JetBlue Mint Suite, Mint Studio

The New JetBlue Mint Suite Will Be Two Products: Mint Suite and Mint Studio. They'll be on JetBlue's A321LR flights to London as early as late summer 2021, and will also feature on several A321 neo aircraft, including some New York JFK to LAX flights as early as June 2021.

New JetBlue Mint Suite

Unlike the current JetBlue Mint product, which has a 2-2 configuration for rows 1, 3 and 5, with only four JetBlue Mint Suites with closing doors in a 1-1 configuration in rows 2 and 4, the new JetBlue Mint Suites on the A321LR for transatlantic flights to London will be 1-1 across 12 rows, for a total of 24 business class suites in the cabin. The suites are arranged in a herringbone pattern, with the seat by the window and the passenger facing the aisle.

The new JetBlue Mint seats are the Thompson Aero VantageSolo, and JetBlue is the launch customer. This makes sense, since Thompson Aero designed JetBlue Mint's current Mint seats. The seats will have Tuft & Needle T&N Adaptive Foam cushions, which are supposed to have all the benefits of memory foam while being cooler and more breathable.

Other features are a 17 inch Thales AVANT seatback screen, wireless charging, easily accessible in-seat power, and laptop, shoe, and handbag stowage.

New JetBlue Mint Studio

Unfortunately JetBlue's nomenclature is confusing, at least for anyone used to what suites and studios are in luxury hotels. A studio is one big room. A true suite is two rooms, with a separation between the bedroom and living area.

Other airlines, of course, have also taken to calling their seats with closing doors that separate it from the aisle “suites,” (even though the doors are equivalent to a hotel room door–the seat area itself is just one space) so I understand why JetBlue was a bit hamstrung given existing industry terminology. While something like “Premium Suite” would have been more accurate, instead of Studio, the bottom line is that the new JetBlue Mint Studio has more space and a larger flat bed than the regular Suites. Here are the features:

The largest flat bed of any U.S. carrier (note that this doesn't mean it's the longest, just the largest, given the total reclined bed area)
A guest seat that can accommodate a fellow Mint guest when the flight is at cruising altitude
22 inch AVANT screen
Mirrored vanity
An extra side table

The Verdict

It's great to finally see the new JetBlue Mint Suite, and nice to see JetBlue still innovating by creating the JetBlue Studio product, with an even bigger flat bed and guest seat area.

In pre-pandemic times many fliers might have preferred wide-body aircraft with reverse herringbone seating, akin to Cathay Pacific Business Class and EVA Business Class, but in the COVID-19 era, the narrow body A321 and herringbone seating actually seems better. Each passenger gets window seating and direct aisle access, and is seated by the window, affording some distance from aisle traffic and passengers seated across the aisle (although not much distance from passengers in front and behind).

Personally, I'd have liked to have seen higher suite doors for greater privacy and in light of COVID, but of course these seats were largely designed pre-COVID.

Given that the current Mint seat cushions are not particularly comfortable when the seat's in bed mode, we'll be interested to see how comfortable the Tuft & Needle Adaptive Foam cushions are as a flat bed.

Here's JetBlue's New Mint Suite and New Mint Studio Video: