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JetBlue Mint vs. Delta One, and the winner is...

JetBlue Mint vs. Delta One, and the winner is...

Old Jan 27, 2018, 10:09 pm
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JetBlue Mint vs. Delta One, and the winner is...

I'm off today for a company function in Montréal. And without Mrs. SFO777 this time, I'm not constrained by having to fly nonstop... especially at inflated rip-off prices on a crap plane and crap airline, aka Air Canada. jetBlue recently started LAX-BOS Mint service and current fares are much more attractive than LAX-JFK. Add in a cheap BOS-YUL connecting flight and it was a very economical and much more comfortable way to get to Montréal.

Los Angeles LAX to Boston BOS
jetBlue 488
A321-200
11:40a-8:03p
January 26, 2018
Mint Closed Door Suite 4A

jetBlue Mint is one of my favorite premium domestic transcon products. My biggest beef is the lack of a lounge of any kind, although it was a non-issue today as I got to the gate about 10 minutes before boarding.



jetBlue Mint is jetBlue's attractive modern premium cabin. Five rows with 16 lie flat seats are staggered with rows 1, 3 and 5 having 2-2 seating. Rows 2 and 4 are the primo rows with single throne like seats and a closed door.





My seat today is 4A, a single seat closed door suite.



Welcome note from our Mint FAs today, Chase and Alberto, who provided outstanding service.









jetBlue's signature RefreshMint drink, with vodka.



Today's menu.











Today's eclectic jetBlue amenity kit.



Lots of meh.



The gloves were fun at least for a photo op. LOL.



We puahed on time and we're off.



















Love the taro chips and green aoili instead of everyone's else's mixed nuts.



Showtime, jetBlue style.



jetBlue offers you a choice of 3 of 5 different dishes.



Grilled rib-eye with horseradish mash potaties, broccolini, carrots, shallots and bordelaise sauce.



Pan-Fried Halibut with fingerling gratin, white aspargus and red pepper sauce.



Yuzu Caesar salad with baby gem, haricots verts, parmesan and sourdough breadcrumbs.







For dessert, ice cream from Coolhaus in LA.



And more dessert. LOL.



Raiding the snack basket.





And more. A departing gift.







Yet another great jetBlue flight, with wonderful service from Chase and Alberto.

Last edited by SFO777; Jan 31, 2018 at 8:55 am
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Old Jan 27, 2018, 10:55 pm
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Love the 'throne' seat up front on Jetblue! And of course the hipster half-finger gloves. Will come in handy in Montreal in January.

BOS-YUL on AC looks pretty decent too for the short hop and very reasonable price.

Looking forward to the Delta One transcontinental.
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 3:32 am
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Not sure if I ever will fly JetBlue, as I normally book flights together from Europe. But it´s a very interesting product.
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 5:25 am
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As I’m UK based I don’t have the opportunity to fly internally that often in the States but I’ve been on one flight with Jet blue on 1 January a few years ago from SFO to LAS and it was a very pleasant experience. Staff were great and we all received free drinks as it was New Year’s Day.
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 7:57 am
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I'd like to try JetBlue Mint one of these days. Their product looks really good, and what good looking food and presentation!

Sorry to hear the SkyClub Deck at JFK was closed. My wife and I had a chance to sit out there before our departure to LHR back in September.

Looking forward to your return trip!

~Matthew
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 9:55 am
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The good news is that Logan Airport has an in-airport hotel, The Hilton. The bad news is that it is a mile plus walk from most of the terminals.



Finally.





And my room for the night.





Eight hours later, back to the terminals.



And the long, trek.









I'm headed to Terminal B. But the only way to walk there without going outside, is thru Terminal A.













Fortunately, Air Canada operates from the first gates in the B terminal. Oddly, the gates are not connected to the rest of the terminal and has dedicated security for its 2 gates.







Boston BOS to Montréal YUL
Air Canada 8455
CR7
6:30pm-7:53am
January 26, 2018
Seat 12A

At only $52, this flight was a no brainer and made the entire LAX-BOS-YUL routing atttractive. AC was selling seats for only $52 as they battle Westjet which just started service between YUL and BOS. For another $20, I upgraded to Preferred Seating and single seat bulkhead seat 12A.



The Business Class cabin.



A very light load this morning with only 24 or so passengers. Only 1 pax in Business and only one other pax in the Preferred seats.

\



Tons of legroom in 12A.









Pretty cool that there is even IFE on this plane.



















About 35 minutes after take-off, we begin our descent to Montréal. Oh yeah, that still looks cold.

















