Aviation watchdog JonNYC reports that JetBlue’s new Airbus A320 will have three rows of first class: 12 BlueFirst seats in a 2-2 layout. The forward EvenMore cabin shrinks from five rows to three. He identifies the configuration as ‘3R0’ and expects the full product reveal September 1.
JetBlue
“So much for the Premium Push, Jetblue sticks with 3 rows of First Class with 12 seats for A320s, reducing EvenMore from five rows to three rows. Full product reveal most likely September 1st. (Aircraft referred to as 3R0)
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) August 27, 2026
He also leaks the seat map making the moving pieces here clear. JetBlue’s current 162-seat A320 has 30 full EvenMore seats in five forward rows, 12 separately sold extra-legroom seats at the exits, and 120 standard seats. The new map keeps 162 seats and the same 120 in regular coach.
- 12 BlueFirst
- 18 EvenMore
- 12 exit row extra-legroom
- 120 standard
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) August 27, 2026
That means the new plane will still have the same 42 ‘premium’ seats, replacing 12 EvenMore seats with 12 BlueFirst seats. BlueFirst gives the airline a more expensive product to sell but doesn’t shift the plane more premium.
Passengers In Economy Are Going To Suffer For This
JetBlue’s original plan called for two or three rows of 2-2 first class. It raised the fleetwide framework in March to three or four rows across non-Mint aircraft, a similar overall seat count and about 27% premium mix across the airline.
The seat map preserves the A320’s 162 seats. A fourth row of larger seats would probably require taking out more coach seating. Already this is going to be a very tight product for everyone in back.
- American’s ex-US Airways Airbus A320s with 12 first class seats have a total of 150 seats
- JetBlue squeezes in 12 more seats than American Airlines does into the same aircraft!
The current JetBlue A320 has 27 rows. This leaked map ends at row 28. JetBlue can keep 162 seats because each first class row has four seats instead of six, but it has to find room for an additional physical row. The airline has not confirmed pitch, though earlier reporting pointed to standard economy seat pitch falling from 32 inches to about 30. JetBlue built its reputation on giving coach passengers more room than competitors. That ends now, completely.
A first class seat should command a much larger fare premium than an EvenMore seat, while a small cabin gives JetBlue a better chance to protect pricing. But it also means their plan lacks significant upside.
JetBlue Is Cutting The Product They Say Works
EvenMore is more than legroom in the first few rows. JetBlue added dedicated overhead bins, early boarding, priority security where available, complimentary alcohol and a premium snack. When it launched that bundle in January 2025, JetBlue reserved the new perks for the forward cabin and reclassified mid-cabin and exit-row positions as separately sold “extra legroom.”
JetBlue has repeatedly said EvenMore and Preferred Seating are outperforming expectations. Its broader premium RASM rose about 13% in the second quarter, compared with 11% for Main, and earlier quarters showed a larger premium advantage.
EvenMore is selling well, though JetBlue does not publish enough to calculate its profitability. Fewer seats should let the airline charge more, but they will also be harder for Mosaic elite members to obtain.
Delta And American Put More Seats Up Front
Twelve first class seats is not ambitious. It matches United’s current A320. Delta’s A320 and American’s new retrofit each have 16. JetBlue still beats Delta’s A320 in the combined number of first class and extra-legroom seats, while United and American devote materially more of the airplane to those products. Overall American says they’re moving from 25% domestic premium seats of some kind to 40%. JetBlue is holding constant.
| A320 configuration | Total | First class | Extra-legroom coach | First + extra-legroom share | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue 3R0 | 162 | 12 | 30* | 25.9% | ||||
| Delta | 157 | 16 | 18 | 21.7% | ||||
| United | 150 | 12 | 42 | 36.0% | ||||
| American retrofit | 150 | 16 | 33 | 32.7% |
JetBlue is targeting about 27% premium mix across the airline. Its public plan tops out at four rows, or 16 first class seats, even on larger non-Mint aircraft. Delta and United put 20 first class seats on their standard A321neos, and American plans to increase its current 20.
United can support more premium seats with a larger corporate base, network and elite population. JetBlue describes its own strategy as the best East Coast leisure network. A larger cabin could leave JetBlue discounting empty seats on off-peak Caribbean and Florida flights. The same conservative choice risks leaving high-fare customers with nothing to buy on peak Boston and New York departures. They hub in some of the most premium markets!
BlueFirst Isn’t Enough To Turn Around Revenue
JetBlue’s geography gives it access to premium demand and premium costs. They need premium revenue. Roughly half its flights touch New York, where it has about 13% seat share. It had about 26% in Boston last year.
BlueFirst helps JetBlue avoid pushing demand it can’t meet to other airlines. It also makes Mint connections work better, with a premium domestic flight to pair with international business class.
JetBlue says BlueFirst across its fleet is its largest remaining ‘JetForward’ plan earnings driver. It says the completed onboard product overhaul should produce about five points of RASM improvement. At JetBlue’s current scale that is roughly $450 million of gross annual revenue, but the company doesn’t say how much it expects these 12 seats to contribute.
JetBlue lost $602 million in 2025, its sixth consecutive annual net loss. It lost another $566 million in the first half of 2026. Full-year adjusted operating margin guidance remains negative 2% to negative 5%. They expect to lose money, and to pay out $590 million in interest expense on $8.5 billion of debt.
They once expected to retrofit 25% of the non-Mint fleet during 2026, later reduced that to about 20%, and now says most of the work will occur in 2027. BlueFirst will contribute little to 2026, with the full payoff expected only in late 2028 or 2029. But 12 seats – that tradeoff with upsells to their EvenMore product – will only move the needle so much.
This is the moment that I knew for sure that B6 is going under. It’s the exact formula that did not work for AA that they just announced they are moving away from. You need extra legroom economy to bridge the gap and make it all connect.
Quick, which is better, Mosaic 1 or Mosaic 4? If you asked someone on the street would they have any idea which was better?
Complete misunderstanding of how loyalty works. Two small lounges in BOS and JFK will change nothing, sadly.
When B6 launched, Neelman justified limiting the A320s to 150 seats as win-win, giving ~34″ legroom to all passengers across coach while limiting the number of FAs needed to 3, rather than 4.
Each additional seat on the aircraft has a lower and lower chance of being sold, and each additional seat commands a lower and lower fare. Load factors are higher today than they were two decades ago, but so are FA costs. Is B6 really sure that they’re going to sell more than 150 seats on enough flights, and sell those seats at a high enough fare, to justify giving up the lost extra legroom revenue while continuing to pay for an extra FA?
I think they needed to go big to make a splash. JB management may be thinking their customer base aren’t big buyers of first class since they’ve big willing to fly JB which always lacked a first class product. However, if they are to survive they need to be thinking about how to capture more first class customers from the competition. Time to go big JB!
I booked JetBlue EvenMore roundtrip to Sacramento about a month ago, and it was worthless. They even charged me for a sandwich!
I’m still looking forward to trying it, but I still think they should call it ‘Junior Mint’… Generally, I feel that more competition in the premium space is good for that segment (if even G4 is gonna add recliners, I mean, c’mon, WN, join the party…) Sure, @Peter, I wish they added these and kept extra legroom seats. Yes, squeezing regular economy from 32 inches to say 30 on average is gonna be a disappointment for those accustomed to what I’ve been celebrating about B6 for 25 years.