I'm not quite sure what I expected when I boarded my first transatlantic flight at the front of the plane with JetBlue, but I didn't expect to write that headline.
But I mean it: After finally putting the JetBlue Mint experience to the test more than two years after starting service to Europe, it won me over. And that's not just because of the cozy, surprisingly spacious, and private JetBlue Mint suites with doors … though those sure don't hurt. No, it's the little touches JetBlue has added – or the things it does much better than the likes of American, Delta, and United – that sets JetBlue's business class apart from the rest of the pack flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Spoiler alert: The food isn't just good – it's great.
We'll have a full, blow-by-blow review of the JetBlue Mint experience in the weeks to come. But until then, here's a taste of why I loved flying JetBlue Mint from Boston (BOS) to Amsterdam (AMS) and back earlier this month.
A Different & Comfortable Design
Most major airlines flying between the U.S. and Europe pull one of three or four types of business class seats off the shelf, slap some new colors and branding on it, and call it good. They're all cut from the same cloth. JetBlue did something different.
These are JetBlue Mint suites. And they quickly (and almost surprisingly) became one of my favorite seats I've flown across the Atlantic Ocean.
There are 24 JetBlue Mint Suites on the Airbus A321LRs JetBlue flies to and from Europe, and almost all of them are identical. They're a huge step up from the older (though still quite nice) JetBlue Mint seats you'll find on most cross-country domestic flights.
The layout of each suite looks like a squiggle, with console space curving around a seat that's angled toward the aisle to maximize legroom without sacrificing privacy. Oh, and there's a door at every suite that can be closed after takeoff.
The 12 rows of Mint Suites are laid out in a 1-1 configuration on these single-aisle jets, so every passenger can step straight from their suite into the aisle. The single-aisle on this narrowbody plane made the cabin more intimate … in a good way, if you ask me.
Are these the best business class seats in the world? Hardly. They're a far cry from Qatar Qsuites or ANA's The Room, that's for sure.
Yet I walked onboard expecting a fairly cramped suite … and walked away convinced they're on par or better than any other business class seats you can book to Europe these days.
For one, the suites are far roomier than I expected, with plenty of shoulder room and legroom to stretch out throughout the flight. The seat itself is fairly wide at 22 inches, with darn comfortable padding that made it easy to relax and even easier to fall asleep come bedtime. And while the walls of each suite are fairly low, it still felt private – even without a door closed.
Plus, you know what you're getting with JetBlue. If you're flying to Europe, you're getting on a plane with these suites onboard. It's a given.
The same can't be said of airlines like Delta, which has (double-checking my math here) a whopping seven different business class seats, depending on which plane you're flying. So while you might luck out with a Delta One suite … you could also get stuck on a cramped and outdated Boeing 767 with ancient TV screens.
But for a price – and not a terribly big one – there's an even better spot at the front of the plane with JetBlue.
The Mint Studio
There aren't just JetBlue Mint Suites. There are also JetBlue Mint Studios.
Think of it like JetBlue's standard business class on steroids. Kind of. OK, not really. But look, they're bigger!
These JetBlue Mint Studios are located in the very first row, seats 1A and 1F. It's a clever way to use up some of the extra space at the bulkhead since there's not another passenger's seat in front of you eating into your space.
The result? There's more room to stretch out, with both your feet and arms. You get some additional storage space, including a compartment at the front of the suite and a deep compartment along the window. You get a massive, 22-inch TV screen, bigger than the rest of your fellow Mint passengers. There's even room for a pal to buckle in and enjoy a meal with you!
But it's about the extra real estate. After flying in a standard Mint Suite on the way to Amsterdam, I upgraded to a Mint Studio for the flight home. It was a tremendous office for seven hours.
Or shut the door, recline the seat to lie flat, lay down, and stretch out. It doesn't get much more spacious than this.
To be clear, this isn't international first class like Lufthansa First Class with caviar and top-shelf champagne. The rest of the experience is more or less identical to flying in any other JetBlue Mint Suite, just with some extra space. There are apparently pajamas available upon request. And it's nice to get your dinner before other passengers – especially if you want to get to bed as soon as possible.
No matter which transatlantic route you're flying or when you opt up to the bigger seat, the fee to upgrade to a Mint Studio should always be $299 each way, as of publication. My neighbor across the aisle told me he upgraded to the Studio space the night before our flight and still paid $299 – the same up-charge I paid while booking six-plus months in advance.
Thrifty Tip: You can also use JetBlue TrueBlue points … or charge the upgrade fee to a card like the *venture x* and use your miles to cover the purchase!
Is the JetBlue Mint Studio worth an extra $299? I think that hinges on how much you value the extra space.
If you're content with any lie-flat suite with a door (shouldn't we all be?), you can safely skip the move up to a Studio. But if you're confident you need the extra space – or you're traveling with a companion who can join you for a fun, face-to-face meal in the sky – it could easily be worth ponying up a bit more … at least to try it once.
Regardless, it's a fun option that sets JetBlue apart from other U.S. airlines. But there's one thing JetBlue might do even better than any other carrier…
Unbeatable Food & Drink
If you go hungry flying JetBlue Mint overseas, please contact a medical professional. You might need to get your taste buds checked.
