Later today United Airlines will debut its Airbus A321neo on an inaugural flight from Houston to Chicago. Pictures of the aircraft indicate a sleek new interior that might confuse you for being on JetBlue. That’s a very good thing.
Swanky New United Airlines A321neo Has Some Familiar Interior Touches…For JetBlue Flyers
David Ishmael posted the following “teaser” on his Instagram that includes a number of pictures and video from onboard the new A321neo jet:
View this post on Instagram
Among the things that that caught my eye include:
1. Decorative accents on the ceiling (JetBlue also offers this on its newer A321 aircraft)
2. A self-serve snack area (long offered on JetBlue)
3. Mood lighting (hardly unique to JetBlue these days, but something JetBlue embraced early on)
4. Seatback screens on every seat (coming to every United mainline jet, but longer offered on JetBlue)
5. USB-C ports
The self-serve snack area and even the accents on the ceilings above the aisle may be off-the-shelf options now with Airbus, but are still rather rare in the USA and yet give the cabin a more premium appearance.
I’ll share more about this aircraft soon…stay tuned!
all images from @aviatordave/Instagram
I may be the only one but I absolutely hate seat back Entertainment. Not sure who doesn’t have an IPad or similar in 2023 and on AA at least, flights with SBE do not offer the option of streaming the movies on your own device. Maybe this is different on JetBlue?
It’s been 5 years since I brought a laptop or iPad for entertainment purposes on a flight. One less item to separate during security screenings.
I still bring my iPad on all my trips. Easier on the eyes compared to an iPhone when researching while on the move.
More than once have watched Netflix during a rain storm while on vacation or stuck at the airport during delays.
Have found B6 with best WiFi while flying over the mainland; the rest are more miss than hit.
Shocked you don’t have Precheck, no need to pull anything out.
I do have TSA-Pre, but obviously, internationally it doesn’t apply. Just got back from South Korea and Thailand. Definitely have to pull such electronics out, and in the latter’s case, every battery pack, whether a power bank, laptop or a cell phone, has to be separated out in the scanner.
You have to take the battery out of your laptop? That’s very difficult. Did you mean you have to take out the power brick?
No, I had a separate power bank for charging phones etc, the laptop was always pulled to the side to be separately inspected (as a whole). Also have to point out that I didn’t bring a laptop, but my parents did
I prefer it. I don’t want to bend over, pull out something and the charger, shove it back under the seat, plug it in, navigate the cord everywhere, etc, Let the airline take care of all that for me. Even if you do all that before sitting down, it’s a hassle in the aisles. Even if you take it out before you board, it’s one more thing to carry.
You’ll still have the option of streaming to your device. Nice to have the option of not having something extra on your tray table or just have the moving map on display.
That’s a pretty cabin.
We like to rag on US carriers in general but for 1-3hr narrowbody flights, US planes are just generally much better to be in, than other carrier’s narrowbodies.
Recently flew Lufthansa and Air Baltic on two hour legs in Europe. Found their coach seats to be more comfortable then United coach seats.
Isn’t the rear cabin photo of a 737 with the Sky Interior, and not a 320?
Agree! Photo from cabin rear looks like a Boeing 737 with the Sky Interior.
I’ll be on the flight today. Looking forward to it.
See you there.
JetBlue is a terrible airline in pretty much every area that matters. (Gimmicks on their planes and mint being the exception)—
I’m a longtime united flyer who gave them a shot (actually a few times, being Boston-based), and every time I tried to get somewhere on them the service was worse than UA, tended to be late/cancelled (even in cases where they had every opportunity to prevent this outcome), and their customer service uniformly terrible. UA was this bad maybe 10 years ago but seems to have gotten it together, and is now far and away my favorite US carrier to fly.
Tl;dr: JetBlue is terrible to fly, despite their cabins where UA is usually pretty good to fly in spite of their cabins. Good to see that UA is making progress on this though!
B6’s biggest failing for me is that they have high aspirations for being the coolest US TATL option with their fancy Mint cabins but yet they don’t serve my city, or many other US cities. And no, for me they’re not so great (despite what bloggers say) that they deserve to be scheduled with positioning flights.
Sorry bloggers, the world is much bigger than LAX-JFK and a handful of TATL flights.
No comment on their operations issues.
Curious about the snack area, both on UA and B6. I never fly B6 and won’t be on the UA plane for a while. But, based on the gluttony I’ve seen from people in various lounges, how long do the snacks in the snack area last? Are pax waddling up there, grabbing a handful of everything, then waddling back to their seats to consume “free” food while leaving none for anyone else? I’m absolutely jaded by the sheer lack of social graces I routinely see on flights (or in airports…if you’re in FL) from slovenly passengers.
That was my first thought as well. What could possibly go wrong? Wonder how long until the first altercation occurs over self serve snack area. Also curious if there will be less FA service with the snack area.
Say hi to Ben, and Zach, and probably Brett and Gary. It seems like every blogger is on it today. Also, good luck with that upgrade list.
Not going to clear that one…I booked it yesterday evening inside 24 hours. But I’ll be the first blogger to review economy class on this. 😉
Tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. Hopefully they’ll still have a snack box left for you!
I’m with you on this! Even though I carry an iPhone and iPad, I don’t want to have to dig it out and have the charging cable hanging all over the place.
You do realize Delta’s A321NEOs have that same pattern and lighting scheme on the ceiling as well?
That’s because this is an Airbus design.
Self snack service is gross. It’s right across from the bathroom and most don’t wash their hands. Let that sink in.
I mean for that matter, most if not all galleys are located next to lavs. While most people don’t wash their hands, all of the snacks are at least packaged so its not like FAs who are handling my hot nuts…..lest they “forget” to wash their hands.
UA is great at copying other airlines…..unfortunately they seem to not able to copy better quality and offering of meals. We all hear “changes are a coming,” but I’m thinking this is a mantra similar to Smisek’s “changes you’ll like.”