coffee. I’ve taken a lot of JetBlue flights over the years now and never had a bad one. I appreciate the consistently excellent service and food in JetBlue Mint and would not hesitate to take another redeye on JetBlue.
I took my first Mint flight from SFO-BOS last year and managed to grab a throne seat. I first booked an aisle, but two days before departure, two thrones opened and I jumped on that being a single traveler. Price was a little more expensive than the author’s but still worth the amount I paid.
It was the second half to my inbound trip returning from Japan and it felt like my experience in Jetblue’s Mint was much better than United’s Polaris on the international leg. Seats were comparable, but service and food quality I’ll give to Jetblue over United. As for lie flat intercontinental flights, Delta One is another contender to Mint.
Only thing I’ll give to Polaris on this trip is the lounge access at the airport, but interestingly my outbound was from ORD on ANA where I had Polaris lounge access, inbound was from KIX and was granted access to the fairly small Asuka lounge.
Would you say ” arrived minty fresh to JFK”?
I took the shuteye service on SAN-BOS-FLL last year, by far my most memorable part of that flight was the to-go bag handed out before landing. I kept it until after my arrival into FLL and it was a great way to kickstart the day.
As for the meal, if I recall correctly, I had a very similar choice as you did, although it was also quite good. I’m glad I chose to do do that over a nonstop red eye on american economy.