As much as I hate Air Canada, this short flight was excellent. Then again, it wasn't mainline AC. It helped that there were very few other passengers on the plane and none around me.



The long hike to Customs and Immigration.







Not much action this morning. With NEXUS, after the system verified my identity, I was able to walk thru the terminal and enter Canada without speaking to a customs agent.



After exiting customs, I head back upstairs to the US depatures wing and the Marriott, one of the most convenient in-terminal hotels in North America.


















The elevator lobby on the 6th floor.

With great tarmac views.



My comfy room for the day and night.







And great views east toward the city.



My Gold elite status gets me Executive Lounge access and a quick breakfast before heading downtown.






Last edited by SFO777; Jan 29, 2018 at 7:13 am
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 10:00 am
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Originally Posted by DanielW
Love the 'throne' seat up front on Jetblue! And of course the hipster half-finger gloves. Will come in handy in Montreal in January.
BOS-YUL on AC looks pretty decent too for the short hop and very reasonable price.
Looking forward to the Delta One transcontinental.
Thanks so much DanielW. LOL, I loved that half-finger glove.

Originally Posted by offerendum
Not sure if I ever will fly JetBlue, as I normally book flights together from Europe. But it´s a very interesting product.
Thank you offerendum.

Originally Posted by mike&co
As I’m UK based I don’t have the opportunity to fly internally that often in the States but I’ve been on one flight with Jet blue on 1 January a few years ago from SFO to LAS and it was a very pleasant experience. Staff were great and we all received free drinks as it was New Year’s Day.
Thanks mike@co. I think you might be confusing jetBlue with Virgin America on that SFO-LAX route.

Originally Posted by 757
I'd like to try JetBlue Mint one of these days. Their product looks really good, and what good looking food and presentation!
Sorry to hear the SkyClub Deck at JFK was closed. My wife and I had a chance to sit out there before our departure to LHR back in September.
Looking forward to your return trip!
~Matthew
Thank you 757 Matthew. The SkyClub Deck is a great feature although at only 30 degrees, I can understand why it wasn't open.
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 11:51 am
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It wasn’t LAX SFO, it was LAS (Vegas)
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 12:26 pm
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Originally Posted by SFO777
I'm off today for a company function in Montréal. And without Mrs. SFO777 this time, I'm not constrained by having to fly nonstop...

Well, well...
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 12:32 pm
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So, you pick JetBlue by a mile, that's for the advice! I will try this JetBlue transcon later this year.
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 3:42 pm
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Thanks for the report! I couldn’t agree more.

I also fly JetBlue Mint whenever possible, preferring it by a substantial margin over DeltaOne, UA P.S., and most AA First options (only exception was when AA flew LAX-MIA using 77W, which ended recently). Especially when I can fly the throne when flying alone for work...but we like it so much that my husband and I tend to both fly thrones when we travel together on a Mint route, anyway.

I always fly LAX-BOS, as well as LAX-JFK, on JetBlue Mint. Now that the AA LAX-MIA 77W F/J option is no longer available, I’m flying the LAX-FLL route on JetBlue Mint, as well.

I wish JetBlue would fly LAX-IAD/DCA and then would introduce Mint, but it’s not meant to be for the time being. So I’m waiting...
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 6:24 pm
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Montréal to New York JFK on Delta Connection and the JFK T4 Sky Club


I checked out at around 5:30am and headed downstairs to security and US Pre Clearance.



19 minutes later, I'm thru security, US CBP and the duty free shop.





Montréal YUL to New York JFK
Delta
CR9
7:15a-8:20a
January 27, 2018
Seat 3A








OMG, 0 Fahrenheit and no jetbridge. Yikes.





Yeah, he looks cold.













Fifty minutes later and 30 degrees warmer, we fly past JFK before vectoring back for our approach.







We arrived at Gate B47 so it was only a 5 minute walk to B32 and the attractive Delta Sky Club.





After a few minutes at check-in where a friendly dragon moved me to an earlier flight, I headed in for this very nice club.


























Last edited by SFO777; Jan 29, 2018 at 7:18 am
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 6:26 pm
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JFK to LAX on Delta One


At T-45, I headed out for the short walk to Gate B39.







New York JFK to Los Angeles LAX
Delta 428
Ancient 767-400
9:45a-1:15p
January 27, 2018
Delta One Business Class
Seat 1D

I got stuck in 1D on this plane due to a DL schedule schedule change and DL's dishonest schedule padding designed to inflate their on-time performance numbers. I was only able to change back to the flight when I arrived 60 minutes ahead of schedule from YUL. Unfortunately, by that time, better single seats were gone. Then there is the annoying DL practice of pre-boarding "people that need a little extra time to board" and "families with children". And then Business Class.

















