Private Mint suite: so so experience
 

Recently flew SFO-BOS in a private Mint suite by buying up online for $200.
After experiencing the flight, I have mixed feelings about the product and I am not sure if I would want to pay for it again sometime.

The good:

• Spacious suite
• Large bed
• Excellent FA service
• Food is ok

The bad:

• Amenity kit is a joke
• Lumbar support hurting my lower back. Impossible to turn off. Needed extra cushion just below shoulder height.
• No recline. Seat moves forward, then flat.
• No VOD. The movie starts when it starts.

Depends on what you want, I suppose. If you just need another toothbrush and comb then the legacy kits are fine. I like the variety of other bits to play with.

There is a middle spot where it is slightly reclined but not flat.

Sure, but streaming anything you want online works and is also free. Win some, lose some.

I did get the shaving foam and toothbrush :rolleyes:

= fail.

You can do that from any seat.

I think Mint has been hyped too much by bloggers. I expected something like TATL J/F. No way it is like that. Sure, it's better then domestic F, but at least my back does not get hurt from a domestic F seat.

Of course it's overhyped and B6 has gotten away with a cutsie name rather than designated it as J.

Bottom line is that it's at a price point which many people seem to like.

But. it's a tradeoff.

:confused: How so? There is a reclined position, just like on the B/E Diamond seat used on AA, UA & DL in biz for most of their transcons. The few that don't have that are on DL and are very similar to the Vantage seat B6 uses IIRC.


Not with multiple plugs and space to set a laptop up on the side like that.

It is, at worst, a comparable seat to all the other TCON biz products. I like the food service setup better than what I've had on DL/UA TCONs; haven't flown AA in long enough that I cannot reliably compare. I'll trade AVOD for fast, functional, free wifi. And I think the service is WAY better on B6. It comes up short on the ground experience, assuming lounge time is something you care about.

What TATL products would you be comparing it to? Because UA, DL & AA have very similar seats and meals on their TCON and TATL J products. AA still has a ton of angle-flat and recliner seats flying TATL.

The fact that it brought the price down to something I can afford from time to time also helps, but I do not believe it is worse than the others at comparable price points.

Forgot about all those things. If I cannot sit still in a seat because it hurts my back, fancy meals or stellar FA service won't matter one bit.

I agree that if you don't like the seat all the other stuff is inconsequential.

I think it's difficult to reconcile a $200 buy-up with international J/F expectations... Mint is cheaper than most t-con J and comparable/better depending on preferences.

That being said I do agree the Thompson Vantage seat is a horrible J product, but I've suffered through it on DL's 767 for much longer flights than SFO-BOS.

Also, does anyone else offer scheduled lie-flat on SFO-BOS?

Nope.

FYI, UA has been scheduling a significant number of lie-flat 752s and BarcaLounger-equipped 772s each way, generally one per day. They appear to be doing so through at least the holidays. I'm booked on a lie-flat r/t over Veterans' Day weekend in November.

Yes, I realize this isn't regularly scheduled service, and I'll be SOL if they make an aircraft substitution. But I thought folks should know, and if you can snag a seat at $499 each way as I did, it's even cheaper than Mint. Plus, if you're a regular UA flyer it offers almost 11K PQM, which is substantial.

I've been saying this for a while now but as much as I love the A321s, I hate the seats. Especially on flights longer than 2.5 hours. This goes for all seats, not just Mint. They hurt my back as well and I don't typically have back problems. I will not fly on an A321 without an EMS seat.

That said I had my very first Mint experience last Thursday. I probably made a mistake but I booked the window seat in the section of 2. If I ever fly Mint again, I will book the suite. Long story short, I boarded first. Within 2 minutes, a guy and wife board and he was immediately confrontational(no hello, no good morning) with me and asked if I'd move so they could sit together. They had 2 aisle seats right next to one another. I kindly declined and said I booked and preferred a window seat. It turned out the window next to him was unoccupied so she moved anyway. He ended up glaring at me for the entire flight and/or complaining loudly in another language. I did discuss it with the FA and even he said I did nothing wrong. I like to keep my windowshade up so he also complained to the FA about the light. So several times I had to put up the trays to block out the light. Meanwhile this guy never even bothered to put on his eye mask or sunglasses. he was just looking for any excuse to pick on me for 5 hours. So it wasn't a very positive Mint experience for me but had nothing to do with the service.

As for the amenity kit, there was one item alone inside that was worth at least $50. And I thought there were some cool items inside like eye gels. So I had no complaints. I enjoyed the food except I thought the french toast was iffy. I probably didn't explore the seat features enough but I did recline fully for a bit. I agree it would be nice if the seats reclined in a seated position too. I could barely feel the massage feature when I tried it. Overall, a good experience aside from the crowd.

The lumbar support was inflating and deflating, so it was punching me in the back when I flew in Mint. :eek:

I really like mint, but I agree the seat is not that comfortable. I think it has something to do with the air cushioning system. I personally prefer the UA and AA transcon "Diamond" seats. It's a shame because on b6 mint planes the FAs are great, and the food is extremely good. Also love the privacy of the "suite" seats.

I reported similar a couple of months back:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/jetbl...-legacies.html

The food really is quite great. Agreed on the seats. Interested to see if they'll upgrade them at some point.