- We're flying a new airline today.
Very excited. (techno music)
Welcome on board.
Flying something new today,
the jetBlue Mint, from LA to New York,
and later we'll fly New York to London,
on a single aisle A321.
So as you can see,
the seats are actually facing from the window to inside.
It's different to facing windows,
so I have to turn to look at the window,
a little weird, but really good privacy,
and see I have all these walls,
can hardly see anybody once I sit down.
- My name is Lisa, I'll be working along with Deborah.
Here's your menu.
You can make your meal choices
and let us know if there's anything else
that we can get for you.
- It's very nice. First time onboard jetBlue Mint.
- Great.
(laughing) Thank you so much.
- [Hostess] Flight is carbon neutral,
and we're offsetting the CO2
for the fuel used on all of our domestic flights,
to reduce the impact on our climate.
(gentle upbeat music)
(engine drains out speaker)
(engine revving)
(gentle upbeat music)
- There is something there
because of a marine layer.
Very thin layer of clouds.
We just flew over on top, clear sky again.
(gentle upbeat music)
- Can I get you a refill on your drink?
- Just a diet Pepsi.
- Diet Pepsi? Coming right up.
- Look at the food presentation.
It looks phenomenal.
I want to see what it tastes like now.
It's really hard to explain what kind of food I'm eating,
but this is not the norm other airlines are doing.
Taste are phenomenal, and the colours,
really, really happy with this meal.
(gentle upbeat music)
I went down to economy to see what do they have to eat.
Unfortunately, they don't have a meal in economy.
There's just a pantry there,
which is free to all, to take snacks and drinks.
So I wish that airline can actually put
some economy food back, especially on a five-hour flight.
LA to New York is a very long flight.
You need to have some real food onboard other than snacks.
So just reclined to full flat position,
trying out the bed.
The bed is long enough for me, six foot one.
I don't have any complaint about the length and the width,
and also the foot well.
My feet actually can turn pretty easily,
which is quite nice design.
I just wish they have actually like a clean sheet
or like a bath sheets on top of the seat cover.
Cause right now, you know,
there's nothing in between.
You know, I feel a U.S. Airline
don't used to have layed in bed with a sheet cover on it.
(gentle upbeat music)
We're 10 minutes before landing to New York.
I certainly slept well and ate well.
I also enjoyed a bit of Direct TV and using wifi.
The wifi was free to all, incredible fast speed.
So a pretty decent flight.
I'm looking forward to my next sector
from New York to London,
because I will be sitting in the Mint Studio,
even bigger seats.
Let's see how that goes.
(gentle upbeat music)
(engine whirling)
We arrived at the gate on time,
but right now, we're inside the plane
for almost 20, 25 minutes,
still waiting the ramper to come open the door.
So, you know, the ground experience has been a little tough
because I think there's a shortage of ramper
working right now.
Thank you so much. See you next time.
- Bye, thank you. - Great flight.
(upbeat music)
Okay, I made it to the next gate for the London flight
at JFK at jetBlue here,
they told me they don't have a lounge
even for business class customer.
So this is not the same as the other in that
airline you fly American, British Airways, Virgin,
you have a lounge or clubhouse.
There isn't anything like that,
which is a little bit a disappointment naturally.
I remember lots of 747 in good old days, right?
Going transatlantic.
But right now I'm going to fly this Avery 21 right behind me
going across the pond to London.
I dunno we actually move forward or backwards
flying smaller and smaller planes transatlantic.
This is Troy, JFK jetBlue, 21 years of service.
Keep up the good work. Thank you so much.
- Bye. - All right, bye-bye.
Hey, how you doing? - Hi, welcome.
- I'm the first on board today.
- You are. - So excited.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, my name is Lance.
I'm the captain on flight 007 to Heathrow tonight from JFK,
and our flying time is six hours and 21 minutes.
We're going to be at 33,000 feet for part of the way,
and then 35,000 feet crossing the Atlantic.
We'll be coming in over Ireland
and then descend on into England.
First officer John is assisting me,
and second officer Sean, will be up here as well
because we have to have three pilots to cross the Atlantic.
- We're flying a different 321,
the long range 321, right?
- Correct.
- So what's anything special in cockpit here?