Between the flight over to Amsterdam (AMS) and the trip back to Boston (BOS), I had four meals … and all four were among the best I've had in the sky, including some dishes that put the likes of Emirates First Class to shame. For all the reasons to love JetBlue Mint, this is the big one.
How about an unbelievably crisp green salad with buttermilk vinaigrette, cavatelli pasta with feta and fresh mint, and a pan-roasted chicken breast with crispy bread crumbs for dinner?
Or a post-takeoff lunch starting with an endive salad, rounding into some lasagna, and then a tender slab of pork shoulder?
And a delicious vanilla ice cream sundae with roasted pineapple and oat crumble for dessert? Yes, please.
Even breakfast in JetBlue Mint stood out – and that's a tough feat to pull off, where eggs typically resemble overcooked pucks of yellow blandness. But not this frittata, perfectly cooked with tasty spinach and herbs inside and a heap of parmesan on top. Along with a tasty Greek yogurt parfait, it was a great way to start the morning
To a T, every dish was creative, unbelievably fresh, and flavorful. You will not eat this well on many other airlines.
JetBlue does the entire dining process differently, and I liked it. Rather than simply pick an entree, you get a choice of up to three dishes from a selection of five, allowing passengers to mix and match their way to an excellent meal. You can lock in your order on your touchscreen TV before takeoff, which is a nice touch.
They tweak that process for late overnight flights that depart after 8:30 p.m., like my flight from Boston over to Amsterdam, simplifying to a set menu of three small plates to get passengers fed and put to bed as soon as possible. That's a smart move.
Drink selections are above average, too. There's a rotating list of wines available and fun cocktails like a Black Maple Old Fashioned or the Al Pastor Margarita, which flight attendants will even pour at your seat straight from a shaker. JetBlue will also gladly pour you a mocktail in addition to other, non-boozy drinks available onboard, from espresso drinks to teas and more.
Airlines love to tout their “curated menus” from Michelin-starred chefs and wine selections made by master sommeliers. JetBlue is one of the few where it feels like the real deal.
Little Details I Didn't Know I Needed
It's the little things that take a good flight and make it great. And the JetBlue Mint suites – and the entire experience, really – were filled with little touches, improvements, and features that surprised me.
Do I need a dedicated drawer to store my laptop when it's time to eat or sleep? Not really, but I sure do appreciate it. Why don't more airlines do this?!
The same goes for not one but two conveniently placed universal power outlets with USB charging – including one ultra-fast USB-C charger. Oh, and cleverly designed wireless charging, too.
Rather than letting your cords fling every which way, there's a handy spot to wind a cable up. It's not a groundbreaking feature by any means, but it's yet another thoughtful touch.
The large and crisp monitors don't just fold out to catch a movie or live TV. They also tilt down, a detail that far too many airlines neglect to ensure you can keep watching “Happy Gilmore” even while lying down in your suite.
Even up in the Mint cabin, the bathrooms are fairly small and unremarkable … except for two unexpected features: Both the toilet seat and trash bin flap are motorized, shutting with the press of a button or a light touch. Again, I ask: Why don't more airlines do this?
A Growing Route Network
It took JetBlue years (and a pandemic pause) to live up to its promise of flying travelers across the pond starting in 2021. Now, the airline is scaling up rapidly with more and more nonstop destinations overseas. And more are coming.
There's London – and not just London-Heathrow (LHR), but the U.K. capital's second-largest airport at London-Gatwick (LGW), too. Just this year, JetBlue added nonstop flights to both Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Amsterdam (AMS) this year. Next summer, it'll start service to Dublin (DUB) and Edinburgh (EDI).
And according to the eagle-eyed airline watchdog Ishrion Aviation, the airline is also eyeing nonstop service to Lisbon (LIS). If and when flights to Portugal start is anyone's guess. But the airline's map overseas keeps growing.
That's five, maybe six, European destinations you can get to with JetBlue. That pales in comparison to the dozen or more cities overseas that bigger U.S. carriers can get you to nonstop. And it's hard to see JetBlue branching out beyond its New York City (JFK) and Boston (BOS) hubs for transatlantic service anytime soon, if ever.
But given how much fun these flights were, I'd gladly book a positioning flight to either city – assuming that flying nonstop to London or Dublin or wherever else isn't an option, of course. Above all, it's encouraging to see JetBlue continually growing across the Atlantic, putting more destinations within reach flying in a JetBlue Mint suite.
The Vibes
Millennials and Gen Zers should love flying JetBlue Mint, because it's all about the vibes.
That sounds like a joke, but I think I actually mean it. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what I loved about flying JetBlue Mint because it comes down to a feeling. These flights were fun, light, and … well, just different.
Flying business class is always a treat, no matter the airline. But flying across the Atlantic Ocean, most airlines blend together. They serve similar meals packaged by the same catering companies on a similar schedule while you're sitting inside similar seats.
But here's JetBlue, flying narrowbody planes to and from Europe – planes with names like “John Jacob Jingleheimer SchMint” and “EleMintary, My Dear Watson.” It's an airline that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that shows throughout the experience.
