Some Jet Blue Mint cabins have seats arranged 4 to a row, then 2 in a row, then 4, then 2, then 4. The 2 seat rows, one on each side of the aisle, have more space and a door in contrast to the 4 seat rows and are called “throne” seats. Easily seen on Seat Guru. All are Mint seats, no price difference (in miles or $$$), throne seats on first-come first –served basis.

Your AA reservation and/or confirmation email should have 2 different confirmation codes/record locators, one for AA, one for Jet Blue. Even with the Jet Blue code, I couldn’t add it to my Jet Blue account on-line or on the mobile app. I called Jet Blue, had them add it and select a seat and then I was able to (partially) manage the reservation and change seats online.

BREAK

FWIW, I flew the flight yesterday. The overall experience with B6 (Jet Blue) gave me little reason to switch my loyalty from UA (BIS Million Miler) or AA (CC SUB & BD 2 Million Miler). For the 10 days prior to the flight, looking each day to see if a throne seat opened, I tried to login to the desktop full website in 2 different browsers and also on the mobile app. Seemingly at random, 1 or 2 or all 3 of those sites wouldn’t work properly on any given day, very slow or crashed altogether, then worked fine 6 hours later, terrible IT management, much worse than AA or UA.

Decided the day before to do a same day change, being an AA award ticket couldn’t do it on line. First call 40 minute hold, told I must speak with “AA Liaison at B6”, transferred then cut off. Called B6 again, 2 hour hold (thank goodness for speaker phone function), told it could not be done, asked for a supervisor, transferred, then cut off after 12 minutes on hold. Called again few hours later, told of long hold, asked to be called back, called back 2.5 hrs later, long conversation with a supervisor who first said no way, then we’ll have to call AA, then did it. Changed to flight few hours later in the day, could not check-in online, supervisor could not check me in. New flight had different configuration, the new B6 JFK-LHR A321-NEO configuration, about 10 Mints seats with door per side with row 1 being Mint Studios (extra $$$).

Got to JFK B6 terminal 5 2.5 hrs prior to flight, hoping to get boarding pass, visit Centurion lounge in T4, then back to T5 for USO lounge, security and boarding. T5 looked like a disaster area; crowded, no apparent organization, people laying and sleeping all over the floors, felt like I was in a Spirit Airlines terminal (B6 and Spirit might just be perfect for each other). Even the Mint check-in area was a tiny side room, very crowded. Once I got to the counter (carry-on only) I was checked in and given boarding pass very quickly. Due to the delay, I didn’t even try to get to T4 Centurion Lounge, went downstairs to the USO lounge (snacks, coffee, beverages only, no breakfast or lunch or sandwiches or hot dogs as at some other airport USOs) and then thru security. Even with no CLEAR (available in T5), at least TSA Pre-check was fast.

No lounge inside security at JFK B6 terminal. Asked a few B6 staff, no one was aware of the rooftop outdoor viewing area. Wandered around inside security for 30 minutes until boarding. Seat was fine, door didn’t make that much difference to me, the top is not that high (chest level), the seat is configured in a way that my head was well away from the aisle and very private. I closed the door as a trial, then opened it. During the flight the attendants closed the door whenever it was open.

Food was tasty but not voluminous and after no Centurion lounge breakfast I was quite hungry and I didn’t want to raid (yet) my USO obtained goodies. In contrast to UA and AA, no snack basket. Free WiFi (for all) was nice, watched a terrible Hugh Jackman movie only because of Rebecca Ferguson (“Reminisce”, don’t waste your time unless Rebecca really turns you on J), basically a waste of 2 hours that I can never get back and which would have been spent sleeping, at least I watched during meal service. Bedding/pillow was nice, a step up from AA and UA. Amenity kit was in a small cardboard non-reusable bag, a step down from AA and UA.

In summary, after reading all sorts of great things about B6 Mint, I booked this B6 Mint flight with AA miles to try it out. It was more unpleasant than UA or AA transcon Biz class. No lounge access at either end and cattle ranch terminal at JFK. In the future, my $$$ and miles will be much better used for long flights in AA and UA biz.