Good leg room.



But partially in the galley. Not good on a flight like today when the crew doesn't give a whit about customers and yaps away most of the flight.





God forbid we spend money on real headphones. Let's take free crap ones in exchange for promoting their awful product.



Yuck.



Nice Tumi amenity container.



Meh.









Yeah, this relic has seen better days.







Nice job of cleaning a 20 year old, maybe even 30 year old antique remote control.



Todays's menu.



Looks impressive.











Very nice Westin Heavenly Bed duvet and pillow.















Showtime, Delta One style.



The Marinated Chicken with hazelnut, raisin, saffron and green apple was OK, although it didn't seem marinated not did I see any green apple. More like a chicken salad underneath the chicken.



The Celery Root and Pasnip Soup was tasty although a little heavy.



The salad was quite good, although more than two leaves would have been nice. Perhaps the plan was to have more leaves as there was way too much dressing for a nothing salad. Race to the bottom comes to mind.



For my main, I had the Ricotta and Winter Truffle Cannelloni, with mushroom ragout and parmesan brodo. It was not my first choice they'd run out of the salmon as I was the last to be asked for my choice as FA followed FEBO and went down the AB aisle from front to back, but then figured it was easier to just go back to front on the CD side. It was actually pretty tasty.



For dessert, I opted for the Vanilla Fudge Swirl Ice Cream, with blood orange and cardamon caramel sauce, and ginger bread crumble.



It was delicious.



About 90 minutes, luke warm chocolate chip cookie... after sitting on the galley counter for 15 minutes.





















Although we landed 30 minutes early, it took 30 minutes to get to our gate, after waiting to be towed the last bit.



A good crew can make or break a flight. My experience has been that Delta is the most likely of the majors to have good crews. Not today. This crew was going thru the motions, alternating between lazy and loud as they yapped away annoyingly in the galley, oblivious to the rest of the world.


jetBlue Mint vs. Delta One: The Verdict

jetBlue by a mile. Delta wins on lounges... since jetBlue doesn't have any. But after that, jetBlue wins every category, from new and clean planes, to cabin layout, seats, seat comfort, space, IFE, food, drink and above all service. Certainly the Delta experience will vary based on the type of plane. The 763/763s are pure garbage while the A330 would be better as would the 757 if you are travelling with a companion. But I pick jetBlue over Delta in a heartbeat.


For more pics and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com.

HD versions with more pics posted on SFO777.com...
LAX-JFK on jetBlue Mint
BOS-YUL on Air Canada Express
YUL-JFK on Delta Connection and the JFK Sky Club
JFK-LAX on Delta One
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Last edited by SFO777; Jan 28, 2018 at 7:03 pm
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 6:34 pm
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Originally Posted by mike&co
It wasn’t LAX SFO, it was LAS (Vegas)
My bad on the typo. SFO-LAS (and SFO-LAX) would have been Virgin America.

Originally Posted by Innocent Abroad
Well, well...
I did see that. I enjoyed my LY experience on our short TLV-ATH flight but not so keen on 14 hours in a very dated hard product.

Originally Posted by gkbiiii
So, you pick JetBlue by a mile, that's for the advice! I will try this JetBlue transcon later this year.
Absolutely. Like bhrubin below, I'd pick jetBlue by a mile.

Originally Posted by bhrubin
Thanks for the report! I couldn’t agree more.
I also fly JetBlue Mint whenever possible, preferring it by a substantial margin over DeltaOne, UA P.S., and most AA First options (only exception was when AA flew LAX-MIA using 77W, which ended recently). Especially when I can fly the throne when flying alone for work...but we like it so much that my husband and I tend to both fly thrones when we travel together on a Mint route, anyway.
I always fly LAX-BOS, as well as LAX-JFK, on JetBlue Mint. Now that the AA LAX-MIA 77W F/J option is no longer available, I’m flying the LAX-FLL route on JetBlue Mint, as well.
I wish JetBlue would fly LAX-IAD/DCA and then would introduce Mint, but it’s not meant to be for the time being. So I’m waiting...
Thanks very much bhrubin. Great idea on separate cross aisle thrones. I keep trying to do that with Mrs. SFO777 but those seats typically go first and we've never booked early enough to be able to find two available thrones. Hopefully, B6 will continue to expand Mint service to more and more cities.
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Old Jan 28, 2018, 6:56 pm
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Guess you didn't get the memo that Delta D1 and first class is "some of the best real estate on the planet" per their CEO.

Thanks for sharing as always.
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