Add up all the ways JetBlue sets itself apart – the seats, the food, the additional onboard experience – and the airline has truly differentiated itself from the rest of the pack. Other flyers may hate that, but I loved it.
Low Fares & New Ways to Book
There's a script with JetBlue, and following it is the key to booking Mint overseas for a bargain.
- JetBlue announces a new nonstop route to Europe
- JetBlue puts flights on sale soon afterward
- In a bid to create a buzz and fill up seats, JetBlue initially sells those fares at a steep discount … including JetBlue Mint.
That's what the airline did back when it first launched nonstop service to London, selling JetBlue Mint tickets for under $2,000 roundtrip.
Fast forward to 2023 and JetBlue did it again after announcing nonstop flights to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), bringing prices even lower.
Ditto for Amsterdam (AMS) just months later and, most recently, with flights to both Dublin (DUB) and Edinburgh (EDI) starting next spring.
Paying close to $2,000 for roundtrip flights may not be your definition of a bargain, but that's a cheaper fare than you can get with almost any other carrier.
Sadly, JetBlue's own TrueBlue Points don't go nearly as far as we'd like to book these flights. And while we've seen some incredible deals to book through other airline programs like booking a one-way in JetBlue Mint to Dublin for under 38,000 miles from Qatar Airways, they've been short-lived.
Still, there are a handful of routes you can take to cover these flights using points and miles, including:
- Book through the Chase travel portal, where points from the *chase sapphire preferred* get you 1.25 cents apiece toward the cost of a ticket – or 1.5 cents with the *chase sapphire reserve*. That means you can book a $1,900 JetBlue Mint fare for as low as 126,000 Chase points.
- Book through JetBlue with your *venture x*, then go back and cover the cost using Venture Miles.
- Book with points from *biz platinum*, which gets a 35% rebate on all premium cabin tickets.
I went with option three, booking roundtrip flights to Amsterdam (AMS) in JetBlue Mint for a net total of roughly 123,000 Amex Membership Rewards points.
At Thrifty Traveler, we don't accept freebies. We use our own points, miles, or cash to pay for every single flight or hotel you see reviewed here – including this one!
The Bad Stuff with JetBlue
Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, and neither is flying JetBlue Mint.
Perhaps the most glaring problem with JetBlue Mint is what it lacks before you take off: Lounge access. JetBlue doesn't have its own lounges – nor has it partnered up with independent lounges to give their top-paying customers a spot to relax before departure.
That wasn't a problem departing from Boston (BOS), where the stellar new Chase Sapphire Lounge was just steps away from my gate. But at other airports, it's a glaring weakness for JetBlue – especially Amsterdam, which isn't exactly spoiled for choice with Priority Pass lounges.
Once in the air, the JetBlue Mint experience was largely great from start to finish. But their in-flight amenities are a bit of a letdown: Each passenger gets a fairly simple cardboard pouch filled with necessities like socks, lip balm, eye mask, ear plugs, and a dental kit – plus a few nice touches like a face wipe and an electrolyte drink mix.
Only the headphones really stood out. This set from Master & Dynamic didn't have the world's best noise cancellation but they were incredibly comfortable. This was one of the few flights where I left my own pair in my bag … until about 30 minutes before landing when flight attendants came through the cabin to collect the nice headsets.
My JetBlue Mint suite on the flight to Amsterdam was pristine, but on the way home there were signs of the maintenance issues that have plagued JetBlue from the start. The leg rest for the companion seat inside the Mint Studio was broken – and so was my neighbor's across the aisle.
I was flying solo, so it wasn't a huge hit … though it did mean that I couldn't turn the Mint Studio into a massive sleeping surface. Along with doors that won't close and TV screens that don't stay in place, this is one of several common problems travelers have reported flying JetBlue Mint overseas.
And then there's the airline itself. While I'd gladly fly them over to Europe again, I'd hesitate to book a domestic connection with JetBlue to make it to Boston (BOS) or New York City (JFK) before a transatlantic flight … because I'd be worried I wouldn't make it.
Case in point: Just 65% of JetBlue flights from January through August 2023 were on time, according to the latest federal data – and 2.6% of flights were canceled. Those figures are significantly worse than almost every other major U.S. carrier, second only to Frontier. Yes, even Spirit has a better on-time track record than JetBlue. Gulp.
The way airlines schedule international service means JetBlue's transatlantic service is generally shielded from the worst of these disruptions. But personally, I'd just as soon book a separate positioning flight on Delta or American Airlines rather than risk missing my connection with JetBlue.
Bottom Line
JetBlue set out to shake up the transatlantic market when it first launched flights to London more than two years ago. At the front of the plane, I'd say they've succeeded.
My flights to Amsterdam and back earlier this month weren't perfect – no flight is. But from the seats to the incredible dining and some surprising (and welcome) touches throughout the cabin and the entire experience, JetBlue has clearly managed to set itself apart from its competitors.
That'll make JetBlue Mint my first choice the next time I need to get to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, and whichever European cities the airline adds to its network next.
