Enilria reports that JetBlue crewmembers have been told that the airline will open club lounges at New York JFK and Boston. They’re currently expected to be called Mosaic Clubs. (JetBlue’s elite frequent flyer program is called Mosaic.)
This could be announced as soon as May as part of the airline’s strategy revamp, after having lost its American Airlines partnership and Spirit Airlines acquisition to anti-trust challenges, in the face of slumping stock price, and attempting to fend off corporate raider Carl Icahn.
Although it’s a small space, when Aer Lingus left New York JFK’s terminal 5 where JetBlue flies from, many expected the airline to pick up the Aer Lingus lounge space. More likely, though, is a lounge in the new terminal that will be coming online for JetBlue in New York in two years.
JetBlue will be getting a new terminal (terminal 6) at New York JFK. The first six gates are slated to open in early 2026, with the remaining six in 2028. A lounge there seems most likely – the terminal is described as having ‘up to’ 5 airline lounges and an arrivals lounge, and the new terminal will have both landside and airside connections to the current JetBlue terminal 5.
It’s not clear what lounges might be used by Lufthansa Group airlines that will also use the terminal.
JetBlue really does have an outstanding premium cabin product. They’re fantastic in the air, and a confused mess on the ground in terms of service, operation, and lack of premium feel. A lounge could help change that.
Credit: JetBlue
Currently they are serving $100+ retail bottles of white burgundy in business class (and some decent $35 reds) which is orders of magnitude more than standard. That’s great for customers who know to order it, but they aren’t even promoting this to customers.
JetBlue is rumored to be considering a premium cabin for the bulk of their fleet. In some sense, they need to decide whether they’re a premium airline and offer more first class with lounges, or a low cost carrier without premium product. Meanwhile even Southwest Airlines has been testing providing club lounge access to some customers.
12 gates and ‘up to 5’ lounges? Sounds like a winner for the highest ratio of lounges to gates in the world. 😛
Seriously though, I think it’s only supposed to be 10 gates total, with 5 opening in 2026 and the other 5 in 2028 so the ratio is even crazier. By comparison, T5 has 30 gates so 3X the size.
The even crazier thing is that T5 with 30 gates cost well under $1B to build in 2008 and this new terminal with one-third the number of gates is costing more than 5 times as much.
If JFK T6 is primarily wide-body international focused, 12 gates is fairly reasonable. JFK T1 only has 11 gates right now with 7 lounges.
I would assume T6 to be primarily major *A carriers. If LHG is moving, I’d expect NH, SQ, TP, AC, etc., to consider coming along, especially as T7 gets demolished.
Would be fascinated to see what percentage of customers regularly visit an airline lounge today versus five, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. They really seem to be driving more purchasing decisions now. I am more likely to fly JetBlue out of airports like LGA (where I can access the Amex and Chase lounges in Terminal B) than LAX, PBI, etc (airports where JetBlue has a big presence, but no lounges). Part of why Delta gets a lot of my business is their outstation lounges across the country. American knows it has had to step up its lounge offerings. I am surprised to see that United has appeared to continue to skimp on domestic lounges relative to Delta and even American.
@Anthony That’s not necessarily true. SNA, a very premium market, only has an Admiral’s club and United Club (no Sky Club).
Who cares? There are more than 350 million people who don’t care about anyone or anything involved with the other eight million in the crime-and-rat-infested open sewer. This airline needs to die to teach NYC that it isn’t the center of the universe and the only place that matters. If you patronize B6, you reinforce this and are part of the problem.
B6 at best will put a lounge at BOS and JFK and that might help retain some higher value business that is being lost to other carriers. But reliability is still a bigger hindrance for repeat customers than the lack of amenities.
It will be very interesting to see what B6′ new strategies entail but unless addressing B6′ low reliability is part of the answer, everything else doesn’t matter.
and it is indisputable that DL has more square feet of lounge space than any other US or foreign airline.
All of the big 3 have different network strengths and the location of their lounges reflect those strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, customers decide on what matters to them but, in aggregate, DL has more SkyClub capacity than any other airline, even if it has oversold access to it – and gets well-compensated for it.
Jetblue knows they’re never on time, so what better way to shut up the complains. haha love it.
A Tim comment on a JBLU post touting Delta, earth shattering.
We get it Tim. Delta was on the front wave of the lounges.
With regards to the B6 reliability issues, they mentioned in 4Q23 call that they are embarking on a multiyear reliability initiative similar to what Delta did in the early 2010s. Took awhile, worked out great.
As always thank you Gary for giving Tim a purpose in life.
B6 could benefit with T6 flights interconnecting with the JetBlue T5 terminal.
As for lounges, LAX should be another lounge on the B6 radar scope. Not sure if there’s room at FLL or San Juan for lounges as well.
FLL could also get a B6 lounge with their new terminal 5 that’s currently being built. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put one there. Seems like the airline is moving away from being hybrid to full fledged full service. If this is the case and they can fix their on time performance, I’d say they are setting up for success. Get some wide bodies and I’m sure the legacies would start to feel a little more threatened by B6’s presence.
Instead of a typical lounge with wasted food in steam trays and endless bottles of booze collecting dust behind the bar, how about something like a deli or pub format. Focused menu, focused selection of spirits, fast turnaround, etc. Go to the counter, place your order, find a seat and someone brings you your sandwich, booze, snacks, etc, just like in Europe. Booze limited to several brands, some IPA, draft, and basic mixed drinks. Step away for obscure spirits which suck up space and sit behind the bar for years.
Large enough room with a quiet area like Amtrak trains, open area for noise. Strong Wifi essential.
Limit access to just Mint and high level Mosaic or Business Class (if B6 reaches that level). Throw out some random access coupons to wet the appetite of aspiring frequent fliers.
What ever you do, do it better than the DL lounge disaster of the last few years. Sometimes, less is more and the PAX will appreciate it.