August roll call

Quite a trip! We are there 23-30 & usually do a meet/greet....hoping it all comes together cause I sure miss my gambling fix & LV. Will post update later if can go & set up a meet.

 

Oh I see what they're doing with Mint, keeping the aisle seat empty in the two-seat rows.

I'm in 2F, wonder if I should switch to row 5 that has a wall behind it.

 

Just clipped August
August 31-Sept7
The Orleans and Fremont

Ready for some Hand Pays

 

8/25/20 to 9/2/20

 

We are planning 8/28 to 9/2.

 

I'd keep 2F. 2A and 2F are my favorite seats.

Been busy this weekend and today so I haven't had a chance to do a new post on Jet Blue but wow. It looks like they are removing ALL of the middle seats in coach for flights through August. I didn't check lots but that's the case for the flights that I am on and yes, they gave up revenue on First Class/MINT flights as well. I believe it is the ONLY airline that is doing this. Some airlines, unfortunately, are going in the OPPOSITE direction and have folks PACKED in.

I just love Jet Blue. Airline stocks I know are not the buy now I guess but I bought a few shares in late March/early April at what coincidentally has been a bottom to date. I just have faith in the airline and believe it is a major cut above other domestic airlines, even if it is smaller. I think its size also may enable it to be more nimble. They say you should buy what you know and like so I did that with Jet Blue.

Edited to add: I have 2F on my flight TO Vegas in August as well. It's on the "right"and "right" side of the plane in terms of views on landing, but I know you knew that.

Row 5 I think it is a bit noisier with the coach snack area behind it and another restroom. I also just think the pods are cooler/more comfortable, even though no one would be next to you in a non-pod row given that Jet Blue is not selling two seats next to each other, even in MINT.

 

I just looked at our United flights for our August trip. The first class section only shows one seat between each seat with an exception....

On the 777-200 outbound, it is seat A, skip B, Seat D, skip E&F, Seat G, and then Seat K...then leaving Seat L open. The seats B/D and G/K are facing opposite directions, so it seems putting folks in K instead of G would be better...

On the 737-900 return it is seat A, skip B (aisle), seat E (aisle), skip F. Again...why not use F instead of E to get people further away from each other.

In reality, will they let about 50% of the inventory go away by not filling it? Who knows! My wife and I are next to each other on each flight, so that gives them an extra seat to use in theory if they stick to this format.

We'll (maybe....) see what happens...

 

I decided to move to 5F. With the aisle seat out of service, it's as good as a pod now, actually a little better since the seat is closer to the window than in a pod. Wall behind me instead of 6 pax. My understanding is that the snack bar is going to be emptied out.

 

Good point about being closer to the window.

MINT has NEVER been more worth it!!!!!

And that makes sense re: the snack bar.

When is your trip?

 

I've heard so much about this JetBlue Mint from Flowers and Chuck over the last few years that I took a look at Jet Blue's website last night and apparently it only flies from a few cities such as Boston and NYC. Guess I'll never fly it unless I'm up there, you two make it sound like flying in your own private cloud so I was curious.

 

Starts Aug 20th if I go.

 

For a regular cabin JetBlue non-stop seat from BOS to LAS, $199 is normally a decent price. Add $80 for 2 bags and another $100 for extra leg room and you're at $380, so if you can snag a Mint seat for $449 - $549 it's a no-brainer (you usually can get that price when they first open up the schedule). But as soon as they sell the first one, they usually jump the price to $1,000.

 

If I lived in the northeast and I could get a round trip flight to Vegas with first class amenities for $500 then yes, I would definitely do that. Unfortunately, in the DC area my best option for nonstop flights is going to Baltimore and flying SW which is around $250-350 depending on the time of year. Not a bad price to be fair, but having an occasional first class flight would be nice, and my wife may actually come with me for the first time in years.

 

LOL @LB9. Jet Blue only has MINT service from JFK or Boston to the West Coast non-stop or to some Caribbean islands. If there isn't a bad connection I think it is still worth it to connect. I often pay with points to fly from LGA to BOS and then MINT from BOS to Las Vegas as the non-stop MINT fares from JFK to Vegas can sometimes be ridiculous.

I learned recently that Jet Blue has plans for international flights. We'll see how that goes but that would be amazing if they had MINT service on some international flights.

 

My trip is during that same time, if I go. Fingers and toes crossed.

 

Psychologically, I can’t fly up to Queens only to go back west to Vegas (seems like I’m going further away from my destination) otherwise I would. You and Chuck make MINT sound like flying on your own private jet, initially I thought you guys worked for Jet Blue and I felt like I had to see what the fuss is about lol. It does indeed look like a good deal if it’s around the $500 range non-stop and round trip (unless I read incorrectly).

 

I don't work for JetBlue but I would do commercials for free. I'm a huge fan. A good fare would be $499 one-way, but that's in my experience at least half of the price of first class fares on many other domestic airlines with subpar first class experiences. (Delta One being an exception. I've never flown Delta One, just regular Delta First Class, which in my opinion wasn't worth it. Delta One seats to Vegas, however, I've seen as high as $2k!!.)

I also fly Jet Blue though in coach, actually even more frequently, including on the smaller planes when I am traveling from JFK to Buffalo. The regular seats have more space and more incline than any other domestic airline plus tvs at all of the seats, etc. Yeah, I'm a huge fan and also like the leadership the company is showing with respect to passenger safety, including being the first airline to require masks and blocking out ALL middle seats on flights through at least the latter part of August.

 

JetBlue has the only non-stops from BOS. Until about 5 years ago, I mostly flew Southwest to LAS because of the free bags and their prices were a little lower, and the re-booking flexibility. I didn't mind having a layover with SW, it kind of broke up the monotony.

But the JetBlue experience overall is better. I got sick of buying early bird on SW and ending up in the 8th row or worse because of all the preboards and seat savers. And I almost never had to use the flexible rebooking.

So I started using JetBlue and from there it's not a huge jump to Mint if you snag the lowest Mint price (which I can, I don't have to worry about scheduling, so I can book as soon as they open the schedule). And Mint just makes a huge difference on a 5.5 - 6 hr flight. It's not worth $1,000 to me, but it is worth $500-ish.

The $500 is each way, not round trip.

I still book SW flights with points as backups for winter trips in case of weather.

 

If they ever did use nonstop flights to Vegas anywhere near the DC area, and I could get a MINT flight for $500ish, I will indeed purchase this flight after hearing what the two of you had to say. It sounds almost too good to be true in terms of how cheap, when juxtaposed to first class tickets from other airlines, so I'm very intrigued.

 

Still on for August but may move later by a month or two just because of my sister's job. We'll see.