- The primary difference is
how much fuel we can carry on the aeroplane.
So the airplane's structural has been beefed up
in order to carry more fuel
and they've added more what are called,
auxiliary tanks, which are here, here and right here,
but that one's empty.
But tonight we're only six hours and 21 minutes.
Other day we flew, I think,
eight hours coming back about eight hours and 41 minutes.
(aeroplane engine drains out officer)
- Eight hours 41 in a narrow single body.
What is that like?
- (laughing) It's a long flight. It's a very long flight.
- What's the fuel burn like on the 321 LR?
How much this PW engine burns?
- Cruise, it's about 4,000 pounds an hour.
That's one of the other big reasons
we can fly so long and so far is,
because not just do we have more fuel,
but we're using engines that are very efficient.
(upbeat music)
- Welcome to the Mint Studio.
Have you flow with us here on Mint before?
- I was only flying the Mint
two hours ago from Los Angeles.
- (laughing) Okay. - But not the Mint Studio.
This is my first time here.
- You haven't been in the Studio?
Okay, well the Studio is a little bit more spacious.
You have the buddy seat
as well as a little bit of a closet here.
- There's a little closet here?
- Yes. - I see.
- And we actually have some pyjamas for you, if you'd like.
I have your choice of small, medium, or large, extra large.
- Large.
- There you go sir.
- So everybody get the pyjamas or?
- Only the Studio's customer's.
- I paid for it. Thank you.
(laughing)
- And those are yours to keep so.
- So I'm in the Mint Studio now, this is much bigger.
I got locked out when I was a few days ago
when I select my seats, this is what's available.
I had to pay extra $299
for New York to London, transatlantic.
- Okay, we have the Michelle Gonet grant fruit.
And then we also have our blood orange cocktail
made with the same champagne.
- Can I have the blood orange?
There was no welcome drink on the LA JFK,
at least I got one.
Cheers. (glass clinking)
Not bad, they even have slippers, also pyjamas.
Proper long haul business class
for six hours across the pond.
(upbeat music)
(engine revving)
(upbeat music)
So for the dinner I chose three warm dishes.
I didn't go with a salad.
Didn't want to eat vegetable anymore.
So I have chicken, pork, and lasagna,
and the dessert.
But I have to tell you the taste is incredible, you know,
just amazing to try all the small dishes.
Very different concept, incredible.
(gentle upbeat music)
You don't go there and ask them,
do you want chicken or beef, so they order,
everything has to be done through the screen and iPad.
- So the passengers, they order from their seat back,
and then we load up our carts,
take everything into the aisle,
and then once we're in the aisle,
we look at our iPad and build their menu,
their meal right in the aisle.
So this person, for example,
they ordered chicken,
macaroni and cheese,
and a kale salad.
And these are two warm items,
and this is a chilled item.
- You know, I love this little white covers
and little containers.
They're not the usual tinfoil.
I just love the design,
it's just something different, isn't it?
- It is.
- It's like out of your specs, food to order.
That's the future I guess.
(upbeat music)
The few moments when we crossed the Atlantic,
I made my bed flat,
and it's time to try out the Mint Studio.
So there's a lot more room
than the standard Mints business class I flew from LA.
At least your hands can go kind of stretch out a bit more.
Okay, we'll see you a little bit later.
(upbeat music)
Good morning, it was such a short nap.
I didn't really sleep that long.
And there was lots of turbulence
throughout the whole Atlantic crossing.
I'm not quite sure it's because of the small aeroplane,
Avery 21 doesn't handle turbulence
as well as the wider body.
There is definitely one disadvantage on this aeroplane,
is it flies slower.
It's flying at Mach point 78 instead of triple seven
or a 350 flight Mach 83 to 85, so it is slower.
But I have to give credit to jetBlue
because the product's really, really great.
Innovative, good food, Direct TV, very, very fast.
And free wifi to everyone in the cabin
so very, very well done.
So here's the $299 question,
is the Mint Studio worth the money?
The $299 upgrade fee I paid.
I think that normal Mint Suites from my flight
LA to JFK is perfectly fine.
And this is actually an extra splurge
because we have the extra seats here, a bit more room,
but the Mint Suites is perfectly fine.
A great product itself.
(upbeat music)
(engine revving)
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