Review of JetBlue Airways flight Los Angeles → Boston in Business

My first Jetblue Mint experience

Greetings everyone. After a long time away, I am excited to share some of my experience flying JetBlue Mint for the first time. After seeing the Mint Suite last year for the first time, I made it a goal to try to fly it sometime in 2020. About a week before my flight, I saw a flight to Boston that had a suite open and only $649, one way. It came in under my budget, by $1. I had seen prices fluctuate all week but mostly were in the $799 to $1049 out of LAX to both Boston and JFK. By the way, the price is the same for both a suite and the seats in a pair. The better value is obviously the suite if you are flying solo.

I decided to purchase it and take a weekend off to Boston. 

If you wish to watch the video, please see the YouTube link below. Otherwise, read on! 

Not a premium way to the airport

I took the A (formerly Blue) Line and connected with the Green Line (I don't remember the new name). From Aviation Station, I took the free shuttle bus. For the hour lone trip from Downtown Long Beach, it only cost $1.75.

Here is the bus I took to drop me off at Terminal 5. 

Check in at terminal 5

Mint has a separate check-in line which is shared with Mosaic customers. The difference is that the check in is not at a kiosk and is manned. Mint passengers are allowed two pieces of checked luggage.

With a small line, check in complete and TSA precheck, the process took about 10 minutes. It wasn't too busy for a late morning out of L.A.

FYI, this all took place about a week before the major Coronavirus scare really hit the West Coast. 

The gate was already fairly busy as I arrived to board and the flight would probably be pretty full in economy. In Mint, all 4 suites were occupied and just a couple of seats remained empty. Thankfully as a Mint passenger, we board just after any special pre-boarding.

Pre-Flight

It is so cool to see such a beautiful seat as I stepped into the suite. I've flown Business Class a couple of times before, but those were old business classes with angle flat seats. JetBlue Mint already blew me away. Here is a picture of the seat, though the picture was taken last year, it looked exactly the same as today.

On top was a note welcoming me and the name of the flight attendants, Julie and Luis, as Luis would say, the "Bahhhston" based crew.

Below it was the amenity kit, a gray blanket and a pillow. The blanket and pillow were plastic wrapped. 

Julie came by and asked I had flown in Mint before. I said no and she explained some of the basic features like the seat control and the call button. She then asked if I wanted a beverage, including their signature honey infused limeade with vodka.

Though I don't normally drink alcohol, I decided to treat myself and get the limeade. A couple of minutes later, Julie came back with my drink. 

You could also get this without the vodka. I overheard Julie say how you tell the difference. If there is one straw, no vodka, two straws includes vodka. It was a nice drink and the had a balance of the lime, sweetness of the honey and kick of the vodka. There was a minimal mint flavor from the mint leaf too.

oTHER THINGS ABOUT THE SEAT

The suite has a lot of space. Watch the video and you can see. There are also a lot of plugins. I saw at least three, maybe four. There are smaller pockets for a bottled water, a pocket for your phone and a little cabinet to put valuables like tablets, headphones, the amenity kit and more.

The tray table is huge. The remote to control the seat and for the TV were on the left side, underneath a smaller tabletop. Did I mention there is a lot of surface space? 

A warm towel was distributed and collected quickly. I also began to look over the menu for what I wanted to eat.

off to boston and mealtime

We pushed back a few minutes early and the standard safety announcement was given. A few minutes later, we were on 25R and taking off leaving LA for Boston. It was a beautiful day.

The crew came by and offered to close the door to the suite, which I said yes. I enjoyed the space and privacy along with the bigger monitor to watch ESPN all afternoon.

 If you were not aware, in JetBlue Mint, you get a menu card with at least 5 small plates. You choose three. Here is what they offered today.

Luis came by and asked if I wanted something to drink. I got a cappuccino. What would I eat? I saw pork adobo as a choice. I was intrigued to see how a non-Filipino airline would make this dish. I saw it was served with mango salsa, which is not normally a way to serve the dish, but I was willing to give it a try anyway, just to see how it compares to how my family or I make it. I also ordered  the salmon and the sweet potato salad. A few minutes later, Luis returned with my cappuccino and some cashews. I thought both were good.

About 10 minutes later, Luis returned with my 3 small dishes and some bread and olive oil all served on a tray.It was a wonderful presentation. Though these are "small plates," the food was quite filling. 

You can't see the dressing as it is buried underneath the vegetables and sweet potato, but it had a nice tart flavor from the yogurt and cumin tahini. The salmon was good, but I wasn't a fan of the butter sauce. The bread was room temperature, but not rock hard.

The adobo was actually fairly decent. The chucks of pork were perfectly tender and juicy. I could taste the soy sauce and vinegar, though I usually like to make mine more sour than what this tasted like. The rice was fluffy, not dry and the sauce did not drown out the rice. The mango salsa provided some sweetness, but for my palette wasn't something I'm used to. But overall, the adobo just by itself would pass in my book.

I would say the three dishes combined were the best meal I ever had on a flight. I was completely full. Except Luis gave me a choice of fruit, ice cream, or have both. Sure I could've said none, but instead I took both. 

It's nice to have ice cream that is not hard as a rock. I'm full. I wouldn't need to eat the rest of the day. Let's go on with the flight. 

Other highlights

The remote controlled the seat. You could set the firmness, set it to a few different positions and had a (weak) massage feature.

Here is the amenity kit. The bag is pretty cool looking too.

I felt very sleepy and set the seat flat. I tore open the plastic and pulled out the blanket and pillow and slept. I probably slept for a couple hours. When I went to bed, we were somewhere over Arizona or New Mexico and it was sunny out. By the time I woke up, we were near Chicago and it was sunset. It was an excellent sleep.

At this time, the flight attendants passed by with the snack basket. I took some cheezits and would eat them later. I was still full. Towards the end, we got a plastic wrapped snickerdoodle cookie, which I would eat later since I was still full.
   
Not everything was positive. One downside of the service was the wifi. I've never had trouble with the wifi, but for some reason, it was quite slow and had cut in and out a few times during the flight. At least it worked at the end. 
 
The crew came by with another hot towel. By this time, it was dark and we were starting our descent into Boston. We would land a few minutes early. Sigh.  

We landed uneventfully. However, once we got to the gate, the gate had a small malfunction and got stuck. We waited a few minutes and they actually had to kill the power so the cabin got dark. No one freaked out since we were on the ground. We all just wanted to get off the plane. Eventually they got the gate to work and the power and lights came back on.

My luggage came out number 4. That's a lot faster than when I use priority baggage with my Star Alliance Gold.