JetBlue to Expand Mint Service to 4 New Cities

After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

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In 2014, when JetBlue launched Mint, its premium lie-flat service, between New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco, it was mostly seen as a limited response to the premium services offered by the full-service carriers on those especially competitive routes.

But then JetBlue added Mint service between Boston and Seattle. And Boston and Barbados. And New York and Aruba. And New York and Barbados.

And there’s more Mint coming.

As the first of several upcoming Mint launches, the service will be offered on one of the airline’s daily flights between Los Angeles and Ft. Lauderdale from March 20, 2017. While JetBlue’s announcement promises introductory fares “starting at $399,” $449 was the lowest one-way fare displayed for early-April flights. Still, compared to first- or business-class fares on other carriers, that’s a steal.

Later in 2017, Mint will be made available on JetBlue flights between San Francisco and Ft. Lauderdale, followed by new Mint service on flights to Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Diego. When the new flights are all in place, JetBlue’s Mint service will be featured on more than 70 flights per day, to 12 destinations.

And after that, who knows? According to JetBlue:

We saw that the outdated and outrageously priced “business class” offered by other carriers was a sore spot for travelers. Our freshly designed, affordable take on premium travel is winning us customers in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and we expect it to do the same in Fort Lauderdale and beyond.

Affordable premium travel. Amen to that.

Reader Reality Check

A first-class-like flight experience, for around $500 each way. Deal or no deal?

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After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

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