JetBlue Reveals Its Fantastic-Looking Transatlantic Business Class Seats

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When JetBlue rolled out its domestic ‘Mint’ Business Class cabin almost seven years ago the product was a game-changer. JetBlue brought down the cost of US transcontinental Business Class fares while offering an excellent product and it shook up the market. Now, JetBlue has turned its sights on the Business Class transatlantic market, and the product it will be using on its new routes could well change the game again.

Back in 2019, JetBlue announced plans to launch transatlantic routes to the UK in 2021 and despite the inconvenient pandemic that’s still front and center, the airline still says that its new routes will take flight later this year (possibly this summer).

JetBlue will be using its new and state-of-the-art narrowbody Airbus A321LR aircraft on its routes between the East Coast and the UK, and it has now announced that these aircraft will come equipped with its new “reimagined” Mint suites…and what a suite it is.

Note: JetBlue has said that this seat will also appear in a 16-seat cabin on select flights between New York and Los Angeles later this year. 

The original Mint seat is gone and a completely new seat designed in partnership with Acumen Design Associates based on the VantageSOLO seat from Thompson Aero.

The seats are set out in a herringbone layout (so they face inwards), each seat offers direct access to the aircraft’s single aisle, and each seat is fitted with a privacy door to cocoon a passenger in.

Each of the new Mint Business Class seats will feature the following:

• A tilting 17-inch Thales AVANT seatback screen.
• Wireless charging capabilities.
• An integrated phone ledge for multitasking.
• Easy-to-reach in-seat power.
• Laptop, shoe, and handbag storage.

Tuft & Needle have been brought in “to shape the entire Mint sleep experience onboard” so each of the new Mint Suites is layered with Tuft & Needle’s proprietary T&N Adaptive foam and a breathable cover which has been designed “to create a cool and comfortable sleep experience unlike anything in the sky“. The bedding that Business Class customers can expect includes a convertible blanket with a built-in foot pocket and a memory foam lined pillow with a pillowcase.

JetBlue says that its newest Mint Business Class cabin offers a “thoughtful, residential-inspired design” with textures, such as flannel-covered privacy dividers, concrete lampshades, woodgrain table patterns, and soft, vegan leather-covered seats and headrests (I’m assuming that “concrete” refers to the color and not the material the lampshades are made from!).

JetBlue’s new A321LR will feature 24 new Mint Business Class seats in total but only 22 will look like the seats described and shown above. The two seats in the very front of the cabin have a little extra space so JetBlue has designed them a little differently and will be marketing them as a separate product. Welcome to the ‘Mint Studio‘.

The airline claims that its new Mint Studio seat offers “the most space in a premium experience from any U.S. airline“. That’s a very bold statement considering we’re talking about a Business Class seat on a narrowbody aircraft and considering that the Delta One Suites on Delta’s widebody A350s are hardly known for being small.

Still, JetBlue maintains its claim is based on “personal square footage per passenger seat” and “based on total reclined bed surface area” so, as I presume the airline doesn’t want to be caught out presenting “alternative facts” before its new aircraft has seen a single passenger board, I have to assume that this is true. That makes this seat-type incredibly impressive.

Each of the two Mint Studios will offer a 22-inch tilting Thales AVANT seatback screen 5″ larger than the screens in the regular Mint seats), an extra side table, and a second, small seat that will allow someone in a Mint Suite to host another passenger during the flight. When reclined, the lie-flat bed offered by the Mint Studio will be the largest bed of any U.S. carrier (based on reclined surface area).

Quick Thoughts

For the time being, we’re relying on images and descriptions offered up by JetBlue for just about everything that we know about the new transatlantic Mint Business Class cabin, so we’ll have to wait until we can actually try the cabin out in a real-world test before any meaningful conclusions can be reached.

Still, based on what we’ve been told, I have a few thoughts.

While I’m definitely not a fan of herringbone seating (I prefer seats that face away from the aisle and towards the windows) it’s hard not to be impressed with what JetBlue has unveiled. Keeping in mind that this aircraft will be operating primarily on the shorter transatlantic flights (NYC/Boston – UK) it would take a grouch not to say that this looks like a product that will be very popular with flyers.

On its own, the idea of a narrowbody aircraft offering all-aisle access Business Class seating with lie-flat beds and doors that cocoon a passenger in a private “suite” is pretty impressive. But when you also add in the fact that JetBlue is promising to “offer an elevated flying experience for a fraction of what other airlines charge for premium seats” the concept becomes fantastic.

Yes, we’re going to have to wait and see what sort of pricing JetBlue actually comes up with (I can often find Paris-London-NYC Business Class flights for under $1,500 roundtrip using AA/BA), and it will be interesting to see how JetBlue plans to undercut AA/BA on its new routes considering JetBlue is now in a partnership with American Airlines, but as JetBlue has a history of offering a great premium cabin product at prices that legacy airlines do their best not to match, I have to assume that its fare pricing will be aggressive and beneficial to the consumer. There wouldn’t be much point in JetBlue offering a transatlantic service if its pricing wasn’t market changing.

Bottom Line

Despite the fact that the new Mint Business Class suites face away from the windows and towards the aircraft’s aisle I actually really like what JetBlue has unveiled. The new cabin looks elegant and understated, the seats look comfortable and spacious, and the Mint Studio seat is something that I can’t wait to try out. If JetBlue stinks to its world and genuinely offers these seats for a fraction of the cost of the Business Class fares that we usually see on the USA – London routes, this will be a big win for the flying community and, hopefully, a big wakeup call to the legacy carriers.