JetBlue’s extra legroom coach Even More Space seating will be rebranded as EvenMore next year. It will be sold as a bundle, instead of as a paid seating upsell. It could include things like free alcoholic beverages. It will not mean configuring planes or replacing seats.
In other words they are abandoning plans for Mini Mint domestic first class.
There will still be a premium cabin, but the seats will not change. The product would be similar to a European Style Euro-Business product along the lines of what Frontier has launched.,,Blocked middle seats are also probably part of the mix, but plans to create a de facto first class cabin dubbed by media as Mini-Mint or Junior Mint are gone.
Update: aviation watchdog JonNYC says the domestic first class plan is not dead!
On JetBlue’s announcement today regarding rebranding /bundling of their more space seating and the assumption that that means JetBlue is abandoned it’s rumored first class project (less that full Mint but more than Even More Space)
That assumption is wrong.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) October 29, 2024
JetBlue had been expected to install MiQ seats, similar to what American Airlines and many other carriers use, offering a domestic first class product on routes that served with their international business class Mint equivalent.
Reconfiguring planes and buying new seats is expensive, and JetBlue is slashing costs, for instance dropping hot meals in economy on transatlantic flights. They’re spending for lounges in New York and Boston, but worked out a deal for Barclays, their credit card issuer, to be paying on those.
Spirit Airlines only has first class seating because it was cheaper to leave the seats in place when they became a low cost carrier. JetBlue is keeping its seats. Southwest’s new premium seats will also be the same seats – with extra legroom, but no blocked middles because the IT is complicated.
Frontier, though, sells blocked middle seats. Perhaps JetBlue will offer that too. On airlines and flights where planes aren’t full it’s certainly advantageous and something they can sell to both the window and aisle passenger, generating incremental revenue for a seat that would otherwise remain empty. And honestly extra legroom and a blocked middle seat, with complimentary cocktails, is pretty much domestic first class anyway. (I avoid Frontier mostly due to lack of any inflight internet.)
The good news in JetBlue dropping plans for domestic first class is that they’d been understood to be putting in that product while keeping the same total number of seats. That would have meant reducing the amount of legroom in standard coach which is something that Southwest plans to do as they add extra legroom seats to about a third of each plane’s cabin. Meanwhile, even Spirit is bundling upgraded snacks with its up front product.
You have to wonder what market is JetBlue is vying for. I think 4 first class seats on the A220s and 8 first class seats on other aircraft (maybe only 6 for A320s) could have been a go. Spirit seems to have no issue filling it’s Big Front seat. There is a small segment of non FF leisure flyers, and to an extent small business flyers willing to pay for a reasonable premium seat.
Reading into the earnings call just a bit. There are still more projects yet to be announced. This will not age well.
This is not at all what was announced. They said more is coming next year. They simply said you would be able to purchase the existing extra leg room seats as a fare class starting in November 2024 (and thus earn more points), and presumably you would also get some food/premium drinks included.
Gary is right.
Ripping out seats is costly. Premium seats are having all kinds of production issues.
JBLU is keeping it simple. For now.
Something may change in the future but they are moving cautiously now.
Would suggest you just delete this article since it has no basis in reality.
I haven’t flown in years. Last time I flew It was on Spirit from Massachusetts to Florida. I paid extra money to sit first row for larger seat which was great, especially if you are of larger size plus disabled. February of 2026 my daughter and I are suppose to go on vacation. Fly from Worcester to Miami and back. Do any airlines have larger seats in front for larger size, disabled flyers? I can’t walk without either a walker or battery operated chair. Trying now to plan for my future vacation
Just another cash grab by JetBlue
How can they have First Class when they, and their passengers, have no class?
In the last few years my orthopedic problems have worsened to the extent I can only fly first class, as I need to squirm and change position while remaining seated so frequently. It seems every trip I book the first class seats sell out more quickly. Usually there are none left to give out as upgrades by the night before the flight. So clearly the demand is there and increasing. Haven’t been able to fly Jet Blue in years because they have no first class seats – extra leg room alone is not enough. If they’d fixed this deficit years ago maybe their current financial situation wouldn’t be so dire.
JetBlue has buying an extra seat for comfort available so if a person needs extra room that is always an option. I did that once a couple of years ago. I flew from LAX to BUF nonstop red eye on Thursday and from BUF to JFK yesterday and then JFK to LAX yesterday since the seasonal BUF to LAX nonstop was done for the year. Service was good (two passes of snacks and drinks for the JFK to LAX flight) and the seating was good. I asked one of the flight attendants on the JFK to LAX flight, maybe the purser, about the nonstop between LAX and BUF and the return and he looked it up to give me information on when it would return in the spring. That will be used for a trip in the spring because the total BUF to LAX time was much longer than the nonstop LAX to BUF time. It was also nice to have the checked bag at no extra charge due to having the JetBlue card. As long as nothing changes drastically, I will stick with JetBlue. For lunch I packed some tuna and mayo sandwiches along with an apple and a boxed personal sized cherry pie. JFK was ok, certainly as good as the hubs I have flown through in the past. One I liked better was Detroit in the Northwest Airlines days as it didn’t include flying sideways or in the wrong direction. Fortunately there was no unexpected overnight like in O’Hare (where United lied about the weather) or Minneapolis-Saint Paul.